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NGPC: new stocking regime at Lake McConaughney coincides with higher natural walleye recruitment; monitoring to continue
Summary
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials said a change in walleye stocking at Lake McConaughney has coincided with increased natural recruitment in 2023; the agency will continue monitoring the fishery through 2026 before deciding on long‑term changes.
At a Southwest District fisheries informational meeting, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission officials described a multi‑stage walleye stocking program at Lake McConaughney and reported an increase in natural recruitment in 2023 that the agency plans to monitor through 2026.
Sean Ferrier, Southwest District Manager based in North Platte, said the agency moved in 2022 to stock three developmental stages of walleyes — fry (3–5 days old), fingerlings (about 1–1.5 inches) and “fingerling pluses” (about 1.5–2 inches) — to try to improve recruitment and reduce reliance on stocked fish. “Since 2022, we’ve stocked just short of 71,000,000 walleyes into Lake McConaughney,” Ferrier said.
Why it matters: McConaughney is one of the district’s largest fisheries and a priority for stocking. Ferrier said the district stocked just over 29 million fish across the Southwest District in 2024, of which roughly 21 million went to McConaughney; the 2025 stocking request is about 32 million statewide with about 24 million requested for McConaughney.
The agency’s fall age‑0 surveys — which Ferrier said run back to 2015, with a short gap — historically showed 92–98% of age‑0 walleyes were stocked rather than wild‑born. Ferrier reported that natural recruitment rose to about 12% in 2022 and about 22% in 2023. He cautioned that 2024’s natural recruitment appeared to dip and that the agency cannot yet say whether the change in recruitment is due to the new stocking regime, other environmental factors, or both. “We’re encouraged because we’re seeing more small fish, which means we’re getting the recruitment that we need,” Ferrier said.
Ferrier and staff described possible drivers. One hypothesis discussed at the meeting links the 2023 bump in natural recruitment to a 2022 winter kill event that reduced the abundant alewife population; that reduction could have improved zooplankton availability for young walleyes. Ferrier said the agency will continue the current stocking plan through 2025 and 2026 and then perform a formal review to decide whether to keep the approach, alter the fry/fingerling mix, or make other changes.
The meeting also highlighted hatchery investments intended to increase production. Ferrier described the North Platte pond lining project (referred to in the meeting as the North Platte Palm Minor project), completed in two phases, where lined ponds produced about three times the production of earthen ponds in initial returns. Ferrier said the agency’s hatcheries and their staff are central to the stocking program.
Research partners have supported data collection. Ferrier said the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK) has provided graduate students assisting with surveys and research related to the McConaughney stocking project and smallmouth evaluations.
Ending: Agency staff said they will continue monitoring age‑0 surveys and gillnet catch rates and will reassess the stocking program after the 2026 evaluation period. Ferrier said the management decision will depend on whether the observed trends persist and on additional data from fall and creel surveys.
