For the second year in a row, Department of Natural Resources biologists will tag and release 1,500 one-year old muskies into Lake Webster to boost the lake’s sagging muskie population.

The fish normally would have been stocked last fall but were held over winter in a pond and fed live minnows at the Fawn River State Hatchery in the hopes of increasing their chance for survival.

Before stocking, each muskie will be tagged with a transponder that enables biologists to track the long-term growth of each fish and compare its survival with muskies stocked in the fall.

Biologists say if the larger, older muskies eventually survive better at Lake Webster, similar stockings could be done at other Indiana waters.