nehunter,

Costs can be prohibitive when managing a big lake yours. I would like to mention a few things for perspective on the bullheads. LMB can control them but they are not ideal predators for them. In aged waters, bullheads typically are correlated with low standing weights of LMB. I don't know why that is ... it is one of those questions .... like so many others ... I would like to know a lot more about.

What would help you most would be a predator that prefers bullheads above other prey and would also be an effective predator of the common carp. This requires a powerful predator and the best one for the task would be the flathead catfish. Around the management of them, they would probably be ideal at standing weight between 20 and 36 lbs/acre which is typically all the weight of them most waters can actually support sustainably. They won't become exceptionally dense. Once they begin to achieve weights > than 15 lbs they would thin themselves down to between 1 or 2 flatheads per acre if their density were higher than that.

I would give this predator some consideration. They will prefer bullheads above all else. They will effectively prey on them in turbid waters. They will also consume many carp. To be sure, they will also eat LMB, smaller wipers, lepomis and walleye. These seem to be the desired species in your lake. However, you have to also think about how these same species are impacted by the bullheads and carp. Chances are good, that these populations, at least the reproducing species would fare "as well" with flathead due to interactions these populations have with the unwanted bullhead and carp. It is possible, that desired species might actually benefit from their presence. I feel pretty confident to say that lepomis will benefit particularly from a predator that prefers bullheads in waters that support bullheads preferentially.

68 acres is a lot of water and this makes fishing and trapping a non starter for controlling bullheads. Whatever you have now is what you will always have unless you change the game in a meaningful way. Bullheads and carp are running roughshod in your fishery. Were it me, given the amount of water you have, I would just go to war with these two with a predator that can do the job. Were it me, I would stock between 100 and 200 7" or larger Flathead. It will take a few years depending on the weight of these fish when you stock to get the desired result. This will in part depend on their size when you stock them. You'd see favorable results in as little as 3 years if they were 5lbs at stocking. It would take longer if they were advanced fingerlings. But you would know how many you stocked and could track their growth and when you get to the point you can estimate their weight at 25 lbs/acre you should see some favorable results. The water should be clearing, the size of BH should be larger, and growth of LMB, wipers, etc should be better. BG, RES and other lepomis should be more abundant. All you have left to do is manage the flathead, this is something you could do with fishing. You need to harvest around 1/4 to 1/3 of the standing weight of flathead every year (around 6 to 10 lbs/acre-year at standings weights that your lake can likely support). Try to concentrate Flatheads larger than 15 lbs for harvest.

I once saw where a person could purchase 7" FH for $12 each. So something like this might be in your budget. There are a lot of horror stories out there about flathead and I would just say this. If you don't harvest the FH, they can outgrow the lake's ability to support them. But such would be less the fault of the FH and more the fault of insufficient harvest management. FH will come with their own management requirement and this isn't a utopian scenario that can be left to its own devices. You seem to have an untenable situation with the BH and carp and what I am suggesting is a way to squeeze some lemonade and improve the situation at a reasonable cost.

Last edited by jpsdad; 09/24/20 03:34 AM.

It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers