The Department of Natural Resources wants anglers to know that Fisheries Division staff will be on Lake Hudson in Lenawee County and Thornapple Lake in Barry County beginning the second week of April to collect eggs from muskellunge for the hatchery program.

"We'll begin looking for ripe females and once we find them, the operation shouldn't take more than a week or 10 days," said DNR Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit Supervisor Jay Wesley. "We need about 1.5 million eggs -- about 33 quarts --and it takes fewer than 40 females to get that many."

DNR Fisheries personnel will be out every day until the egg collection is complete. The eggs and milt will be collected on site and the fish will be immediately returned to the lake.

Fisheries personnel will set trap nets within 100 feet of shore in shallow water. Nets are marked with multiple fluorescent orange floats. Boaters should avoid the areas where they see the floats.