The process of developing a walleye spawning reef in Franklin Lake in Forest County is one step closer to completion, as the Franklin Lake Improvement Association says the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will be holding a public hearing on the project in August.
The project — a multi-agency project involving the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest (CNNF), the DNR, Mole Lake Fisheries and other partners — aims to revive the walleye population in the lake by developing a spawning reef, which the lake currently lacks.
According to the Association, walleye populations in the 839-acre lake are less than 0.8 adult walleye per acre, a situation that could worsen if left unaddressed.
Gregory Matzke, a fisheries biologist with the DNR, explained that the first four population estimates, conducted between 1989 and 1997 by the DNR, indicated that adult walleye abundance averaged 3 adults per acre. However, he added that the last eight population estimates (conducted from 2002 to 2025) indicated that the adult population has averaged 0.5 adults per acre.
“This decline has happened even with the increase in walleye stocking in Franklin Lake,” Matzke said.
The DNR monitors walleye reproduction — also known as recruitment — by conducting electrofishing surveys during the fall, which consists of collecting all “age-0 walleye” and assessing how much recruitment occurred by the number of age-0 walleye captured per mile.
“To put it in perspective a little, I generally say that if you get > 20 age-0 walleye per mile in a given year, that year class will show up as adults and contribute to the fishery,” explained Matzke. “Below 20 per mile, generally they don’t thrive in high enough numbers to have an impact on the adult population. You generally need to have one or two successful year classes every five or six years or so to maintain a high-quality population.”
From 1978 to 2002, the DNR conducted these surveys in 19 out of 21 years, and 12 of these 19 years had walleye recruitment > 20/mile, and the average recruitment was 45.9 age-0 walleye/mile during this period
Since 2003, DNR recruitment surveys, which were conducted in 14 of the 22 years, indicated an average of 9.9 age-0 walleye per mile.
“This is the problem that we need to fix,” Matzke said. “You just can’t maintain a walleye population with that low of a walleye recruitment.”
And when it comes to explaining this population decline, Matzke detailed that it’s due to the species in the lake lacking proper spawning conditions. The DNR has attempted to address the problem by stocking the lake with walleye during stocking events.
The DNR had started a stocking program for Franklin Lake once they noticed the natural walleye recruitment had dropped off, and adult abundance was in significant decline, starting with one private stocking event in 1988.
Matzke explained that the DNR had also started stocking the lake with fry from 2005 to 2007, thinking that one big boost would help the population, as a similar method had been used on Butternut Lake in the past.
“When that didn’t work, we tried 2-inch-long fingerlings, and when that didn’t work, we started stocking the lake with large fingerling walleye, about 7 to 8 inches, in 2014,” he said. “We continued to stock the lake on an annual basis at a rate of 10 fingerling walleye per acre every stocking event — totalling approximately 8,900 per event. As you can see from our most recent adult population estimate (from this spring), these stocking events have not worked either.”
The proposition for the development of a walleye spawning reef in the lake started when the DNR was approached by members of the public asking for help with the walleye population decline.
Matzke had proposed the project after going over all the data from a comprehensive survey conducted in 2014. The project never occurred, he said, because it lacked support from the Lake Association at the time.
The Association and the DNR will be hosting a public meeting in August - though a date has not been announced yet, but updates can be found on the Franklin Lake Improvement Association Facebook page - to seek further public input.
“Nothing has really changed with the previous proposal,” said Matzke. “We would still propose to place the reef in the same area we proposed last time (at the northeast shore of the lake), the only difference now is that we don’t have funding lined up from the project. So there is a group of people who want to see this walleye habitat work done, and they have been trying to drum up funding for the project.”
The project was originally proposed to be a joint effort between the United States Forest Service (USFS), Sokoagon Chippewa Community (SCC) and the DNR. The current project would still include the collaboration of these three parties, but the Association is still in the early stages of this project, which is dependent on public support and funding.
According to Matzke, all three parties combined this year to do another full comprehensive survey of the lake to see if there have been any major changes to the fish community that would give the project a lower chance of success.
“The 2025 survey shows that the fish community is still in a very similar place to 2014,” said Matzke, “and appears to be an ideal situation for this walleye project.”
SCC, the DNR and the Jungle Lake Association conducted a walleye reef project similar to what is being proposed for Franklin Lake on Jungle Lake in Forest County this past winter.
“It is different because it is much smaller and the fish community is quite different on Jungle Lake,” said Matzke.
The project is to place a proper spawning substrate for walleye where the majority of the walleye population attempts to spawn.
The reef would consist of a layer of rock spread along the shoreline in the northeast part of the lake.
What Matzke hopes will happen is that fertilized eggs will be deposited in the rocky substrate rather than on sand, which is what currently happens.
“This gives the eggs a chance to hatch,” he said. “If it’s successful, we would see year classes of walleye produced naturally within Franklin Lake, and hopefully achieve a high-density walleye population — which would be about three adults per acre. If we were to be successful, the lake would have more adult walleye, which pairs quite well with the current low-to-moderate abundance of smallmouth bass, which is about 1.86 adults per acre, and a low abundance of northern pike, which is about 1.26 adults per acre.
Matzke added that he doesn’t expect major changes to happen to either of these game fish populations with this project, though they may decline in abundance with the addition of more walleye.
“However, we want the smallmouth and pike populations to remain low, as a lower abundance would improve size structure and provide an even greater trophy opportunity,” he explained.
A plan would be put in place to monitor the fishery if the walleye reef were installed to document changes in the fishery, according to Matzke.
“Our surveys show that the yellow perch population is not very abundant (but similar to population sizes in 2014), but the lake has an abundant population of rock bass, white sucker, bluegill and other minnow species that will probably be the main forage for walleye,” he said.
Those interested in learning more about or looking to support the conservation efforts of the Franklin Lake Improvement Association, visit their Facebook page or email them at franklinlakeimprovement@gmail.com.
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All donations are tax-deductible as the Franklin Lake Improvement Association is a verified 501(C)(3) charitable organization.
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