December 2013 Newsletter Robby Limerick - - Lake Manager. LAKE LU Fishing Newslette

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1 December 2013 Newsletter Robby Limerick - - Lake Manager LAKE LU Fishing Newslette

2 January March May July September November Inches of Rainfall Three year Rainfall Comparison Monthly Rainfall Monthly Rainfall 2011 Monthly Rainfall 2 0 December 2013 Fish Report Number of Anglers Number of Pounds of Number of Pounds of Bass Bass Bream Bream Monthly Previous 1,975 1,705 1, ,608 3, Calendar YTD 2,004 1,778 1, ,697 3,816.25

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

4 Number of Bass Caught 1000 Three year Bass Harvest Comparison Number of Bass Harvested 2012 Number of Bass Harvested 2011 Number of Bass Harvested In the three year graph above bass fishing was closed for 9 months while the State evaluated the lake s predator/prey relationship Lake LU 10 Year Bass Harvest Comparison Ten year bass harvest comparison with linear trend line shows that bass harvest has been very balanced throughout a 10-year harvest period. The yearly average bass harvest has been 2,879 bass per year

5 January March May July September November Number of Bream caught Three year Bream Harvest Comparison Number of Bream Harvested 2012 Number of Bream Harvested 2011 Number of Bream Harvested Bluegill peak harvest has been on a constant increase for the past three years. May is the peak month for bream harvest. There is a secondary increase when the cooler temperatures of Fall arrive Lake LU 10 Year Bluegill Harvest Comparison Ten year bluegill harvest comparison with linear trend line shows that overall bream harvest has been constantly decreasing during the past decade. There is no need to be alarmed. Decreased bluegill harvest is a good indicator that there are greater numbers of bluegill remaining in the lake to provide forage for largemouth bass. Tim and I discussed angler attendance and we believe that angler attendance has also been declining over a 10 year period. Our bank anglers are our primary harvesters of bluegill panfish.

6 Monthly Harvest Comparison Month December 2013 December 2012 December 2011 Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream Pounds of Bream Calendar Year-to-Date Year Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream ,004 1,778 1, , ,824 2,866 2,235 6, ,025 2,504 1, ,961 Fish Averages (Year-to-Date) Month/Year December 2013 December 2012 December 2011 lb/bass Average lb/acre Average lb/bream Average lb/acre Average

7 Lake Conditions Lake rainfall for the month of December 2013 was 8.9 inches of rainfall. This brings our annual precipitation total to inches. Our annual average precipitation is inches. Visibility is at 6 FEET. Water temperature is 42ºF. It was the wettest December in a long time. We only used 61 gallons of liquid fertilizer for 2013! We are definitely getting input from upstream!

8 Bass Fishing I would like to remind bass anglers that all bass are measured for total body length with mouth closed and tail pinched. I forecast bass angling to be the best that it has ever been in all my 16 years as Lake Manager. Bass fishing could quite possibly tie or surpass the historic bass harvest of the 1980 s and early 90 s. The current bass harvest regulation is UNLIMITED bass harvest on bass less than 14 inches in total length, with only one bass over 24 inches. I encourage all anglers to use an accurate measuring device.

9 Bream Fishing This cold weather is now what I call the Season of the Red Ear. It is when mostly red ear shellcrackers are caught, and if you fish out in all that cold, cold wind, you will get a red ear as well. It s cold so remember to bundle up well.

10 Nature Trails

11 Thanks to the burn crew of Jeremy White, Sam Ledbetter, Tim Truelove and Coulter Millican. We finally got the Nature Totem stood up and in place! They all did what I could not do with a backhoe. They just picked that huge log up and put it where I wanted it!

12 We had to put down some hay as erosion control to help stabilize some hiking trails this year. For the first time I did not use the mower to blow leaves off the trails. Where the oak trees are growing, they are providing free erosion control. Eastern Red Cedars however do not give us the same product. Photo by Tim Truelove.

13 My sons had great fun helping us scatter out the hay.

14 Some of us had more fun than others. Here Logan is demonstrating the Hay Dance.

15 UWA physical education students Will Word and Laura Mancin stretch before running the trails. It may be cold but people are constantly using the trails since the paved parking lot was installed. I have collected over 300 signatures for 2013 at the sign in board at the trailhead. I would guess that approximately 10% of the trail hikers sign in so there could easily be over 3,000 people using the trails each year. I wish I had an electronic counter so I could get a more accurate number.

16 One cold, cold day in December we decided to repair and re-deck Black Widow Bridge. Sixteen years ago Jason Britt and I re-decked this bridge and we killed 17 big, fat black widow spiders as we tore out the old decking. It has forever been named Black Widow Bridge. This year it was so cold that we found NO black widows.

17 We burned off the beach in a dormant season burn. This burning eradicates a weed called the common plantain, a problematic weed that usually requires spraying with Roundup. A good hot burn removes all plantain. I wish I could burn off all the turf area at the lake. It would make it look great. Look for continued prescribed burns in January and February. We forecast an extensive burn season this year on the UWA campus.

18 The lake one frosty December morning. Little did we see the polar vortex coming in January!

19 Eli fishing in his robot pajamas while barefoot. It may be cold now but spring is approaching fast!

20 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.