Seining for YOY Bass in Deep Creek Lake

Type: Nontidal
Region: Western
Location: Deep Creek Lake

�The Boss (Alan Klotz, Fisheries Western Region Manager)� sent us out on a miserable rainy day to seine for young of year (YOY) smallmouth and largemouth bass. There were some squabbles in the vehicle as we headed to our destination of Deep Creek Lake as to where we should begin. It ended as my co-worker Marcus Wilson stated �If you don�t check the weather station then you don�t have a say on where we go, its like, if you didn�t vote then just be quiet!� With that, a decision was made. We started by Cherry Creek Cove.

Captain Jody Johnson (Fisheries Biologist), Fisheries Technicians Marcus Wilson, Kenny Wampler, and myself headed out and conducted the fish reproductive success seine net surveys in the lake. Cursory results show that smallmouth bass reproductive success as determined by the number of young of year (YOY) per 50 foot seine haul was one of the highest abundance ratings to date. Largemouth bass reproductive success was rated as �good�. Yellow perch were abundant, with some seine hauls containing more than 100 YOY yellow perch. Other YOY species included bluegills, chain pickerel, golden shiners, pumpkinseeds, brown bullheads, and yellow bullheads.

As for my co-workers and myself, we survived the miserable weather, and it turned out to be a pretty good morning. I Love My Job!