SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (KTIV) - Staff at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery wrapped up their annual gillnetting process this week.

For example, the 2025 fry request is 51 million walleye fry, which means about 615 quarts of eggs. This means netting about 650-700 ripe females and 250 males for fertilizing the eggs. --- Online ...

Gillnetting — the Iowa Department of National Resources process of catching fertile fish — was especially quick and successful in 2025, based on reports from the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery.

This is the time of year when northwest Iowans get excited for gillnetting by the DNR personnel at the Spirit Lake Hatchery. When the ice leaves the lakes by late March, Lakes enthusiasts are often ...

One of the most amazing things to me is how quickly the northern pike netting goes. Many times, this can even happen under the ice. --- Online Subscribers: Please click here to log in to read this ...