Saving bass from drying lakes (URGENT)

[Lavrax]

Hi

A lake outside my town, which has been growing bass for 40 years is about to dry in 5 days! There are about 100 tones of water left inside at the moment. The people here we are trying to figure out ways in transporting those fish to an other place BUT we havent decided how to catch them!.. We have 5 rubber boats and some fishing net

Does anyone know any  methods or links with useful information about this problem?

Which is the best and most efficient method?

please help

[jiggerpole]

You really should consult a fisheries biologist and see what he has to say about transporting fish to another impoundment. It could do more harm to a small lake than good. Maybe a fish fry?

[roadwarrior]

Contact your state's Department of Wildlife and ask for help and direction.

[32251]

My brother lives on a 60 acre lake. When the lake management company needs to cull fish from the lake, they bring out a pontoon boat with an electric shock set up and lower two 8 ft chains in the water and send current through the water and the stunned fish float to the top and are gathered in nets and put in large plastic holding tanks. Fish over a certain length are released and fish under a certain length are given to anyone that lives around the lake and wants them for food. So far NO fish have ever gone to waste!

Electric shock would be the easiest way, but you need to quickly get a DNR person out there to consult about removal and transporting them.

Since you have limited resources, you might want to just get a small "telephone" as we used to call the machine that you crank to shock up fish and try to save some of the lunkers that are in the lake. You would have to do this with the approval and supervision of the DNR. Call them. They may be able to provide you with some resources of some sort. I can't imagine that they would just let the lake drain and the fish just die without trying something.

[surfer]

Transporting fish from one lake to another is how non native species show up in other lakes.  It is illegal where I am from.  Don't do it unless the authorities are involved.

Fish fry doesn't sound like a bad ideal.

[T-rig]

Transporting fish from one lake to another is how non native species show up in other lakes. It is illegal where I am from. Don't do it unless the authorities are involved.

Lavrax is from Cyprus and the authorities over there don't give a hoot about the fish. Even if he did call them, I don't think they would be of much help!

Lavrax, electro shocking is the easiest way to gather the fish. If not try nets, but don't leave them in the water too long, the fish caught in the net might die. Make sure you get enough holding tanks with an oxygen pump for the transport. I wish you luck my friend and hope you can save as many bass as possible!

http://www.wildco.com/vw_prdct_mdl.asp?prdct_mdl_cd=123

http://electro-fisher.com/technic1_SAMUS300.html

[Lavrax]

As Trig said... The authorities here dont care and dont exist...its the authorities which drained the dams on the 1st place! Thanks for your advice guys... ill try to check about the electric shock

Don the fish die when they get shocked?

Ps. I called the fisheries department, the water department and even the ministry of agriculture and believe me and dont give a s.. >

[jiggerpole]

Do a search on electric shock fishing. If you know an elecrician he could quickly rig you up a system. A generater hooked to two insulated poles (pvc pipe) run wire through to the ends and have it hooked to several weighted wires that dip into the water. One pole on the right and one pole to the left. The shock area is in between the two poles. One side is neg. and the other is pos. You must have a way to brake the current imediately. A switch that you can step onto with your foot to give current and then release is advisable. It will shock you if you touch the water without an insulated dip net. Also a 12 volt batt and an inverter will shock fish. Be Careful and good luck. P.S. if done right it will not kill the fish only stunn them. Look up Physics of electrofishing on Google. www.challenge.nm.org/Archive/01-02/FinalReports/093.pdf

[surfer]

Ps. I called the fisheries department, the water department and even the ministry of agriculture and believe me and dont give a s.. >

If you called them and told them you were going to be transporting a mess of bass from one lake to another and they said they didn't care than I guess its OK.  

If you called them and asked them to do something about the dying bass and they said they didn't care then we are still talking about two different things.

Good luck with your venture either way.  The shock and net method reminds me of shrimping on the intercostal, only without the shock.  Should be fun.

[procraft68]

If you are calling these so called "wildlife/dnr" people and they tell you or act like they don't care or maybe they are to busy I would try to find a higher level of DNR people. Sounds like they are not doing their job to preserve fish and wildlife. Everyone has a boss, find that person and make some noise. Squeaky hinge gets the oil. Rattle some cages and kick some cans. Good luck,

Snag

[Grey Wolf]

Lavrax lives in a total differant world then we do . I feel for him.

[tyrius.]

Another viewpoint to consider is that if you move a bunch of big bass into another body of water you could seriously throw off the predator/prey balance in the new water creating fish management issues, which would be an unintended consequence to something that should have been a good thing.

I'd make sure that I thought it through thoroughly prior to doing anything on a large scale.  It may end being best just to let the fish die (sucks big time, but it could be true).  I'm not a fisheries biologist though so don't take my word for it.

[TrailerHook]

Another viewpoint to consider is that if you move a bunch of big bass into another body of water you could seriously throw off the predator/prey balance in the new water creating fish management issues, which would be an unintended consequence to something that should have been a good thing.

I'd make sure that I thought it through thoroughly prior to doing anything on a large scale. It may end being best just to let the fish die (sucks big time, but it could be true). I'm not a fisheries biologist though so don't take my word for it.

Agreed.  I think the best thing to do would be to harvest as many as you could for food just to keep the fish from going to waste.  I would think transporting a large number of fish and introducing them into a new lake would cause more harm than good.

[crazy4bass1]

just rig on a senko and you can catch them all

jk but i think the shocking thign would be the best thing to do

it doesnt harm the fish

At my local lake they did tis to clear out the flatheads ( they were eating the bass)    and a 63 pound flathead surfaced!   They couldnt get it in the boat so its still in there