Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Spring Electrofishing TN

Seeking some guidance regarding a spring electrofishing survey. We have it booked for May 4, 2026. My thought is post LMB spawn, pre CNBG spawn. Hoping to achieve minimal disruption. Normal water temp will be 70 degrees. We have extremely clear, low alkalinity water with a mid 6 PH. It's a 54 acre lake, last shock survey was Fall of 2017...Thoughts, Thanks!

Mike Henning

That seems early, to me, for the LMB spawn, but if that's what you've experienced, then so be it.

I wonder what the actual effect would be on LMB or Bluegill, spawn wise, from an electroshock survey. The fish are incapacitated for only a few minutes, so I would think they would only be affected if they were actually dropping the milt or inseminating the eggs.

However, maybe the electricity would so something to the eggs.

Would be good to hear from an expert on this one.

Did you observe the 2017 survey?

I believe they will only sample a very small portion of the total lake area. (I am not an expert, but have watched our State guys doing surveys on large reservoirs.)

I think it is more important to be flexible on the date to make sure you are sampling under conditions that are close to optimal. If you get a big rain in your watershed two days before the scheduled date, the lake will be muddy and way up the banks. The fish will also be moved out of their normal environments - which is where the samplers know to go shock.

P.S. We do have a couple of electroshock experts on the forum. If you don't hear from any of them in a few months, then you might make another entry to bump this post to the top again. For the cost of a survey, you definitely want to make sure it is done right.

Yes, I participated in our 2017 survey...Your " optimal time " thought in regard to temp, weather, spawns, is what we hope to get right.

Spawn slots are historically accurate; I can better determine when we begin spring feeding in early April.

IIRC e-shock surveys sample about 10% of the total fish population. Water clarity and temp plays a HUGE role in success rates. Even if it was during the BG spawn, you can turn off the juice and motor around the BG spawning areas. Shocking part of an area would be a good indicator of BG size, and because of their fecundity, I don't think that it would make much of an impact on that years spawn. There would be so many fish stunned that you couldn't scoop them all before you ran out of room in the boat.