August 2013 Newsletter Robby Limerick - - Lake Manager LAKE LU Fishing Newsletter
January March May July September November Inches of Rainfall Three year Rainfall Comparison 12 10 2013 Monthly Rainfall 8 6 4 2012 Monthly Rainfall 2011 Monthly Rainfall 2 0 August 2013 Fish Report Number of Anglers Number of Pounds of Number of Pounds of Bass Bass Bream Bream Monthly 170 316 200 881 315.50 Previous 1,443 865 580 7,630 3,005.75 Calendar YTD 1,613 1,181 780 8,511 3,321.25 lb/bass Average lb/acre Average lb/bream lb/acre Average
January March May July September November Number of Anglers per month Average 0.66 15.6 0.39 66.42 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 Three year Monthly Angler Attendance Comparison 2013 Angler Attendance 2012 Angler Attendance 2011 Angler Attendance
January March May July September November Number of Bream caught Number of Bass Caught 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 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 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 2013 Number of Bream Harvested 2012 Number of Bream Harvested 2011 Number of Bream Harvested Monthly Harvest Comparison Month August 2013 August 2012 Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream Pounds of Bream 170 316 200 881 315.50 131 132 70.50 850 346.75
August 2011 93 0 0 688 306 Calendar Year-to-Date Year Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream 2013 1,613 1,181 780 8,511 2012 1,578 2,834 2,216.50 5,320 2011 1,796 2,457 1,705.50 8,101 P Fish Averages (Year-to-Date) Month/Year August 2013 August 2012 August 2011 lb/bass Average lb/acre Average lb/bream Average lb/acre Average 0.66 15.6 0.39 66.42 0.79 44.33 0.45 48.08 0.70 34.11 0.46 73.66
Lake Conditions Lake rainfall for the month of July 2013 was 3.5 inches of rainfall. This brings our annual precipitation total to 43.0 inches. This month was quite a bit drier than last year. We have yet to get any tropical storms in our area. Lake water temperature was 75ºF on 9-4-13. Lake Secchi is at 19 inches of visibility. We were blessed this year that the real heat didn t get here until that last week of July. August was our hottest month so far, and I m sure the heat is what is firing up the Lake LU mood ring. My dad says that it will remain quite warm until after the 15 th of September and then it will begin to cool dramatically at night. The cooler nights last week have already begun to cool the water. It was 85 degrees at the surface at the end of July and at the end of August it was 75 degrees! If you wade into the water you will begin to notice the change. Cooler water and longer nights will put a lot of stress on our blue-green algae. Secchi values should drop
from here on in. Secchi values averaged 18.67 inches of visibility throughout the month of August. For August the lake acted like a mood ring; brown on one day and green as a gourd on the next day. One Friday Tim and I noticed that the water was very brown. This is a color that lake manager s don t like to see. We performed numerous D.O. checks throughout the lake and the oxygen values were very good (much to our surprise).
On Saturday (the next day) it was green as a gourd! It s a Lake LU Mood Ring! We don t care what color it is as long as the D.O. count is good!
Here is a photo of the truck at 12:00 noon in late August. Back in early July the shade cast by this cedar tree barely covered half of the hood of the truck at noontime. The sun is definitely headed back to the celestial equator and it is making the shadows grow long.
Bass Fishing Bass fishing slowed down a bit once the real hot weather of the summer got here. Fewer smaller bass are being caught but we had a few large bass caught. ALL OF THE FOLLOWING BASS WERE RELEASED. I would like to remind bass anglers that all bass are measured for total body length with mouth closed and tail pinched.
Dan Jones with a nice 6 pound bass. Dan has been fishing at Lake LU for probably the past 30 years. I ll have to look in the angler archives and find an old photo of Dan. Photo courtesy of Evan Jones.
Here is a photo of Evan Jones with a nice bass. It s nice to see a father and son fishing together. Photo by Dan Jones
Horace Longmire with a nice 7.5 pound bass. Photo courtesy of Horace Longmire. Horace caught this big bass at around 2:30 pm on one of the hottest afternoons that we had last month.
Here is UWA Student and UWA Bass Club member Mitch Brumbeloe posing with a nice 7.25 pound bass that he caught on his return to the UWA campus. It s going to be great fishing once all that green water clears up!
Bream Fishing
A nice cooler of bream caught by a panfisherman.
August was hot but it didn t affect the bream anglers.
Lyndon Browder with a monster 1 pound bluegill that he caught on a hot day.
TURTLE TRAP REPORT We have caught and peaceably relocated 211 turtles so far. Additional Lake Information
ALL Annual Alabama Freshwater Fishing licenses expire on August 31, 2013. Nature Trails
Above is a photo of my first ever work study student worker, Mr. Brandon Rivers. Brandon s home is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and he is a sophomore UWA Student majoring in sports management. He is a kicker on the UWA Tiger Football team and his jersey number is #99. He is also president of the UWA Bass Club. Welcome aboard Brandon. I sure do appreciate the help.
I cut down a dead honey locust tree last month.
The backhoe made short work of cleaning up the tree.
I had to cut down a dead oak tree on the Forest Trail that was dropping limbs on hiker s heads. It was blazing, stupid hot that day and the chainsaw just made it worse.
A backhoe also makes a nice Gama Grass seed collector. I must have gotten 10 pounds of seed in the front bucket. Partridge peas are in bloom around the lake.
We skid proofed the office walkway last month. I plan on doing the same thing to all the trail footbridges.
Big Troll Bridge at dusk. Star light, star bright, first star I ve seen tonight. If anyone wants any advice on fishing Lake LU, please call me at 1-205-652-9266 or e-mail me at lrr@uwa.edu. Feel free to visit Lake LU s website at www.lakelu.uwa.edu Thank you, Robby Limerick Lake Manager Lake LU lrr@uwa.edu
1-205-652-9266 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.