This is an update of our multispecies lake that we started in 2000. An article about this lake appeared in the July/August 2004 issue of Pond Boss magazine.
This lake is at Worthing, SD, 15 miles south of Sioux Falls, SD. It is a quarry from which clay has been mined. The first half of the lake was dug out and piled up in 7 islands and a large berm around the island. The other half of the lake has been hauled away. As someone wanted clay and would pay to dig it and haul it away, the lake got bigger. This lake was finally finished in 2005. The final lake has 4 acres of water and about 1½ acres of land in the 7 islands.
The species stocked in this lake are: LMB, SMB, HSB, white bass, rock bass, bluegill, hybrid bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish, white crappie, black crappie, channel catfish, walleye, sauger, yellow perch, freshwater drum, goldeye, shorthead redhorse, white suckers and sterile grass carp. This is a total of 20 species.
This is a put, grow and take fishery except that we really don’t take any fish to eat. If I can get one more year of life out of a fish, that is one more year before I have to replace it. This achieves our goal of giving kids, handicapped and elderly the opportunity to catch a wide variety of species. We want a very high catch rate of moderately sized fish.
In 2004, Dave Willis had a couple of his students survey this lake as part of a class project. They found that the only reproduction was by the bluegill although by fishing, we have found very limited reproduction by LMB. That means I must add every other species to keep up their population.
We have two Stren feeders using Aquamax 600 feed. We see LMB, SMB, HSB, hybrid bluegills, bluegills, goldeyes and catfish using this feed. I’m assuming that the redhorse and white suckers are also eating the pellets after they sink.
There are two parts to my evaluation of our lakes. The first is how do different species contribute to the fishing experience of our guests. The second is how do different species compete with the other species.
This is my evaluation of different species in terms of their contribution to the experience of our guests. I’m listing the species form most to least in their contribution.
SMB: easy to catch, fight well even at a 10” size and are an attractive fish.
HSB: same as above.
HBG: very pretty, fight very well, aggressive. Most of our fish are 9-10” and look big.
BG: not as pretty or big as HBG but more plentiful. Easy to catch in summer on small worms.
Rock Bass: dependable, big red eyes that are fun to show people. Many fish over 10”, which is trophy size in SD.
Crappie, both black and white: seasonal in spring and fall. In season are easy to catch and all are over 10”.
LMB: lower catch rate than other species but we always catch a few with each group. Usually the biggest fish caught by each group. If we actually fish for them, we have lots of 15-20” fish.
Walleye: in the cooler times of the year, we catch quite a few. Everyone is walleye crazy around here and so it is a big deal that they caught them.
White suckers: fairly easy to catch with worms on the bottom. Fight hard and are pretty.
Channel catfish: are too big for the fishing tackle we use. We will probably set up one rod heavy enough for them. Fun to watch feeding on top.
Goldeyes: aren’t usually found in the part of the lake where we take our groups. Probably the most fun species to catch in our lake.
Pumpkinseeds: absolutely beautiful and we catch them occasionally.
Freshwater drum and shorthead redhorse: both beautiful species that fight hard. We catch them occasionally with worms on the bottom.
White bass: probably not enough open water forage, out competed by the HSB.
Yellow perch and green sunfish: almost eliminated by predation.
Sauger: only about 5-10 in lake and we catch them occasionally as something different.
Sterile grass carp: we see them occasionally but have never caught one.
The most important thing that we notice after 5 years is the complete dominance of predators. This is especially true for baby fish up to about the 2-inch size. After 2-inches, the LMB, SMB, walleye and catfish take over. Actually, the really heavy competition for forage occurs for the forage occurs for the prey under 2 inches.
In any situation, there are always winners and losers. In our lake, yellow perch and green sunfish have almost been eliminated by predation. Most white bass have died, probably due to a lack of forage. In the cool parts of the season, the walleye, sauger and crappie do very well and are in very good shape. Towards the end of summer, they are very skinny. The LMB, SMB, HSB, HBG, BG and rock bass are always in good condition. From feeding, the catfish are extremely fat.
From all of this, I’ve come up with the following restocking plan. Bigger fish are always better than small to survive predation.
Bluegills reproduce enough for a self-sustaining population.
SMB, at least 50 per year. Must be at least 8” to survive predation. I have a small grow out lake but will buy them if I have to.
HSB, about 50 per year if I can get them. Must be at least 6-8” to survive predation.
HBG, I would put in 100 a year if I could get them. Very difficult to find them at the 5-6” size.
LMB, I want to watch the lake more. We might be getting enough reproduction now.
Rock bass are a great species in our lake. I’ll put in 50-100 per year. Must be 5-6 inches.
Walleye must be at least 14 inches not just to survive predation but also to move up to a little bigger size prey. 10-20 per year.
Sauger, as I can get them which is not often.
Crappie about 25 black and 25 white per year. Must be 6-8” to survive.
Channel catfish eat a lot of pellets and take up a lot of biomass in our lake. I’ll add only 5-10 per year.
Pumpkinseeds are beautiful and I am trying to raise them in a small grow out pond along with SMB. As many as I can get.
Freshwater drum, white suckers and shorthead redhorse are all fun and the white suckers will reproduce producing forage although almost all of their young will be eaten. Ten to 20 of each per year.
White bass, I would try some more but mark them to see how they survive.
Goldeyes, I love them! I will put in 10-25 per year just for me, they are so much fun to catch.
Yellow perch are probably close to gone from our lake. If I get a chance, I’d put in about 25 each year just to get their very early spawn.
Green sunfish are close to gone and I will just let them die out.
I don’t know about more sterile grass carp. I’ll just have to see how things go.
Paddlefish, if I can get some pellet-trained ones big enough to survive, I’ll do it. People would love to watch them.
This is a very long post, I know, but maybe something in here will give someone else some ideas.
