Lake Carroll News A publication of the Lake Carroll Association and its members
April 2013
What’s Inside...
www.golakecarroll.com
Vol. 41 No. 04
Lake & Natural Resources By Joe Rush
Did you know the lake “sings”? Read IMAGine to see how. See page 14A
The Massey’s won the “Lady of the Lake” at this year’s Robbers Bingo. See page 8A
LAKE LEVEL as of March 31, 2013 - 738’ 8”; No Wake restriction has been lifted. ADMIN OFFICE: Closed Wed, April 24th - To allow attendance to Lanark’s Employee Appreciation Lunch. Closed Wed, April 10th – Annual “Housecleaning”. No phones or walk-ins. Closed Mon, May 27 – Memorial Day 2013 BOARD MTG SCHEDULE: Apr 26, May 31, Jun 28, Jul 26, Aug 23, Sep 27, Oct 18, Nov 22, Dec 1 – Annual Mtg, Dec 13 (Tentative-if needed) NO LINE DANCE April 25th LCA FIREWORKS Friday, July 5th at dusk from the Clubhouse LAKE CARROLL FALL GARAGE SALES: Saturday, September 14, 2013, 8am-5pm
UPCOMING EVENTS See Table of Contents for Page Locations
APRIL 14 Hatchery Open House 20 Golf Rules Workshop 21 Hatchery Open House MAY 04 Kentucky Derby Day 11 Mother’s Day Scramble 12 Mother’s Day Brunch 15 Match Play Sign-Up 17 Match Play Start 18 CC Trucks, Tractors, & Toys 18 Save the Boobies Golf Trny 24 Outdoor Pool Opening JUNE 15 Kick-Off to Summer 15 Family Fun Nights 21 Family Fun Nights 28 Family Fun Nights JULY 05 LCA Fireworks, dusk, Clubhouse 27 Fun In The Sun – Beach Luau (L) 28 Fun in the Sun Live Entertainment (CH)
Out like a lion and in like a lamb… As the winter thaw and spring rains continue to bring lake levels to pool, we begin thinking about our upcoming fishing and boating season. With that, I’d like to take a moment to talk about the fishery and a few misconceptions about our toothy predators that roam the lake. One species, in particular, is the muskie, also known as “the fish of 10,000 casts”. Many anglers are concerned that muskie will decimate other sport fish populations of the lake by eating all the other gamefish. This is, however, a bad rap given to the muskie. Sometimes this reputation is due to a muskie following, or occasionally attacking, a fisherman’s catch as they reel it to the boat. This is a survival tactic of predator fish (even largemouth bass) called a ‘reaction strike’. A predator fish’s instinct is to attack a fish that looks wounded causing a ‘reaction’ or strike at that fish frantically pulling on the end of your line. Now, I’m not naive to think that muskie won’t occasionally eat other fish besides shad, however, the science has shown several times that muskie prefer to target and eat soft-rayed, oily fish like gizzard shad, and Lake Carroll does have a solid population of shad. Most people may not know this, but muskie stocking actually started in 1994, and up until 2005, they were stocked almost every year. The majority of the stockings were through the volunteer efforts of the Fishing Club netting, spawning, and rearing muskie in their ponds. Therefore, stocking muskie is not a new idea. Lake Carroll fishery is able to support this top predator species due to the large gizzard shad population that provides a food source for them. As previously stated, the scientific literature shows that their preference is to eat soft-rayed oily fish like gizzard shad over sport species. This was previously documented in literature from Wisconsin and Minnesota, but now there is a study published in 2012 from lakes here in Illinois. Beyond the preferred diet of muskie being gizzard shad, it was also determined that in lakes that contain muskie, the largemouth bass, bluegill, and black crappie populations all IMPROVED for electrofishing catch per unit effort and overall fish sizes. (See the end of this article for directions on where to find the report). All three of which are important species to Lake Carroll and the fishing community. Every lake has a maximum biomass (pounds of fish) that can be supported. In most cases, fishermen are concerned with the biomass of fish they want to catch for sport or food, but in many cases biomass is taken up
in species that are undesirable to most fishermen. For example, common carp and gizzard shad are species that the majority of fishermen do not fish for. Both can have negative consequences to some sport species. Carp can compete for food and space with game fish, will eat game fish eggs and destroy game fish nests, and root in the water stirring up the bottom which causes water clarity / water quality problems. Gizzard shad can compete for food sources with game fish species and cause trophic shifts in the zooplankton and phytoplankton communities (which are the START of the foodweb in a lake ecosystem) and impact recruitment of other desirable species. Young (small) gizzard shad can provide a food source for many of our sport species, and therefore can be desirable by fisherman because it provides food for the fish they want to catch, like bass, crappie, and walleye. However, what happens when gizzard shad grow too big to be eaten by bass, crappie, and walleye? This undesirable ‘biomass’ wrapped up in BIG shad can be converted to a fishable, desirable species such as muskie that are big enough to eat them. For example over 46% of the shad collected in the IDNR fish shocking survey last fall were 10 inches and
larger! (Info on how to review this report on the Lake Carroll website is outlined at the end of the article). This size shad will not be a food source for the other game fish. So, why not convert it to a species that some anglers do enjoy? Especially when that species has dietary habits that target big, oily, slimy gizzard shad and that have been present in the lake since 1994. If you are interested in reading about the IDNR fish shocking report from 2012 or the 2012 final report on Muskie from Illinois Natural History Survey, you can look at the Lake Carroll website at www.golakecarroll. com and follow the one of the paths below. 1. Amenities\Lake and Natural Resources, Documents in the left sidebar OR 2. Resources\Document Library\Lake and Natural Resources (click to expand document list) Look for the document titles of: “2012 Final Muskie Report -Illinois Natural History Survey” and “2012 Fish Population Assessment for Lake Carroll Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries”
This big muskie was caught in Lake Carroll by member Brent Rose in 2003. It was 50”, 35#, and had a 24” circumference. Archive photo.
MANDATORY UNIMPROVED LOT MOWINGS #1 May 10-19; Report by 12pm May 20 #2 Aug 2-11; Report by 12pm Aug 12 If you mow your own unimproved lot, YOU report it. If you hire someone to mow it, THEY report it. Provide your Name, Section, Lot, Date mowed. If you don’t report it, you will be bill for LCA arranging mowing. Mowing Report # 815-493-2552 ext 27.
Even if you mow outside of the mandatory dates, you MUST mow within the required timeframes.