Analysis of Population Data from an Introduced Lake Sturgeon Population on the Menominee Indian Reservation, Wisconsin

In an effort to create a put, grow, and take fishery on the Menominee Indian Reservation where this species had been extirpated, over 62,000 lake sturgeon have been stocked in a 1200 acre artificial impoundment since 1994.   Size at stocking and stocking rate were variable from 1994 to 2006.  Estimates of population size, survival, growth, and condition were determined from mark-recapture data collected from 2003 through 2011.  Length of known age fish data were used to predict age of fish of unknown age.  The predicted age at length model was then used to assess correlation between past stocking actions and current densities of fish per year class and current condition factors of fish in various length stanzas. Weight length analysis and a modified form factor were used to compare condition to those of lake sturgeon populations from other systems.  Study results will be used in recommendations for future stocking, management, and harvest plans.