(Undated) -- This is a very busy time of year for staff at Iowa's fish hatcheries. In April staffers catch thousands of female walleye, loaded with eggs. The eggs are then incubated inside fish hatcheries, and once incubation is complete, the hatchlings or "fry" will be stocked into Iowa lakes, ponds, and rivers.
Iowa is 2nd in the nation walleye production, behind Minnesota. The process is needed because eggs deposited naturally in waters typically become buried in sediment and do not survive.
Jay Rudicell of the Lake Rathbun Hatchery says the tiny fry are starting to hatch, and more than100 million of them will be stocked in Iowa waters. He says they're about one third of an inch, and transparent -except for their black eyes. He notes while anglers are always happy to see their truck's arrive at the lake or river, it'll be a few years before the fry are big enough to catch.