Largemouth Bass Abundance and Angler Catch Rates following a Habitat Enhancement Project at Lake Kissimmee, Florida

Abstract

Abstract A habitat enhancement project was conducted at Lake Kissimmee, Florida, during 1995-1996 to improve fish habitat and remove dense inshore vegetation caused by stabilized water levels. We evaluated abundance of age-1 (<250 mm total length (TL)) and adult (fish at least 356 mm TL and all sizes of fish caught by anglers) largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides before and after the habitat enhancement. Mean electrofishing catch per hour (CPH) of age-1 largemouth bass increased significantly after the 1995-1996 habitat enhancement, suggesting strong year-classes for 2 years after the habitat enhancement (i.e., 1997-1998 year-classes). Growth of age-1 largemouth bass also increased following habitat enhancement; mean total length of age-1 fish averaged 143 mm before enhancement and 186 mm after enhancement. Catch curves conducted in 2001 and 2002 corroborated historical electrofishing data indicating that the 1997 and 1998 year-classes were abundant as adults compared with other year-classes in the age f...