Garrison Hilliard
April 29th, 2005, 03:45 PM
Mild shocks let workers count fish, adjust mix
By Andrea Remke
Enquirer staff writer
COVINGTON - Anglers looking for the best catch in town may not have to cast
their poles farther than Doe Run Lake Park.
Representatives from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
arrived Thursday to survey fish conditions at the lake and used "electrofishing"
to catch them.
"This will determine the inventory, like what and how many and of what species
are in there," said Kenton County Parks and Recreation Program Coordinator Steve
Trauger.
A shock is emitted underwater, he said, stunning the fish so they float to the
surface. They are quickly netted, counted and measured, then thrown back.
Trauger said the survey, last done in 1998, improves the health of the fish.
"This helps us find out if there are too many of one species," he said. "Or if
we need to put more in or take some out."
Katie Emme, urban fish biologist with the state department, said with more
people moving from rural to urban areas, there aren't many good places to fish.
"This gives us a better idea of how to manage (the lake)," she said.
Among the species already in the lake are carp, shad, channel catfish, bluegill,
large-mouth bass and sunfish. The shock doesn't affect the catfish, Trauger
said, because they are bottom dwellers.
"We think there are too many bait fish - or shad, in the lake," he said. Shad
hatch earlier, when the water is about 50 degrees, and eat the plankton and
available food.
Fish auch as bass and bluegill hatch when the water temperature gets about 65
degrees, Emme said.
Officials at the Fish and Wildlife Department had gotten some requests this year
to stock the 180-acre lake, Trauger said.
Although the lake was stocked with bass last fall, the numbers are still low,
according to Jeff Crosby, fisheries biologist with the department.
"We would like to see more bass," he said. "Sometimes you just find more on one
bank than another."
The group caught several nets of fish Thursday - even a large-mouth bass about
18 inches long and about 3 pounds.
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http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050429/NEWS0103/504290399/1059/NEWS01
By Andrea Remke
Enquirer staff writer
COVINGTON - Anglers looking for the best catch in town may not have to cast
their poles farther than Doe Run Lake Park.
Representatives from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources
arrived Thursday to survey fish conditions at the lake and used "electrofishing"
to catch them.
"This will determine the inventory, like what and how many and of what species
are in there," said Kenton County Parks and Recreation Program Coordinator Steve
Trauger.
A shock is emitted underwater, he said, stunning the fish so they float to the
surface. They are quickly netted, counted and measured, then thrown back.
Trauger said the survey, last done in 1998, improves the health of the fish.
"This helps us find out if there are too many of one species," he said. "Or if
we need to put more in or take some out."
Katie Emme, urban fish biologist with the state department, said with more
people moving from rural to urban areas, there aren't many good places to fish.
"This gives us a better idea of how to manage (the lake)," she said.
Among the species already in the lake are carp, shad, channel catfish, bluegill,
large-mouth bass and sunfish. The shock doesn't affect the catfish, Trauger
said, because they are bottom dwellers.
"We think there are too many bait fish - or shad, in the lake," he said. Shad
hatch earlier, when the water is about 50 degrees, and eat the plankton and
available food.
Fish auch as bass and bluegill hatch when the water temperature gets about 65
degrees, Emme said.
Officials at the Fish and Wildlife Department had gotten some requests this year
to stock the 180-acre lake, Trauger said.
Although the lake was stocked with bass last fall, the numbers are still low,
according to Jeff Crosby, fisheries biologist with the department.
"We would like to see more bass," he said. "Sometimes you just find more on one
bank than another."
The group caught several nets of fish Thursday - even a large-mouth bass about
18 inches long and about 3 pounds.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050429/NEWS0103/504290399/1059/NEWS01