Fifty Years of Fisheries Management m an Obstinate Prairie Lake

Authors

Dennis L. Scarnecchia, University of IdahoFollow
James R. Wahl, Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Document Type

Research

Keywords

fishery management, fish, water resources

Abstract

Little Wall Lake, a shallow 104 ha glacial lake in Hamilton County, Iowa, has been manipulated for about 50 years by fishery managers in an attempt to provide a stable sport fishery. Managers have used dredging, water level manipulation, aquatic vegetation control, mechanical fish removal and fish eradication with toxicants, sport fish stocking, introduction of piscivorous fish, artificial habitat structures, and winter aeration. Attempts to stabilize the fishery have been unsuccessful, and because of overpopulation and stunting of panfishes, total fish eradications were conducted in 1977 and 1989. We review the history of management efforts on the lake, and suggest a series of changes in the habitat and fish community designed to achieve the goal of stabilizing the sport fishery. Proposed management actions include more extensive dredging, more intensive water level manipulations, moderate vegetation control, restrictive harvest regulations on largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and aggressive use and stocking of piscivorous fish (game and non-game species) to prevent overpopulation of panfishes.

Publication Date

March 1992

Journal Title

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science

Volume

99

Issue

1

First Page

7

Last Page

14

Copyright

© Copyright 1992 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.

Language

EN

File Format

application/pdf

Recommended Citation

Scarnecchia, Dennis L. and Wahl, James R. (1992) "Fifty Years of Fisheries Management m an Obstinate Prairie Lake," Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS, 99(1), 7-14.
Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol99/iss1/4