When you think of Devils Lake,
you conjure up -- a spot with just a little too much water. Or wonderful
water birds, like Western grebes.
Many of those "fighting walleyes"
that delight sports men and women all over North Dakota originate right
here in Devils Lake. But the journey is complicated.
It starts ... out on the
water. Lynn Schlueter is head of the Game and Fish "walleye spawning"
team. "We collect the walleye spawners with trap nets. These nets do
not hurt the fish, just hold them for us. 
Milt is extracted from the males, eggs
are gathered from the females, and stirred witth the milt, and in a moment
-- fertilization. Then the eggs are mixed with clay. Without the clay, the
eggs will clump together, and those groups of eggs will often die.
The eggs are put in coolers and moved
to the hatchery. They'll hatch in ten to fifteen days. Then, they are moved
again. "These little fry are stocked into ponds and allowed to grow
out for about 30 days. From there, they're transported to ponds around the
state and stocked.
The sheer volume of life in these jars
is staggering. There are 120,000 eggs here - per quart.
So the next time a big lunker bites
into your hook, remember, it may have begun with an egg here at Devils Lake.
Tip you hat to Lynn Schlueter and crew. And to a great "mothering"
lake - even if it is too full, sometimes.Return ND Outdoors Television.