# Big Zander



## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Bruce Shanenko of Valley City nailed a 6-11 Zander in Spiritwood Lake last week. That might be the biggest Zander caught in ND. NDGF is mounting it for him. Would like to see pics of this fish. He took it on a silver spinner and crawler.


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

Okay what is a Zander??


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

In the early 80s NDGF stocked zander in Spiritwood as an experiment. They look and act very much like a walleye, but do better in turbid water than a walleye. Imported from Netherlands. If I remember right the first fry were hit by salamanders pretty hard, and the second year there was a disease which made G&F destroy the batch. No stockings since. Most people were excited about the opportunity that zander would have brought, but of course down stream folks were very leery. It is tough to tell them apart from a walleye without a good picture.


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## gandergrinder (Mar 10, 2002)

Here is a good link about them.
http://www.pikezander.co.uk/zander.htm


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## Ryan_Todd (Apr 11, 2004)

i remember reading an article about them in In-Fisherman a couple issue's back. they believed that the zander was completly wiped out because no one had reported catching on in many years. they should have tried them in the red.


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## Southwest Fisher (May 14, 2004)

Thank you, Pork Chop, I thought that it may be a trick and was waiting for someone else to ask the question!


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## Leo Porcello (Jul 10, 2003)

No problem. I guess I am curious like a cat!

Thanks Dick for the explanation!


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## tsodak (Sep 7, 2002)

Gene had a stack of photos on his desk of that fish, next week I will see if I can find a digital copy of them and post them up.

Tom


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Posted on Tue, Jul. 13, 2004

Angler's catch likely a rare zander

Spiritwood Lake produces 6.6-pound fish; zander a European cousin to walleye

By Brad Dokken

Herald Staff Writer

A Valley City, N.D., angler has caught what appears to be the first naturally produced zander to come from North Dakota waters since the state Game and Fish Department stocked the European walleye cousins into Spiritwood Lake in the late 1980s.

Bruce Shanenko of Valley City was fishing the 450-acre lake near Jamestown, N.D., on June 27, when he caught the zander while trolling with a spinner and nightcrawler in 16 feet of water. The rare fish later measured 26.6 inches and tipped the scale at 6.6 pounds.

Gene Van Eeckhout, district fisheries biologist for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department in Jamestown, N.D., said the fish will be genetically tested to confirm its identity, but all indications suggest the fish is a zander. He said Monday that results from aging and genetics tests should be available within a month or so.

A first-time angler on Spiritwood, Shanenko says he was fishing with his wife, Jeannie, son Eric and daughter-in-law Kristi, of Jamestown, when the fish hit.

"I no more than dropped my line in the water," he said Monday.

Shanenko said that the fish fought like a larger walleye, but as soon as it approached the surface, he said he could see it was more of a silvery color.

"We could see it really good, so we knew right away" it wasn't a walleye, he said.

European natives

The largest members of the perch family, zander are native to Europe and resemble walleyes in appearance. They've been known to reach weights of more than 20 pounds in European waters. Unlike walleyes, however, zander have spots on their dorsal fins similar to saugers, and they don't have the white tips on their tails like walleyes do. Zander also have more of a humped back, and the lateral line that helps fish hear is more pronounced.

"The exterior signs are pretty obvious," Van Eeckhout of the Game and Fish Department said. "Even on smaller fish."

Shanenko says he might have just released the fish if he'd brought the camera he normally carries in the boat for photographing larger fish. Figuring he'd landed "something different," however, he decided to boat back to the landing to fetch the camera; that's where he saw the sign requesting anglers not release any fish they think might be a zander and report the catch to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Troubled past

The Game and Fish Department's experiment with zander dates back to 1987, when former director Dale Henegar launched a program to introduce the European fish into Spiritwood Lake. Considered an exotic species in the United States, zander thrive in the kinds of turbid water found in many North Dakota lakes. Published reports at the time called the zander effort one of Henegar's pet programs.

The zander initiative hit rough water, though, when neighboring states Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota and the province of Manitoba worried about the potential impact of stocking the European species. Game and Fish destroyed the first batch of zander eggs, imported from Holland, in 1987, over concerns they carried a disease that was deadly to northern pike, Van Eeckhout said. Tests later showed the eggs to be disease-free.

The next year, Game and Fish obtained zander eggs from Finland, but salamanders and extreme heat apparently combined to destroy the 300,000 zander fry before they could be stocked, published reports said. Game and Fish then stocked 180,000 fry and 1,050 fingerlings into Spiritwood Lake in 1989 before scrapping the project in 1990.

Limited returns

According to Van Eeckhout, test nettings in subsequent years produced only a few samples of zander, the most recent being a single smaller fish in 2000 and another in 2002.

Shanenko's catch, however, is especially significant because it marks the first angler-reported zander to come from Spiritwood Lake since a Jamestown man caught an 8½-inch, 2.3-ounce zander in February 1990, the winter after Game and Fish stocked the fingerlings.

"This has to be natural reproduction," Van Eeckhout said. "That's the only thing we can surmise. We have to conclude there's at least one male and one female out there."

Mixed views

Van Eeckhout says the recent catch is both exciting and cause for concern, especially with the emphasis on halting the spread of exotic fish species in waters across the country. Spiritwood Lake is part of the James River system and since 1997 has spilled over into Alkali Lake and downstream waters that eventually flow into the Missouri River.

"We know Spiritwood Lake has overflowed since 1997," Van Eeckhout said. "What we didn't realize was that (zander) were reproducing."

It's not likely any of the fish could have gotten into the Red River watershed, however, he said.

Van Eeckhout said the Game and Fish Department is having the fish mounted for Shanenko and occasionally will borrow the mount for display. Karla Slusher of J&K Taxidermy of Fargo, where the zander is being mounted, said she'd seen pictures of zander before, but this will be their first time working on one. The mount should be ready in 8 to 10 months, she said.

"From the taxidermy standpoint, it's very similar to a walleye," Slusher said. "It's just a different breed of fish ... just like a walleye on steroids."

Shanenko, meanwhile, likely will carry the memory of his first trip to Spiritwood Lake for a long time to come.

"It's kind of exciting when you catch something that's not supposed to be there," he said.


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

Wow!

First time in 7-8 years I have heard of a Zander coming out of Spiritwood. There were a couple smaller ones caught in the early 1990s as I recall, and at Wal-Mart in Jmst there are signs to report them. Glad Shank was representing the fishermen of the Valley City area!


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