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Clear Lake's Walleye
Bonanza
by Lowell Washburn
CLEAR LAKE - Fish populations are
plentiful, catch rates are up, walleye enthusiasts are smiling.
That's the current assessment of Ben Wallace, a DNR Creel Clerk
who keeps tabs on the numbers and overall success rate of anglers
visiting Clear Lake.
"Walleye fishing at Clear Lake
has been simply incredible this year, and the only thing I can say
is that anglers are extremely happy," said Wallace. "Most of the
younger anglers I interview are saying that they've never caught
this many walleyes before --- that it's the best they've ever
seen. I even had one guy in his 70s tell me that it's the best
he's seen in his lifetime."
Although some walleyes are being
taken from docks, Wallace noted that the majority of fish are
currently lurking over mud flats in 10 to 14-feet of water. The
toothy predators are drawn there, he says, by an abundance of
juvenile yellow bass.
Anglers are enjoying their best
success using live bait, with night crawlers currently being
favored over minnows. With local bullhead populations at the
bottom of their cycle, bait fishing for walleyes is "as good as
gets," Wallace noted.
"There's no question that our
[Clear Lake] walleye fishing has really created some statewide
excitement this spring," says Jim Wahl, District Fisheries
Biologist for DNR. "Our parking lots and boat ramps have been
full; sometimes they're overflowing. People are catching fish and
they keep coming back. As the word spreads, the crowd has grown."
Clear Lake's gamefish bonanza
gained front page notoriety when the Clear Lake Fishing Club held
its annual walleye tournament during the third weekend in May. One
hundred, two-person fishing teams participated in the event. By
the time the two day competition was completed, anglers had
weighed-in an astounding 900 legal, 14-inch or greater walleyes.
[The actual total was even higher since many "out of the money"
teams didn't bother to register their fish during the tournament's
second day.]
"We suspected that it was going
to be a very good season for walleye fishing at Clear Lake," said
Wahl. "During this year's [April] gill netting campaign we saw an
extremely large year class of seventeen to twenty-inch fish come
into the state hatchery. These first time spawners made up a full
60 percent of the total fish netted during the spawning run. These
adults are the result of very strong survival of the walleye fry
and fingerling stockings conducted during 2001 and 2002."
"Based on creel checks and angler
interviews, those year classes are supporting a large percentage
of our current angler success," says Wahl. "So far, around 60
percent of this year's walleye harvest has consisted of fish
greater than 17 inches. The remaining forty percent of the catch
has been fish in the 14 to 17-inch class. Anglers harvested around
five thousand walleyes during May, which is as many fish as were
taken during the entire 2006 open water season.
"Recently some anglers have began
voicing concerns that fishing is too good at Clear Lake," said
Wahl. "The main worry is that too many fish are being harvested
and that future catch rates will suffer.
"A lot of anglers are practicing
catch and release walleye fishing, and that's a good thing," said
Wahl. "But there is an abundant walleye population in the lake,
and we already have some of the tightest [length and daily bag]
restrictions found anywhere in the state. If people want to take
legal fish home to eat, they shouldn't feel bad about that either.
"Anglers need to be aware that we
also have some very strong year classes of two and three-year-old,
10 to 13-inch walleyes coming up," said Wahl. "Those fish are
enjoying excellent growth and will help replace the fish being
harvested now. Those walleyes will continue to provide good
angling into the future."
In response to intense fishing
pressure and angler complaints regarding rule violations, the DNR
has increased enforcement activities at Clear Lake. During the
past several weeks, conservation officers have checked 1,316
anglers. According to DNR conservation officer, Randy Schnoebelen,
the effort resulted in 42 citations. Offenses included no fishing
license, possession of sub legal [short] walleyes, and over limits
of walleye.
"Fishermen were rightfully
concerned over some of the abuses they were observing," said
Schnoebelen. "One of the boats we checked had an over limit of 13
walleyes. That is unacceptable. Everyone deserves an equal
opportunity to enjoy the resource. Whenever people take short fish
or too many fish, they're not only stealing from the resource, but
they are also depriving someone else of future opportunities.
"Even people who don't fish
benefit from the resource," said Schnoebelen. "This weekend I
talked to a family from Des Moines who told me they had just
canceled their out of state fishing vacation to stay at Clear
Lake. They said they couldn't think of anywhere else where they
could have more fun or catch more walleyes than right here.
"After talking to people like
that, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that walleyes
are having a pretty positive effect on local economies," said
Schnoebelen.
Clear Lake Improvement
Example for Other Lakes
CLEAR LAKE - Although the 2007
walleye harvest is off to a roaring start with nearly 5,000 legal
walleyes kept in May alone, it has a ways to go to match the
record harvest in 1996 of nearly 16,000 walleyes.
In 1996, Clear Lake was in the
top 95th percentile for walleye fishing success in the country,
with a yield of about 6 pounds of walleyes per surface acre.
"The conditions have to come
together to have these big years," said Jim Wahl, fisheries
biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources at Clear
Lake. Those conditions include increased survival of walleye fry
stockings that added fish to the population. Clear Lake received
16 million walleye fry each year.
"Natural reproduction is
non-existent at Clear Lake so our fishery is a reflection of a
good hatchery product," Wahl said. "We stock a number of
fingerlings from our fish hatcheries, including 18,000 6-inch, and
18,000 8-inch walleyes. Those larger fingerlings buffer our down
years where the fry don't survive."
Expanding on this successful
hatchery product takes a long-term sustainable investment,
something beyond license sales. Other initiatives like adding
field buffers, sediment ponds, storm water filtration system and
rain gardens will not only make the lake more attractive to
anglers and offer better fishing, but also increase the recreation
uses and draw in a more diverse audience to the local community.
As the businesses around Clear
Lake can attest, when the water quality good and walleye fishing
is hot, anglers and boaters will be repeat customers.
"We know what it will take to
improve our lakes, it just comes down to a matter of priorities.
Is it a priority for Iowans to have lakes that offer good fishing
and good water quality," said Don Bonneau, fisheries research
supervisor with the DNR. "Fixing our lakes is an achievable goal
but it takes a commitment to sustainable funding."
Fish Population Surveys
in Iowa Lakes
by Joe Wilkinson
As the boat made a pass, another
eight-inch yellow bass floated to the surface. Then another. And
another. From the bow of the boat, fisheries workers Chris Mack
and Eric Harris dipped them out of the lake and into the holding
tank on board.
On poles mounted on the bow,
rings of electrodes sent an electric current through the water,
temporarily immobilizing the fish here in Otter Creek Lake. The
electro-shocking crew dipped out everything they could reach with
their long-handled nets. Bluegill, a few crappies and small bass
were common. Occasionally, a white underside indicated a channel
catfish that had been caught in the current. It's an annual survey
carried out on this county park lake near Toledo and on lakes
throughout Iowa each spring.
These surveys give fisheries
biologists a pretty good picture of the health of the lake. This
crew, based out of the Lake Macbride district, samples lakes in 10
counties late each spring. "We can see what sort of a trend
develops in the fish population over time," explains Paul Sleeper,
management biologist for the Department of Natural Resources.
"What we look for is the overall condition of the fishery; if they
are growing properly, if there are enough of the predator species,
things like that."
The surveys help determine if
length limits and possession limits of largemouth bass, for
instance, need to be adjusted. Largemouth bass are the main
predator in most artificial lakes. The surveys might signal the
need to stock more fish of a certain species, or whether there are
problems in the watershed. Usually, the sampling-and fall netting
surveys-- reflect a status quo, or the need for just minor
adjustments. Kent Park Lake, for instance, in Johnson County,
usually shows a balance of bluegills, crappies, largemouth bass
and good numbers of channel catfish. Occasionally a few
county-stocked walleyes show up as well.
In other lakes, though, the
scales are tipped out of balance. Too many undersized fish
indicate too many of them competing for the limited supply of food
in the lake basin. A recurrent problem on the 74-acre Otter Creek
Lake is yellow bass "Typically, we don't like yellow bass in our
smaller systems," stresses Sleeper. "They are competing with the
crappies and bluegills for food. The yellow bass eat everything."
Yellow bass are common in larger,
natural lakes in Iowa; Clear or Okoboji, for instance. There,
schools of them are targets for anglers, who enjoy pulling in a
couple dozen in an outing. They're good tasting, too. The 'catch,'
however, is getting them to a decent size. As Harris called out
weights and Mack the lengths, a trend showed up pretty quickly.
Almost all were between eight and a half and nine inches long.
That's about the size you'd want to start keeping them, but they
didn't get any larger than that.
Further evidence showed up as
they measured crappies and bluegills. There were pretty fair
numbers, but not many big fish. "We look at panfish as our
indicators; especially the bluegills," says Sleeper. "They have
the smallest mouths so they have the least amount of food
available in a lake. Really, none of them; bluegills, crappies or
yellow bass get to a very good size."
How do the 'wrong' species get
into a lake? Often, it's anglers who want to see a prolific forage
fish in their favorite lake, with the belief that it would
increase the food base. That's happened with gizzard shad, too.
What they don't take into account, though, is the science of fish
management; which would red flag introduction of a species that
would throw everything out of whack. The rogue populations could
also come from other sources; emptying minnow buckets at the end
of a fishing trip or, conceivably, in a shipment of fish stocked
in the lake.
In extreme cases, the only way to
restore the lake is to drain it, remove all of the fish, and start
over. That has happened at several southwest Iowa lakes in the
last decade. It is expensive and takes years for the fish to reach
catchable size again. And that impact extends beyond the lake,
too, in the form of fewer anglers, less camping and other
recreational use of the area. It can even chip away at the local
economy, if it relies on the seasonal outdoor crowd in its
hardware stores, restaurants and other businesses.
It's definitely a case of
prevention costing far less than the cure.
Traveling Fish Tank
Makes Debut
Judging from remarks at its
'debut,' the traveling fish tank is going to be popular at fishing
clinics and other stops in east central Iowa. With six 45-gallon
tanks, a generator to keep oxygen flowing and plans for a brochure
rack and other features, the traveling aquarium was featured at
the Free Fishing Days Clinic earlier this month at Lake Macbride.
Mounted on a dual axle trailer,
the unit was built over the winter at the Lake Macbride fisheries
station. A 300-gallon tank in the center of the trailer carries
the water and fish that will go into the tanks when it reaches its
destination. Once there, it provides a better view of the fish,
for educational purposes. Previously, the fish were hauled in a
pickup truck, netted and held out or separated into large bucks
for the public to get a view.
The new look portable classroom
will be available at future clinics and other fishing and outdoor
related activities.
Money Available For
Volunteer Watershed Cleanups
MEDIA CONTACT: Brandon Harland at
(515) 281-3150 or brandon.harland@dnr.state.ia.us.
DES MOINES -This summer, several
Iowa communities will get help cleaning up their waterways from
the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR will
accept applications for up to 18 watershed cleanup mini-grants
until Sept. 7.
The mini-grants, worth up to
$1,000 apiece, are part of the DNR’s CLEAR (Community Leaders
Enhancing Area Rivers) program. Winning applicants will use the
money to fund cleanup events on local lakes, rivers or streams.
“We had a phenomenal 2006 cleanup
season, so we’re very excited to start a new round for grants,”
said Brandon Harland, who works with the DNR’s CLEAR grants.
“Iowans are very motivated in cleaning up their lakes and streams,
and we’re happy we can assist them with these grants.”
The cleanup events will include
volunteer trash removal, natural resources education and
responsible waste management (collected garbage must be properly
disposed of and recycled when possible). Cleanup organizers should
plan to make their events self-sufficient in subsequent years.
Find more information, including
application materials, at www.iowater.net. The Sept. 7 deadline
marks the first round of CLEAR applications. During the program’s
2006 cleanup season, the DNR awarded funds to 17 Iowa communities.
Visit an online events calendar at www.keepersoftheland.org for
details about these and other volunteer opportunities.
The CLEAR mini-grant program
evolved from the DNR’s annual river cleanup event called Project
AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition). That program, a
weeklong canoe trip and watershed cleanup, has involved hundreds
of Iowa volunteers every year since 2003. Tremendous interest in
local cleanups among AWARE volunteers first inspired CLEAR.
First-round CLEAR grant
recipients will be announced on Sept. 21 and can receive funding
beginning Sept. 28. They must use their funds within one year of
receiving the money. Completed applications must be postmarked by
September 7, 2007 and mailed to: Brandon Harland - Iowa DNR,
Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. Ninth St., Des Moines IA
50319.
Funded through the DNR’s REAP
(Resource Enhancement and Protection) program, CLEAR grants are
administered by the DNR’s watershed monitoring and assessment
program.L
