The Elkhart River Restoration Association, in partnership with Gollon Bait & Fish Farm, released more than 3,000 walleye fingerlings into the Elkhart River at Shanklin Park in Goshen on Monday. This marks the fifth time the ERRA has stocked the river since 2014.
Jonathon Schramm, the ERRA board president, emphasized the importance of the restock for maintaining fish populations.
“The main goal of the project is to help provide a recreational fishery,” Schramm said. “It is helpful to get numbers up by stocking them. They don’t necessarily reproduce very often down here, so there aren’t as many young ones to replace the entire population.”
Schramm noted that river dams have reduced populations of certain fish, but recent structural changes have increased the number of game fish in the area, including walleye, smallmouth bass, northern perch, and log perch.
“The dam removal that happened in downtown Elkhart four years ago allowed many more fish that had been limited from reaching Elkhart to make it all the way up to Goshen and beyond,” Schramm said.
River dams create barriers that prevent native species from moving between sections of the Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers. While many dams have fish ladders, these structures primarily benefit non-native fish.
The fingerlings won’t reach the size of walleye found in the Great Lakes, but Schramm believes they will still provide a good catch for anglers.
“In the Great Lakes, the fish have more room to grow,” Schramm said. “Out in the lakes, you might find walleye that are closer to thirty inches long. A twenty-inch walleye would be a good length here in the Elkhart.”
The ERRA funded the restock using membership fees that accumulated since the last restock in 2022, along with several habitat grants.