SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (KTIV) - Staff at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery wrapped up their annual gillnetting process this week.

For example, the 2025 fry request is 51 million walleye fry, which means about 615 quarts of eggs. This means netting about 650-700 ripe females and 250 males for fertilizing the eggs. --- Online ...

Gillnetting — the Iowa Department of National Resources process of catching fertile fish — was especially quick and successful in 2025, based on reports from the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery.