By Capt. Cefus McRae, Nuts & Bolts of Fishing Series
When you consider the size of our regional lakes, coastal areas and the offshore blue waters, there’s a lot of water for fish to be living in. Someone once said; “100% of the fish are in 10% of the water”. Lake Lanier, for instance, is 38,000 acres or 59 square miles of surface water. Now try to figure out which 10% of that water is holding fish at any given time.
The next logicial question becomes; “Which 10% of the water holds the fish?” And how many fish of legal size are actually swimming down there?
The opportunity arose recently to take a ride on the Georgia DNR electro-fishing boat with Chris Looney, a fisheries technician with GA DNR. Capt. Mack Farr and I would be the ‘net-men’ while Chris operated the electro-fishing apparatus. This would be a mission to survey the striped bass population in Lanier, and it was quite eye-opening.
We started upriver, working shallow points and humps in the backs of major creek channels. The electro-fishing machine has two long probes which produce an adjustable current that essentially stuns fish within a 12 foot perimeter of the probes. Mack and I had nets on long fiberglass poles to retrieve the fish that came to the surface and place them in the livewell. After a couple minutes, the stunned fish recovered and were happily swimming in the well.
It was amazing to see the quantities and sizes of fish we captured and where they were congregating, many in less than five feet of water. We observed striped bass, white bass, largemouth bass, spotted bass, crappie, bream and a plethora of assorted baitfish like gizzard shad, threadfin and blueback herring. Capt. Mack netted a mondo largemouth bass that tipped the scales at over seven pounds. But today we were on a striper mission, so the other fish (once recovered) went back in the lake.
Once we had a dozen or so fish in the well, Chris would stop the boat to conduct the data entry part of the survey. He examined every fish for condition, length, and weight, and Capt. Mack marked that on the data sheets. Then Chris pulled a single scale from each striper. Striper scales have growth rings so they can be accurately aged back at the lab.
Part of the purpose of these surveys is to see how the fish from each stocking year are doing. Are there more three pound fish than six pound fish? That might be an indicator that the stocking from several years ago had more attrition than a more recent stocking. This accumulation of data gives the DNR, and us anglers, a pretty accurate forecast for what we can expect to be catching over the coming years. It also lets the DNR project how they should be conducting future stockings of fingerling stripers. Based on the numbers of fish in the four to six pound range we observed, Lake Lanier striper anglers should be in for some great fishing, both in weight and in numbers in the next year or two.
After a day on the water with Chris, I asked why he wasn’t a fishing guide. He simply said this is what he enjoys doing, and has a deep commitment to maintaining vibrant fisheries throughout the state. These professionals are out there every day, doing their best to manage our natural resources in a responsible way. It’s often an under-appreciated job. So the next time you see a person with a DNR patch on their shirt or jacket, tell them “thanks”, and maybe they will give you some insight on where the fish are too.