Good for walleye, but not so great for perch or pike.

That was the assessment of Sask Environment this week after doing a "fish count" of Nickle Lake, with the assistance of members of the Weyburn Wildlife Federation, last Wednesday and Thursday.

As part of the project, a net measuring roughly 60 metres in length was cast on Nickle Lake on Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, a group of Sask Environment and Wildlife Federation members hauled in the net and counted the fish that were caught.

Allan McCutcheon of Sask Environment said the number of walleye caught, about 18 in total, indicated a good population of the fish. Walleye were the main species of concern for their survey, he noted.

But while walleye populations were good, the populations of pike and perch were rated as poor. McCutcheon said only about two pike and two perch of "catchable" size (smaller perch are not considered in the survey) were caught. Compared to other lakes, this was below the average.

McCutcheon said this was the first time since roughly 1996 that a survey of Nickle Lake's fish population had been done by the province. However, this is just part of routine surveillance done by Sask Environment at lakes around Saskatchewan.