Fourteen Years Record of Fish Production from Meander Lake

Abstract

Abstract Meander Lake is an artificial lake of 2,010 acres in which no angling is permitted, but from which the Ohio Division of Wildlife has removed fish by trap net annually. The lake was filled in February, 1932 and was stocked in 1932, 1934, and 1935, with a total of approximately 10,000 adult fish (about 200 largemouth bass, 1,100 bluegills, 850 bullheads, 1,700 gizzard shad, and 6,000 crappies) and in the spring of 1940, with 400 breeder white bass. Removal of fish by nets began in the fall of 1935. In 1938, nets were used both during the spring and fall and since 1939, only in the spring, prior to spawning. An average of 16 pounds of fish was removed from each acre annually. About 4 percent of these were largemouth bass, 5 percent bluegills, and 65 percent white crappies. Bass and bluegill removal averaged nearly 10 percent each of the total catch for the first 5 years, crappies increased rapidly to reach a peak in 1942. Since that year crappies have gradually decreased and in 1948, white bass cons...