FAYETTEVILLE — The top-water bass plug does a tantalizing dance, doing the chacha with a submerged cedar tree. Beaver Lake is smooth as waxed tile on this quiet morning.
Tranquility goes out the window when a marauding largemouth bass does its darndest to smash the plug into plastic shards.
It’s a brief battle before the big bass slips into net mesh. A smiling angler hoists it aboard, takes a photo and slides the trophy back into Beaver Lake.
“How many big bass like that swim in this lake,” the fishermen wonders out loud to his buddy.
Thanks to three research techniques, fisheries biologists Ron Moore and Jon Stein with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission have a good idea.
When they go fishing, it’s for data that helps them keep tabson the bass population at Beaver and other Northwest Arkansas lakes.
No Hook Needed
The shocking truth is that electricity is way better than a fishing rod for catching bass. Biologists do an annual electrofishing study at Beaver and other lakes, usually in the spring.
The Beaver Lake study was canceled last spring due to highwater, but took place last fall when the lake was lower.
Biologists electrofish at night when the bass are in shallower water. Electric current from agenerator in the boat goes into the water and stuns any fish within 8 feet of the hull.
people boat with long-handled nets gather only the three species of black bass - largemouth, smallmouth and spotted.
Most of these bass are weighed, measured and returned unharmed into the lake. A few are kept so biologists can examine the otolith, a small bone in a fish’s head that tells its age.
“Electrofishing gives us a sample of the population. What percentage of what size we have,” Moore said. “It shows us the general health of the fi sh.”
If the population shows decline, regulations can be changed to fi x problems.
The high water that canceled the spring study is a boom to the fi shery of Beaver Lake.
“With more infl ow, there’s more habitat and greater fish productivity, including threadfi n shad,” Moore said.
Threadfin shad are the main forage fish in Beaver Lake. They’re the meat, potatoes and dessert for all game fi sh.
Nightmare For Noses
The most fragrant study by far takes place on sultry mornings in August. Biologists call it the rotenone survey and the stench could gag a vulture.
The back of a cove is cordoned off with a net and the organic chemical, rotenone, is added to the water. Rotenone suffocates all fi sh in the netted area by rendering their gills useless.
Dead fish float to the surface where biologists and helpers net all of them over two mornings. They’re sorted by size in a large sink on the bank and the data recorded.
By the second morning, the sickening stench of dead fish viciously attacks the nostrils. No adjective can describe the awful smell. Biologists are used to it, but those who aren’t can easily lose their breakfast.
Smelly as it is, the rotenone survey reveals valuable information.
“It tells us how many bass per acre we have, the population of threadfi n shad and how many fish per acre we have,” Moore said.
Biologists Moore and Stein were pleased with the high number of threadfin shad the survey revealed last summer. That means there is plenty of forage for gamefish like the coveted black bass.
Shoreline Haul
The big question each spring is, “How was the fi sh spawn?” Shoreline seining is one way to fi nd out.
Biologists drag a seine through shallow water and check for fry that were born that spring. It’s difficult at Beaver Lake, but is used more at smaller lakes.
Other species go under the Game & Fish microscope as well. Biologists do trap-net studies for crappie to get a picture of the health of these panfi sh. There are plans to do some gill-net studies on stripers and white bass.
It’s all in the name of keeping fish on the line and smiles on the faces of fi shermen.
Opinion, Pages 7 on 12/24/2009