By Seth Schmidt

 

Recently completed fish-netting surveys show a healthy game-fish population in Lake Shetek.

A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources trap-net survey completed on April 14 yielded more walleyes than carp, and more crappies than catfish.  Fish totals in the eight Shetek trap nets, pulled last Tuesday and Wednesday, produced the following fish numbers:

Black bullhead 132, black crappie 116, yellow perch 77, walleye 48, common carp 13, brown bullhead 11, white crappie, yellow bullhead, white sucker 3 each, big mouth buffalo and channel catfish 1 each.

In Bloody Lake, on the northeast corner of Shetek, the numbers from four trap nets pulled in the same period are:

Black crappie 90, black bullhead 66, common carp 13, walleye 4, brown bullhead 2, northern pike and white crappie 1 each.

The spring fish surveys were conducted in the wake of a significant winter fish kill in Shetek. Thousands of dead fish were discovered along the shores of South Lake Shetek this spring, with the vast majority of the dead fish being non-native buffalo, carp, and catfish.

“The good news is that the carp population is down,” said Ryan Doorenbos, area fisheries supervisor for the DNR’s Windom office.  Most anglers, he said, will view the drop in catfish numbers to be good news also. In recent years, many fishermen have complained about a growing catfish population in Shetek.

The main purpose of the spring fish survey, Doorenbos said, is to get a gauge of how fish are faring after a significant winterkill. 

“We are looking for the presence or absence of a species.”  The spring netting is not intended to provide a comparison of fish numbers from year to year, he said. Fish population surveys are typically taken in the summer, so figures from the April Shetek survey are not an apple-to-apple comparison with fish surveys completed last summer.

Nonetheless, Doorenbos said that it is a positive sign that this spring’s walleye count is greater than what was observed last summer.  This spring turned up an average of 6 walleyes per trap net; last summer the walleye average was 2.5.

Other Shetek gamefish numbers this spring were also up compared with last summer.  Black crappie numbers this spring averaged 14.5 fish per trap net, compared with 8.6 last summer; perch were .5 last summer and 9.6 per trap net this summer.

 Black bullheads averaged 16.5 fish per trap net this spring, whereas only a single bullhead was netted last summer.

“That’s a good thing, because bullheads are food for larger predator fish,”  Doorenbos said.

Non-desirable carp, buffalo fish, and catfish numbers are all down significantly from this spring’s trap netting compared with the survey last summer.

An average of 1.63 carp and .13 buffalo were caught in Shetek trap nets this spring. Last summer, an average of 2.7 carp and 1.1 buffalo fish were caught in each trap net.

Doorenbos said that rough fish populations likely will rebound over time, but for now, the smaller numbers of carp and buffalo will provide opportunities to other species.

The other conclusion that can be drawn from this spring’s fish survey, Doorenbos said, is that some fish always survive severe lake winterkills.

“A complete winter fish kill is a myth.”