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LAKE LU
Fishing
Newsletter
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Formula: Pounds of fish (lbs) divided by number of fish = lb/fish average lbs fish divided by 50 (acres) = lb/acre average
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Three Year Bass Harvest Comparison
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Three Year Bream Harvest Comparison
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We got 6.6 inches of rainfall in December, making it
the second wettest month for 2015. October, November and December were the wettest months of the year. I thought it was going to end the year as a wet year, but the rainfall totals were 43.6 inches of rain (2015) as compared to 50.2 inches for 2014 and 61.5 inches for 2013. Looks like we are in a drying trend believe it or not. Water temperature is 49˚F and visibility is 60 inches. We used 160 gallons of liquid pond fertilizer for 2015. I expect to use the same amount for 2016.
We ended the year with the total bass harvest at 44.70 pounds harvested per acre. The bass individual body weight is remaining stable at 0.61 pounds per fish. Angler attendance is remaining strong. Bass harvest is going gangbusters with a 30% increase in total bass harvest over the 2014 numbers. Bream harvest has been declining steadily at about a 30% reduction in total bream harvested each year. This is because we are growing a vast amount of trophy bass at Lake LU. I’m certain that the bass harvest is increasing at nearly the same 30% rate. My feeble math shows that we need approximately 60 pounds of bass
harvested per acre for 2016 in order to help balance the predator/prey relationship. As I write this newsletter it is early January and I have already gotten the 2016 creel and slot regulation from the Alabama Department of Conservation of Natural Resources; Fisheries Division. In this letter, Mr. Jay Haffner, Supervisor of District 3 Fisheries, kept the same regulations for 2016 as we had for 2015. Anglers may harvest an unlimited number of bass as long as the bass are less than 14 inches in total length, with only one of the bass over 22 inches can be kept. Bluegill harvest is 50 bream any size per person per day. Jay hopes to perform additional electro-shocks on Lake LU in 2016 to survey the status and aid with his regulatory decisions of the fishery.
Now is the time of the year to catch jumbo shell crackers with live wax worms. If I was a bluegill living in Lake LU, I would swim out the drain pipe during the next flood and take my chances living in the Sucarnochee River! There are a lot of hungry mouths in Lake LU looking for a fish dinner!
The record warmth of December was the biggest news for the month. Here is a shrub down at the UWA Greenhouse that was beginning to bud out.
It was so warm that we didn’t have enough frost to properly kill off the prairie vegetation. Here is a photo of Little Bluestem that I titled, Little Greenstem. We tried to burn some prairie grasses off but the core of the grass clumps was too green to burn.
On my regular hikes around the lake I noticed that the turf grass in the trails was mighty green for it to be mid-December.
Even the oak trees on the Forest Trail seemed to have an abnormal number of green leaves on them for December.
I was hiking around the lake on Christmas Eve and I noticed that we had an algae BLOOM, on Christmas Eve!!
I saw this mini library at Bonita Lakes in Meridian, Mississippi. I think that I’ll build one of these for Lake LU and see if the Julia Tutwiler Library at UWA will donate some used magazines to put in it.
It finally did turn cold once January got here. Here are the three amigos on Birdy Finger Bridge.
Cold blue sunset. I have this feeling that January 2016 is going to give us the shivers.
I installed a red box containing trail use questionnaires at the kiosk at the entrance to the Nature Trail Complex. Please take a few minutes to fill out a survey form. The data that users give us will help us to enhance your hiking trail experience.
If anyone wants any advice on fishing Lake LU, please call me at 1-205-652-9266 or e-mail me at [email protected]. Feel free to visit Lake LU’s website at www.lakelu.uwa.edu. Thank you, Robby Limerick Lake Manager Lake LU [email protected] 1-205-652-9266
All other photos by R.Limerick unless otherwise noted.
