I haven’t posted any updates on the Satinfin shiners or spawning devices because there has been nothing to report. It seems that in my neck of the woods the Satinfin spawn until the end of June. There were a few shiners spotted at the lake the last couple of times but the spawning devices were eggless. I’m hoping the adult shiners (about 20 total) will provide a sustainable population in the future. In 2022 we will resume the adult/spawning devices in the April-May timeframe. Next on the agenda is to catch threadfin shad and 25-35 SMB this fall to put in the big pond.
In other news, the vegetation in the big pond has been great for the forage fish. The sheer numbers of different minnows around the shoreline and dock is unbelievable. We removed 63 more BG this weekend by angling/trapping/cast net. I have been managing the cattails by pulling them out by the base and getting a lot of root. One odd thing did happen last weekend. In my forage pond the water had turned muddy. We put a minnow trap in to catch crayfish that I figured were the cause. I pulled approximately 35 crayfish out in the first trap set in about 3 foot of water. Next we put 4 traps in 5-8 foot of water. When we pulled them there were just a few crayfish and everything else including the tadpoles were dead. I’m assuming that a thermocline has set up and not enough dissolved oxygen was available to keep the fish alive. Am I correct in this assumption?