Likes Likes:  0
Thanks Thanks:  0
HaHa HaHa:  0
Page 11 of 11 FirstFirst ... 891011
Results 101 to 102 of 102

Thread: Pond Mgmt 101

  1. #101
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    3,389
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Fall Electro-Fishing Survey -Hinton


    Yesterday I performed a fall survey of the 10 acre canyon lake near Hinton,Okla. A shock boat was brought in from our wildlife department and we determined the condition or health of the lake. We netted 28 LM bass from 4" to 14"and 2 black crappie that averaged 13.5". What did this tell us? The results told us that: 1) There is very little reproduction that is surviving to adulthood because there are too many bass. 2) There is not enough fishing pressure to remove some of the bass. 3) We found no sign of any small crappie again too many bass. Their appears to be no recruitment/reproduction of crappie. Everything is being canabilized by the adults.

    What is missing from this equation? Where are the forage fish aka perch? AAHHHH, good question. THIS is the underlying problem as I have previously discussed. NO forage fish/food fish = stunted fish or fish that are "stuck" at 1 length. If the viewer has been following my posts will recall that I have been trapping copper nosed bluegill throughout this summer and stocking them in this pond. Yesterday I trapped 146 CN bluegill and released them in the lake. This brings a total of approx. 836 CN bluegill, 7 adult pairs of redear, and 10 pairs of adult northern bluegill into the lake.

    We have harvested approx 385 LM bass from the pond in the last 2 years. The goal is to remove 200 bass/year so we are close and the year is not over.

    The electro fishing survey clearly showed us that the CN bluegill are reproducing as we found small clouds of 1/2" fry in the shallows. They appear to be from a September spawn. Our plan is working, we are moving forward,
    and we will reach our goal within 2 years.

    The water was cold and the fish were deep as it took some time for the fish to float up. We are going to reshock this lake in the spring when the water is warmer and see if we can locate any small crappie. Due to the cold water we were not able to shock up any channel cats. It is my understanding that the lake contains some very large channels cats in the 10 - 15 pound range. We will see.

    The 2010 plan is too continue trapping and stocking CN bluegill until we can clearly find evidence of small bluegill in the shallows of various lengths. When we see lots and lots of small bluegill then we will discontinue the stocking program. We will continue to harvest 200 bass/year.

    Viewers can see that this project is labor intensive and requires dedication to reach our goal. The pond owners and I will prevail. I hope that in several years I can crawl into my tube and start catching bass AND CN bluegill of various lengths and know that I was able to make a difference.

    In closing, I wish to thank Mr. John Stahl, ODWC Senior Fisheries Supervisor, for his guidance,patience and friendship in this project. His dedication to helping Oklahoma sportsmen is unnoticed by all but a few. His work ethic is strong and he is a proud man yet humble. He was presented with a plaque this year from the Oklahoma Wildlife Federation for his service to the sportsmen and sportswomen of Oklahoma. A job well done. He has over 30 years of service.

    Stay tuned, in a couple of days, I will post the results of the fall electro - fishing survey of the the Piedmont lake project that we completed late yesterday.

  2. #102
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Oklahoma City
    Posts
    3,389
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Fall Electro - Fishing Survey Piedmont

    The Piedmont survey was quite revealing. We had suspected that there were alot of large bluegill and redear in the lake. The results showed that the lake was full of bluegills and redears averaging 8 -9". We found a few green sunfish and 17 LM bass. The largest bass was 9.5". We did not locate any crappie probably because the water was so cold and they were too deep and out of range. Same with the channel cats.

    Ok, so what does this information tell us.

    1) We are overloaded with bluegill and redear.

    2) The recruitment of the sunfish is marginal at best because the young are being cannibalized by the adults.

    3) The bass population is almost non existant and the young appear to be food for the adults.

    4) Since we did not locate any crappie of any size, I assume that they are in the same shape. Little or no recruitment because of cannibalization of the young.

    Now what do we do?

    1) We fish down the bluegill and redear.

    2) Start stocking some larger bass from the Hinton Lake and not harvest any bass.

    3) Transfer alot more redear from this pond to the Hinton Lake to build up the population there and help control the snail population.

    4)Since there is no habitat in this pond to protect the fry we stocked the pond with hornwort. Hornwort is a common native pond weed that can be purchased at PETSMART or other pet stores. This weed free floats and reproduces by breaking into pieces. I took 1/3 trash bag of weed and broke it into approx 4" segments and tossed it into the pond. The weed will disperse throughout the pond and will slowly grow over the winter. Next Fall we should see the effect of this planting. This will also help in taking up excess nutrients which will rob some of the algae of food and help clear the water.
    It is expected that in 2 years there will be a vibrant growth of hornwort around the pond and all the various fry will have a place to hide and grow. We should then see various sizes of fish being caught in 3 years.

    5) We may plant waterwillow in the pond around the edges also to provide hiding places.

    In Spring of 2010 we will probably electro-fish both this pond and the Hinton lake to see what crappie,catfish and bass that we may have missed look like. We will remove any carp that we find and dispose of them.
    We will continue stocking coppernose bluegill in the Hinton lake and adult redear until we see lots of small CN in the shallows. We probably will set perch traps in the Hinton lake shallows to see what we can trap. This is just to monitor the progress from this years stocking.

    The owner of the Piedmont pond and I are considering having a childrens fishing clinic in the Spring to give some terminally ill children a day of fun and removing alot of big perch

    The two lake owners and myself deeply appreciate the assistance of Mr. John Stahl, ODWC* senior fisheries supervisor, and Mr. Keith Thomas, ODWC* fisheries biologist, for their help and guidance this year.

    * Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

Page 11 of 11 FirstFirst ... 891011

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

BACK TO TOP