So, first a little history. This is a 53 acre fishing lake that was built back in 1996 by the duck club that formerly owned the property. It was stocked at that time and has not been restocked since. Original stocking included BG, LMB, and Blue Catfish (sorry, not up on all my abbreviations yet). I'm not sure what else they stocked besides grass carp some years later. Other species in the lake include Crappie, Shellcrackers (I'm guessing part of the original stocking), Channel Cats, Bowfin, Gar, and Buffalo. Many of those either survived from the original sloughs that were dug out and connected to form the lake or came through the re-lift when we add water out of the bayou.
We bought this place in 2015 to have a place for the entire family to duck hunt, the lake is a much-welcomed bonus and enables us to use the property year-round.
The last electro-survey was done in 2007, so it was time. I've kept some decent catch records and relative weights over the years, but I needed to know the entire situation. We've kept everything between 10"-15" based on the previous biologist's recommendations.
I called the Arkansas Game & Fish fisheries office for information and they are so low on biologists, that they all basically cover at least 10 counties and are months if not a year out from where they could help you.
Enter Pond Boss.
I placed a call to the Pond Boss headquarters. Keep in mind that I've basically studied old Pond Boss articles by Bob Lusk and several colleagues religiously since we acquired the fishing lake. After leaving a message with the nice lady who answered the phone (I believe it was their bookkeeper), I was pleasantly surprised to get a call back from Bob Lusk himself! We set the wheels in motion to set up an electrofishing survey and he put me in touch with Shawn over at American Sportfish.
Well, that survey took place yesterday morning and I got to be the net man! I've always wanted to go on one of those boats and it was especially nice to get it done on my own fishing lake.
We picked up 21 LMB, 61 BG, 4 SC, and 11 CR. Now I'm anxiously awaiting the results to be compiled.
Initial off-the-cuff recommendation from Shawn is to lower our slot limit and remove every LMB under 13", but he will be sending me a detailed report soon. We are also thinking about adding some F1 Hybrid LMB to update the genetics and have a better chance at growing bigger LMB.
To clearly state it, I want to grow some LMB to double-digits.
Our BG population was far better than expected due to the large amount of cover we have in the lake. There are a lot of downed logs and stumps, so many you can't avoid running into them in your boat. I was pleased to know we had plenty of food for our LMB to eat, but I'm still curious on the verdict of the size classes of prey.
So the report came in a few weeks back and we're moving forward with updating the genetics in our lake. Stocking roughly 50 Tiger Bass (1st Generation FL/Northern strain hybrid) per acre this year and next to upgrade genetics as well as some threadfin shad and possibly copper nose BG. I'm working on the order with Bob and Shawn now. Going to look at supplemental feed for our forage fish as well to get them over the 3"-5" mark (where the majority were).
To say I'm excited as to where this will lead is an understatement. I can't wait to get started and see the results in the future.
