I just came back from a trip to the Pike River Hatchery. It's about five miles out of town.

This time of the year the D&R traps walleye in the river that runs into Lake Vermilion. They started
trapping about a week ago and will be
trapping for at least two more weeks.

When I got
their I run into an old friend of mine. His name is Charlie, He's retired and moved up here from Texas five years ago. He works at the hatchery six weeks a year. He says it's fun but six weeks a year is all He wants.

In every one of these
beakers is 110,000 walleye eggs that will turn into 110,000 fish. They will be
shipped to just about every lake in Minnesota. Ten
percent will be put back into our lake. The D&R
says that in the wild due to
predators and bad luck only ten
percent will make it. In the hatchery almost one
hundred percent will live. So I guess
that's fair.
Charlie said that if I come back
tomorrow I could get some pictures of the adult fish being milked and striped of
their eggs. So you know ware I'll be. I wish Tylen was here
I'd give his teacher a note and
we'd play hooky for half a day. If he's going to be a duck framer he should know how to milk a fish.