Minnesota DNR staff PIT-tag musky fingerlings before releasing them into lakes. Each fish gets sedated, tagged, revived in recovery buckets for 2-3 minutes, then released by boat. The process tracks water temperature and oxygen levels throughout.
Here we are getting ready for the fingerlings to be delivered. DNR staff. Here's the truck. The Minnesota Muskie Farm oxygen tank for the fish. Kim's going to see if she's got— checking the water temperature. 52. Pretty close. What is it?
Well, that was 50, but let's see if it goes again. If it's 50 again, I'll call it.
You said 10 degrees is okay.
I had 52 in our lake, so that's 50. Oh, so we're fine.
All right, what do you want me to do?
Just put them in a bucket.
Okay, we'll go put them in our next— Here we go. That's a good close-up. Great. Fantastic. On the inside. On the inside of the net, right? Don't want to miss it. Don't miss. Hey, what are you doing? Get a good picture, guys. Oh, sure. Good. Is this the knockout water here? Yep. What do you use as a chemical to do that? Say that again. Acquiesce. It's full body. Acquiesce. Okay, excuse me. I want to get the whole video here. Clip. It takes all right. Pop the gun.
All right, Wes, since if you want to load another couple fish in there, about another 12.
You ready, Tim? He said LV. Ready? Yep. Yes, LV. 10-6.
And away we go. So how long does it take them to recover?
Sorry. It's okay.
Uh, let me do this data so I can keep it in my mind, but it takes them 2 minutes, 3 minutes.
10:06. So you're double-checking to make sure the tag is in and can be read? We're reading it and then associating the link with the tag. Okay, great. 10-7.
And then the other thing is once we start getting recovered fish, they can get shuttled to the boat for scanner platting, and then we can grab a volunteer and somebody Starting to revive.
Hey Lee, you got some fish there. Yeah, I do. He's an escapee that didn't get hurt. I think so. The aerator. There's the big guy up close and personal, and we're off. Off they go.
