The pdf version of the Kansas Wildlife Federation newsletter for May-June is now online for reading. Unlike the mailed paper copy, the online pdf version has color photos. You can also find past newsletters using the Newsletter link on the KWF Homepage.
June 12, 2014
A hatchery setting keeps natural predators, bacteria and fungus away from eggs
PRATT– Seventy-four degrees Fahrenheit is the perfect water temperature – when it comes to artificial channel catfish spawning, that is. Each year, staff at the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) Pratt hatchery conduct an artificial spawning program that produces channel catfish eggs in the millions. It’s a process that’s tried and true, and that thousands of anglers depend on each year. Here’s how it’s done.
The process begins in early spring when hatchery staff prepare several ponds with an ideal breeding ratio – 2 males for every three females. When summer hits, staff submerge steel cream cans in knee-deep water to simulate a natural cavity where catfish would normally nest. Once the cans are fully submerged, a male will enter and prepare a nest site and then herd a ready-to-spawn female into the can where eggs are deposited and fertilization can begin. When waters reach the ideal temperature of 74 degrees, hatchery staff will check the cans twice a week and collect any fertilized egg masses, which can average 1.5 to 2 pounds each.
“The purpose of this process is to increase hatch rates. On our first day of collection, we got 908,000 eggs – 80 percent of which we can get to hatch in a controlled environment,” said KDWPT fisheries biologist Brett Houdyshell. “Our goal this year is to collect approximately 3 million eggs.”
Once the fertilized eggs are collected, they are placed in special troughs with constant water circulation where the young can safely hatch. After about eight days, the fry are able to swim up and out of the egg mass and into connected tanks where food is available.
“Channel catfish readily take fish food, so by their eighth day, they will be eating a prepared fish food,” said Houdyshell.
Some fry will grow to fingerlings where they will be stocked in new or renovated waters, while others will stay in the hatchery system where they will continue to grow and be stocked the following fall as intermediate or catchable-size fish, ranging from 10-12 inches.
Channel catfish are just one of many fish species that KDWPT hatchery staff produce around the state. For more information on KDWPT fish hatcheries and stocking reports, visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Fishing.”
The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism announced the
NEW CATCH, PHOTO AND RELEASE CONTEST
Youth age 15 and under are invited to participate
PRATT – If you’re 15 or younger and have recently caught a largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill or any species of catfish, you could win some new fishing gear through the first ever “Catch, Photo and Release” contest, which starts June 20. Fishing’s Future, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, Cabela’s and KVOE Outdoors want to hear about your latest fishing adventure.
To enter, send a photo and story (200 words or less) of your catch to [email protected]. Entries can also be mailed to KVOE Outdoors CPR contest, PO Box 924, Emporia, KS 66801. All entries must contain a photo, story, the angler’s date of birth, phone number and a home mailing address.
The contest will run June 20, 2014 to August 22, 2014. Four major prize packages will be given away on August 29, including $50 Cabela’s gift certificates. Four weekly winners will be randomly drawn to receive rod and reel combos, compliments of Cabela’s, and a fishing hat and assorted lures. All winners will be announced on the KVOE “What’s in Outdoors” radio show each Friday. Multiple entries from each contestant are acceptable.
Winning entries can be viewed at www.kvoe.com/on-air/what-s-in-outdoors, www.fishingsfuture.org, and on Facebook at facebook.com/fishingsfuture.
For more information, visit www.kvoe.com, or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Native Minnows in a prairie stream of the Flint Hills Kansas http://netnebraska.org/node/824640 True minnows belong to the freshwater fish family but the term is often used for tiny freshwater & saltwater fish used as fishing bait. Like darters, they require healthy, meandering streams that have cobbles, pebbles and sand on the bottom on the inner curve of the stream path. The water must be relatively clear for sunlight to penetrate to the aquatic vegetation for photosynthesis that supplies food for the minnows. The banks must have plants & trees that prevent soil erosion. Removing or mowing vegetation along stream banks causes erosion. The resulting stream sediment makes the water murky and uninhabitable for many creatures. Plus water runoff from urbanized areas washes toxins into the water that harms these minnows. Some like the fathead minnow are used to test for impacts of chemicals like plastics and pharmaceuticals that adversely affect fish. Most of the fish diversity in southeastern Kansas consists of minnows and darters.
1st Annual Catch, Photo & Release Contest
Fishing’s Future, KDWPT FishKs, Cabela’s and KVOE What’s in Outdoors want to hear your fishing adventures. Youth 15 years of age or younger are asked to send a photo and share stories concerning catching Largemouth Bass, Crappie, Bluegill and any species of Catfish!
Families have fun fishing together and anyone is allowed to help young anglers write their story to reflect on their experience. Please STRECH the truth if necessary!
Our first awards will be June 20th so get your entries in now.
All photos and winning stories will be posted on the KVOE What’s in Outdoors page at http://www.kvoe.com, on the Fishing’s Future web page, www.fishingsfuture.org, and their Facebook page, facebook.com/fishingsfuture.
Crow Bee with Pollen by Sam Droege, USGS
Pollinators such as bees fertilize flowers by transferring pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of the same type of flower. We have highlighted bees before but with the importance they represent to agriculture and ecosystems, they deserve to be revisited. Although most of us are familiar with honeybees, wild type or native bees are even more effective pollinators. Other insects pollinate also. These include wasps, moths and butterflies; although they are not important crop pollinators. Like bees, they all maintain ecosystems by ensuring that certain flowering plants produce plentiful quantities of viable seed, not only to sustain that plant species but to provide food for wildlife like huckleberries that grizzly bear like so much. The crow bee pictured above visits sunflowers and black-eyed Susans. You can help bees and other pollinating insects in your own backyard by not applying insecticides to flowers. Also avoid using herbicides (weedkillers) containing glyphosphate that kill milkweed plants, the only plants upon which Monarch butterflies deposit their eggs and Monarch caterpillars feed.
The American Hiking Society has an interactive website that identifies organized hiking events in your area. But there are many trails that you can just use any day of the year. The Kansas Trails Council also has an interactive map highlighting the locations of many great trails in Kansas.
Here are three outstanding trails and their links:
Horsethief Canyon Trails in Kanopolis State Park southeast of Salina.
Gary L. Haller Trail in Johnson County Kansas. It has been designated as a National Recreation Trail.
95th Street access to the Gary L. Haller Trail
Elk River Hiking Trail in Montgomery County. It has been designated a National Recreation Trail by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Trail System. Backpacker Magazine has rate it the best trail in Kansas.
Although the Kansas Wildlife Federation tends to post articles in our News that emphasize Kansas wildlife and its habitat, here is an opportunity to see an outstanding diving video that will give you an enhanced appreciation for wildlife of the aquatic variety. The video is by Nick Hope. Enjoy it at: