June 2013 Newsletter Robby Limerick - - Lake Manager. LAKE LU Fishing Newsletter

Transcription

1 June 2013 Newsletter Robby Limerick - - Lake Manager LAKE LU Fishing Newsletter

2 January March May July September November Inches of Rainfall Three year Rainfall Comparison Monthly Rainfall Monthly Rainfall 2011 Monthly Rainfall 2 0 June 2013 Fish Report Number of Anglers Number of Pounds of Number of Pounds of Bass Bass Bream Bream Monthly , Previous ,399 1,880 Calendar YTD 1, ,593 2, lb/bass Average lb/acre Average lb/bream lb/acre Average

3 January March May July September November Number of Anglers per month Average Three year Monthly Angler Attendance Comparison 2013 Angler Attendance 2012 Angler Attendance 2011 Angler Attendance

4 January March May July September November Number of Bream caught Number of Bass Caught Three year Bass Harvest Comparison 2013 Number of Bass Harvested 2012 Number of Bass Harvested 2011 Number of Bass Harvested Three year Bream Harvest Comparison Number of Bream Harvested 2012 Number of Bream Harvested 2011 Number of Bream Harvested Monthly Harvest Comparison Month June 2013 June 2012 Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream Pounds of Bream ,

5 June Calendar Year-to-Date Year Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream , , ,358 2,663 2, , ,539 2,388 1,642 6,592 P Fish Averages (Year-to-Date) lb/bass Average lb/acre lb/bream lb/acre Month/Year Average Average Average June June June

6 Lake Conditions Lake rainfall for the month of June 2013 was 6.2 inches of rainfall. If you look at the rainfall chart you see that June is typically a dry month. June 2013 was 3x wetter than any June in the past three years. I forecast copious amounts of tropical rainfall for the remainder of the summer. Lake water temperature was 81ºF on Lake Secchi is at 19 inches of visibility. For the past couple of years we have suspected an additional fertilizer input from an upstream cattle farm, so this year I purposely reduced the amount of fertilizer I put in the lake. By doing this I hoped to expand the lake s photic zone and increase dissolved oxygen levels to deeper portions of Lake LU. I related this to having to learn how to walk all over again, but I am learning. I took baby steps in the spring and will continue to take baby steps until my reign of

7 Visibility in Inches terror is complete. Below is a listing of our 2013 fertilization program as compared to the past two years. Year Fertilizer Amount Date Secchi Value gallons Now do not get confused and think that the amounts of fertilizer added were all at one application. Generally the lake is clear and will not bloom until after July 4 th. I used to think that the bloom coincided with the City of Livingston s annual Independence Day fireworks show. This year I put in 45 gallons in April, 6 gallons in May and 5 gallons in June. Remember my gallon, quart, cup method of fertilization I used WAY back in my youth? I have returned back to my old ways. Remember when I said I had to relearn how to walk. I have had to take everything I have learned for 15 years and just start over. It s very humbling. Also do not get confused and think that with a Secchi of 13 that I would EVER put any fertilizer in the lake. Generally the lake is about 36 of clarity each time I fertilize. The past two years in June when I would fertilize the lake s phytoplankton numbers would EXPLODE and the lake would go from inches all the way down to 13 and 9 inches of visibility! Nightmare! Since I have started throttling back on the fertilizer applications, I noticed a deeper photic zone, increased dissolved oxygen deeper into the lake, the lake doesn t stink like it used to in the summer, I don t have as many bad dreams and sleepless nights, AND FISHING IS AWESOME!!! Just check out some of the other charts and form your own hypothesis! 2013 Lake LU Secchi and Forecast Jan 15-Feb 15-Mar 15-Apr 15-May 15-Jun Secchi Values Linear (Secchi Values)

8 Above is a chart showing the 2013 Secchi Values for Lake LU. The straight line is a forecast trend line. Tim worked on a chart for me but his youthful and highly intelligent brain produced a chart that I could not understand. I had to make one that my aged and withered mind could comprehend. Thanks also for showing me how to edit the chart that I made. It seems that computer software is being developed faster than I can learn how to work it! Thanks for the great work Tim. You are a super assistant manager! I will miss you when you graduate and get married! I will have to search far and wide to find a replacement Tim. Bass Fishing

9 Last Friday, June 28, 2013, Jay Haffner called me and told me that based on his further review of the Lake LU fishing and electro-fishing data that UNLIMITED bass harvest would be allowed on bass LESS THAN 14 INCHES IN TOTAL LENGTH. Only one bass over 24 inches allowed per person per day. If you look at the monthly bass harvest you will see that there was a 5 x bass harvest for June 2013 versus the past two years. We are about 2,000 fish below our yearly average. It has been about 9 months since bass harvest was stopped and the bass and the anglers are ready! Happy fishing folks! It s going to be a bass bonanza!

10 Ya ll remember Dan Wu, the UWA International Student that became very interested in bass fishing? I told him when he was here that plastic worm fishing would change his life forever. Well look at how bass fishing has changed Dan. Here he is posed with two of what I call Chinese bass that he caught out of some unknown lake in China. They look like bass only that their mouths appear to be a bit smaller and they have a larger dorsal fin. Below is a quote of some of our s between each other. I also teach some of my friends to use the way I learned from you to fish. They feel amazing! And they are so, so, so interested about this. We just bought some more poles today and we want to go fishing tomorrow morning at 6! I will give you some more information and pictures later. Now you not only change my life! Hahaha! ~ Danhuai Wu, UWA Alumnus 13. Such an amazing story here Dan. The photo looks like you could be standing on the bank of any lake in Alabama. It s hard to believe that you are on

11 the other side of Planet Earth. Please send me more fishing photos and I ll put them in the newsletter when I can. Keep on fishing and learning. The learning curve never stops! Bream Fishing Bream fishing has been great this month! Our angler attendance has doubled! Perhaps this could be an indicator that the economy is drastically improving. Perhaps it is a sign that the fishery is improving. Whatever the sign, it s fishing time! The main bream harvest has crossed its standard apex. From here on it should be reduced due to summer heat causing a lowered attendance rate. This year I have noticed a significant increase in the number of red eared shell crackers. Tim and I think that their harvested numbers have doubled at least! Maybe red ears like to eat shiner babies and this new food source has caused the shell cracker population to increase.

12 We have noticed that the harvested bluegill overall body weights have decreased. The year-to-date average per individual fish is 0.40 pound per fish. I divided out the daily catch rates for June 2013 and the daily harvested bluegill individual body weight ranged from 0.30 to 0.41 pound per fish. To me this is an indicator of increased bluegill population rates and an increase in their relative abundance. Maybe bluegills like to eat shiner babies as well. Perhaps this was crystal ball that Jay Haffner peered into to cause him to change the bass harvest. Whatever the case may be, a 0.40 pound bluegill is still an eating sized bluegill. James Dent and his wife Belvie frequent Lake LU. Here James poses with the beginnings of a nice stringer of bream. TURTLE TRAP REPORT

13 We have caught and peaceably relocated 104 turtles so far since we relocated the trap back into the upper shallows of Lake LU.

14 Additional Lake Information Lake LU will be closed on Thursday, July 4 th and Friday, July 5 th, 2013 for the UWA Independence Day Holidays. Lake LU will reopen on Saturday, July 6 th, 2013 at 6:00 a.m.

15 Nature Trails

16 The wildflowers in the prairie were at the height of their bloom in June. Like the fishing, it s all downhill from here on.

17 Tim and I went out one night in June to do a gator check. All that the two million candlepower spotlight managed to find was billions and billions of chironomid flies.

18 Heath Haley (left) and Jay Haffner (right) inspecting the seine during their June sampling survey.

19 My son Logan trying his hand at turtle wrangling.

20 A plastic tub of turtles that are Sucarnochee bound!

21 Plum pickin!

22 These soft shell turtles, Trionyx spp., that were also in the turtle trap. They are rather uncommon so we put them back in the lake.

23 Here is the beginning of a trail modification near what I now call Lamb s Mudpit. A doctor got stuck in a utility car nearby on this old trail so I decided to move the trail over a bit to find some drier ground.

24 Baby brown thrasher birds born in a gourd and wanting to be fed.

25 I was fishing at my parent s farm and caught a bass that had a nice sized frog in its belly. There are hundreds of frogs in the upper shallows at Lake LU. Time to tie on a Seismic Frog!!! Here are the families of Harvey and Meyers as they stopped for a bite to eat as they traveled from Texas. I asked them how they managed to find the lake when it s so far from the interstate. They said that they googled

26 lakes and parks at the Livingston McDonalds and it showed them how to get to the lake! After spending two hours looking for your keys, try looking everywhere you have been.

27 Storms blow up quickly and without warning. When hazardous conditions exist on the lake (lightening, strong winds) it will be the responsibility of the fisherman (or trail hiker) to return to a safe location away from the shore (or trees). June sunset.

28

29 Little House on the Prairie. If anyone wants any advice on fishing Lake LU, please call me at or me at Feel free to visit Lake LU s website at Thank you, Robby Limerick Lake Manager Lake LU lrr@uwa.edu Alabama Flag -- hypeandfail.blogspot.com American Flag --independentrealist.blogspot.com American Bald Eagle alejandrosportfolio.freeiz.com Great Blue Heron -- flickriver.com All other photos by R.Limerick unless otherwise noted.