Jul. 25--As floodwaters in Waukesha County lakes and streams subside, the state has resumed its annual summer rite of stocking inland waters with large amounts of game fish -- the latest event happening this week in the channel that connects Upper and Lower Nemahbin Lakes, where about 4,400 northern pike fingerings were deposited.

The Department of Natural Resources annually stocks dozens of lakes in Waukesha County with pike, muskies and trout to improve fisheries that are vital to the health of waterways and sport fishing in southeastern Wisconsin, said Randy Schumacher, regional fisheries biologist for the state.

This season, more than 20 lakes will receive varying number of pike, a top predatory fish, said Sue Beyler, a state fisheries biologist.

Schumacher stressed that fish stocking happens only in waterways that have adequate access to the public.

State fish biologists have monitored fish concentrations in Waukesha County lakes since the early 1930s, and they recommend which aquatic populations need to be replenished, Schumacher said.

The fish come from state fish hatcheries.

The pike put into the Nemahbins, lakes that straddle I-94 west of Delafield, were 3- to 6-inch-long fingerlings, Beyler said.

It takes six to eight years to reach the legal bag limit of 26 inches, she said.