Volunteers fix fish nets ahead of CPW’s annual walleye spawning project
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Thirty years ago, Dan Frankowski searched for something to keep him busy in his free time. He joined Colorado Parks and Wildlife as a volunteer to help with the annual walleye fish spawning project.
Each spring, CPW catches and releases hundreds of walleye fish, with a statewide goal of harvesting 120 million to 130 million eggs from the captured fish. Walleye don’t have a high success rate of spawning naturally, so CPW fertilizes and raises the eggs themselves to make sure there are enough fish in Colorado’s waterways for recreational fishing.
It all starts with the tedious task of repairing fish nets.
“Nobody really notices that, I don't think. But, it gets done every year,” said Frankowski, now 82.
Boat motors and rocks rip open the nets, leaving gaping holes that volunteers splice back together. Frankowski taught other volunteers, like Mark Elkins, how to tie different knots to repair the fishing nets.
“We have a lot of fun doing it amongst ourselves. Just joking around, gettin’ er’ done,” Elkins said. “It's not that much fun, really, but we just make it that way.”
Frankowski, Elkins and Russ Dewey save CPW thousands of dollars every year by fixing the agency’s existing nets. They repair 33 nets — each one 400 feet long and six feet deep. The trio of retirees starts repairing the nets in mid-January, and repairs must be completed by mid-March, when CPW begins using them to catch walleye fish.
The volunteers said they enjoy donating their time because it gives them something to do. Elkins said he particularly enjoys the camaraderie with Frankowski and Dewey. But neither Elkins nor Dewey come close to Frankowski's knot-tying skills, Elkins said.
CPW biologists have been spawning walleye at Pueblo Reservoir since 1986. These efforts have increased the amount of walleye population in Colorado, said Cory Noble, an aquatic biologist at CPW. The spawning efforts produce around 100 million walleye fry and fingerlings each year, he said.
Walleye are a popular fish for anglers. Without CPW conducting these walleye spawning operations each year, many waters would not have a walleye population for anglers to harvest, said Carrie Tucker, an aquatic biologist at CPW.
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