Every community needs a lake that is used for kids, handicapped and elderly fishing. I’m not kidding about this. Think about your community. We already do a lot of different things. We have kids fishing days. Here in Sioux Falls, SD Fisheries puts trout into a swimming pool and lets elderly catch them on a special day. In Des Moines they stock a city lake with large bullheads and have a huge kids fishing day. This is all great and I hope that we can add to the ways we can bring fishing to people, especially kids.
There are many organizations, local governments or private individuals that might want to provide this type of fishing to their communities. I’m thinking about the Izaak Walton League, fishing or sportsman clubs or maybe someone that is retired like me. If people get the idea that this is possible and needed, how will they manage their lakes? Typical fisheries techniques aren’t really designed for this type of fishing. The best size of lake for this type of fishing is probably less than 10 acres. That is exactly the size lake that Pond Boss is developing expertise in managing.
The walleye/yellow perch component of our lake isn’t doing well. However, in South Dakota, everyone is walleye crazy. Even if our walleyes are 14 inches and skinny I’ll keep them in the lake just because everyone is so excited that they caught a walleye. Around here, catching a bass doesn’t mean much to most people.
I’m making an assumption that the people that subscribe to and read Pond Boss just don’t dump a bunch of fish into their lake and let it go. For the many people that let their lakes go, the simplest system is the best. For Pond Boss subscribers though, some of these ideas might be applicable.
To me, a game fish is any species that is easy to clean and easy to cook. I hate this bias. When many people in South Dakota catch goldeyes, they slit their throats and throw them back. In Canada, they are considered the tarpon of the north and Winnipeg smoked goldeye are considered a delicacy. When people catch a goldeye in our lake, I get all excited and congratulate them on their catch. The same with drum and redhorse. The redhorse are so brightly colored it is almost like catching an ornamental fish. Skipjack herring just barely get to South Dakota but if I could get them, I would put a few in the lake immediately.
When I talk about having these different species in our lake, many people think I’m talking about hundreds of them. In fact, I’m only talking about 15-30 individuals. That is enough for people to catch them sometimes but not enough that they affect the dynamics of the lake that much.
There is one other variable that many people don’t consider. Our lake has very high fishing pressure. This fishing pressure affects how we have to manage as much or more than many of the other variables.
The most important thing this lake has forced me to do is analyze why things work or don’t work. Then I write down every way I can think of that might help make the situation work. Maybe some of these ideas will help you also.
Here are some things I’ve had to manage: crappie populations, managing groups of species, high fishing pressure, use of other species than LMB and bluegills, keeping fish biting all the time, stocking subadult fish, costs of managing a lake and much more.
