April 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 April 2013 Fish Report Number of Anglers Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Pounds of Bream Bream Monthly 259 0 0 1,083 460 Previous 301 0 0 799 353.25 Calendar YTD 560 0 0 1,882 813.25
January March May July September November Number of Anglers per month lb/bass Average lb/acre Average lb/bream Average lb/acre Average 0 0 0.44 16.26 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 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 Temperature º F 2013 Lake LU Water Temperature Comparison 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2013 Water Temperature 2012 Water Temperature Three year Bream Harvest Comparison 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 Number of Number of Pounds of Number of Pounds of Anglers Bass Bass Bream Bream April 2013 259 0 0 1,083 460
April 2012 351 527 347.25 1,355 631.50 April 2011 395 536 341.25 2,225 1,047 Calendar Year-to-Date Year Number of Number of Bass Pounds of Bass Number of Bream Pou Anglers 2013 560 0 0 1,882 2012 974 2,227 1,840.50 2,845 2011 1,098 2,120 1,456.25 3,863 Fish Averages (Year-to-Date) lb/bass Average lb/acre lb/bream lb/acre Month/Year Average Average Average April 2013 0 0 0.44 16.26 April 2012 0.83 36.81 0.48 27.63 April 2011 0.69 29.12 0.48 36.62
Lake Conditions We got 2.5 inches of rainfall at Lake LU for April 2013. This brings our annual total to 24.9 inches of rain. The lake is slightly above normal pool elevation and water is flowing into the concrete riser. The lake is green with Secchi Disc levels indicating 21 inches of visibility. The water temperature is cool at 68ºF at the surface. Three weeks prior it was 72ºF. Air temperatures are forecast to be in the mid-80 s throughout the next week and this will cause water temps to rise accordingly.
Bass Fishing BASS HARVEST IS CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. NO BASS OF ANY SIZE MAY BE REMOVED FROM THE WATERS OF LAKE LU. BASS ANGLERS MAY CATCH AND RELEASE BASS WITH BARBLESS HOOKS ONLY. BARBLESS HOOKS ARE SIMPLY HOOKS THAT HAVE HAD THE BARB TURNED DOWN WITH A SET OF PLIERS. Mr. Heath Haley, District 3 Fisheries Biologist, is coming at 9:00 am to Lake LU on Tuesday, May 12, 2013 to conduct an electro-fishing survey of Lake LU. This survey is being done to determine the predator/prey
ratio and make a determination on whether we should modify the current harvest regulation. I will keep subscribers to this newsletter informed of their results and discussion. Mark s Remarks (By UWA student Mark Grant) Mark came by the office today to say goodbye for the summer. He s heading back home to the big salty to work in a saltwater tackle shop for the summer. He said that he needed a sabbatical from this place for the summer. Look how much he s learned at UWA this past year! He s using those ten dollar words! If I m in Panama City, I ll stop by Howell s Tackle Shop and surprise you!
Mark won 1 st place in the UWA Earth Day bass tournament. Here he is posing with the 2 pounder that won it for him.
Bream Fishing
Here Walter Sherrod and Jim Smith pose with a nice stringer of bream that they caught at Lake LU one day.
I went fishing with artificial jigs one day and caught 16 bream for 8 pounds. Silver and black jigs are working the best. I use 6 pound test monofilament. Here s another WD-40 tip. If you want to cast light line farther, spray the line in your reel thoroughly with WD-40. The line will then play off like silk.
I caught so many bream that the next day I took my son Eli bream fishing. Here he is standing next to a 28 pound bream that I caught. We had over 1,000 bream caught in April. We had over 600 bream caught the first weekend of May!!!
Additional Lake Information The 14 th Annual Farm Safety Day is slated for Thursday, May 16, 2013 from daylight until 2:00 pm. The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) sponsors this program that educates 5 th graders about farm safety issues. There will be about 300 children at the lake on this date.
Nature Trails
The Blue Flag iris has finally bloomed at the Civic Center.
I discovered a large dead oak tree on the Nature Trails that will have to be cut down. I think I ll do it later this fall when it gets cooler.
Mama Goose is on her nest and was playing a game of Don t Get Me with Tim and me. She nested there last year and hatched a couple of eggs. I wonder how many eggs she will hatch this year.
On Earth Day 2013, UWA sponsored a canoe race at Lake LU. Here are the contestants at the line-up, waiting for the start!
Eli and I went walking after a spring storm and all I told him was to make sure you don t get your shoes wet!
The lake is full of bass in the 8-12 inch range. I m hoping that the State will reopen bass harvest on these smaller bass.
A friend of mine asked if he could come to the lake and cast net for some shiners to take to the river. I told him it was fine as long as he threw back all bream and bass. He came back in about 30 minutes with a cooler full of shiners. All spring I had hoped that the shiners were being impacted by the bass predation but it appears otherwise. There were about 300 shiners in this cooler.
Why did it take me 15 years to build a new fertilizer frame for my tank? The next guy s gonna have it nice!
I know it s not a sunset photo but it s nice none the less. I was looking at the UWA website the other day and a photo surfaced on the site about how beautiful the UWA campus was in bloom this year. I was disappointed in the photo because it was a photo of the lake and the lake water was murky and as green as a gourd. There were no flowers in the photo but yet the caption said that the campus was beautiful because it was in bloom. Algae blooms are beautiful to lake managers and aquatic biologists but not generally that appealing to the public. The above photo would have looked much better. 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.