Donations from the Musky Clubs Alliance have helped the Art Oehmcke state fish hatchery in Woodruff.
Last month, the state Natural Resources Board accepted $21,000 dollars from the Alliance. This is the second donation this year. Earlier, the club donated more than $7,000.
The DNR's Tim Simonson says the recent larger donation will help the young fish. He says the cost of feed minnows for the muskies has sharply risen.
"....in terms of forage, the cost of minnows these days has escalated due to some of the disease concerns. The primary cost when raising muskies and large walleyes is the minnows..."
Simonson says they have to be selective with the forage minnows so as to not bring in diseases to the muskie population. Simonson says the goal is to raise the fish to a larger size before releasing them, in an effort to have a higher survival rate.
The earlier donation to the state hatchery at Woodruff brought in equipment that wasn't in the budget...
"....we did not have a budget to fix those aeration lines so that helped quite a bit. Rather than wait and going through the process of finding that money they were able to raise the money and give it to us right away...."
The clubs raise money through a catch-and-release musky fishing tournament in Eagle River each year that draws more than 1,000 people.
