This year’s sudden onset of spring allowed fisheries managers in North Dakota to collect northern pike eggs for stocking earlier than ever, but the recent cool-down has put walleye spawning on hold.

Randy Hiltner, eastern district fisheries supervisor for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Devils Lake, offered an update on the spawning run Tuesday night in Minto, N.D., during a spring meeting of the Game and Fish Department’s Advisory Board. Game and Fish holds the meetings every spring and fall in each of the state’s eight Advisory Board districts.

Hiltner said crews took pike eggs from Devils Lake in March — the earliest ever — but they have yet to  set the gear for walleyes. He said the onset of cold weather shut down the spawning run. It shouldn’t be long, though, before the run is back on track.

Pike typically spawn shortly after the ice goes out, while walleyes spawn slightly later at water temperatures from 42 to 50 degrees.