Department of Natural Resources
Division of Fish and Wildlife
South Region Fisheries Information Notice
For more information, contact:
Doug Keller, Fisheries Biologist
at (765) 342-5527
Plans being made
to partially drain
A fisheries survey was conducted in
June by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
to determine the effect gizzard shad are having on the sport fish community of
“As far as numbers go, the bluegill population remains strong”, said Doug Keller, DNR fisheries biologist. “However, the bluegill size structure is nowhere near what Glenn Flint is capable of producing”. Less than one quarter of the bluegill collected were 6 inches or larger and the largest only measured 7.3 inches. “A fertile lake like Glenn Flint should be producing numerous 8 and 9 inch bluegill if shad were not present”, indicated Keller.
The largemouth bass population has suffered the most recently due to competition with shad. While the proportion of legal size bass was good, the overall number of bass was very poor. “We collected an even lower number of bass per hour of electrofishing this year than we did prior to when we completely eradicated the lake in the mid 1990’s,” said Keller.
In an attempt to alleviate the problems gizzard shad are causing with the sport fishery, the DNR is planning to perform a selective eradication for shad. This will involve an approximate 5 foot lake drawdown just after Labor Day. Once the lake’s volume is reduced, a low dose of rotenone will be applied which will almost exclusively eliminate shad.
A public meeting to describe the project will be held