Boone Lake - Electrofishing 2009
Sampling date: April 22 – 23, 2009
Species collected in survey (14 runs, 3.5 hrs total effort):
Black Crappie = 61
Blacknose Crappie = 2
Largemouth Bass = 334
Smallmouth Bass = 57
Spotted Bass = 7
White Crappie = 1
Largemouth catch rates were well above average for the second year in a row while smallmouth catch rates were only about average. The largemouth bass size structure indicated a healthy fishery since about 54% of the species was above 12-inches. The smallmouth bass size structure also indicated a healthy fishery, where about 60% of the smallmouth were over 12-inches. There were good numbers of young largemouth and smallmouth collected which should help maintain the fishery.
We saw an above average number of black crappie in the reservoir and hopefully this will continue to improve with consistent crappie stocking each year. Although crappie stocking could probably never replace natural reproduction, it can help supplement a population in a reservoir until environmental conditions are favorable for natural reproduction to occur.
