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As the bow of the boat approached the underwater brush pile, the surface started to boil with fish. Jutting out from the bow, twin electroshocking rings sent a jolt through the water. DNR Fisheries Technician Scott Grummer netted a nice 12-inch crappie; one of the largest we would see on this day. With a flick of his wrist, the thick crappie was deposited in a holding tank on board the DNR work boat. Grummer turned his attention to the water again. The action on Coralville Reservoir was hit and miss, just like fishing itself. In an area with good cover -- a rocky shoreline or hidden brush -- dozens of fish would float to the top or break water before being immobilized for a few seconds by the electric current. In an area with a muddy bottom very little would surface. With Grummer and seasonal worker Josh Peach scooping fish and biologist Paul Sleeper guiding the 18-foot aluminum boat, the crew worked in 15-minute intervals. When that limit was reached, it was time to pull over and assess the catch. "We are looking at the size and structure of the fishery," explains Sleeper. "We want to see how well certain fish have spawned, and what condition the fish are in. So far, it looks extremely good. This is the second year in a row with high water during the spawn. That’s very beneficial for the fish." High water floods low-lying vegetation. That extra acreage and grassy cover gives just-hatched fry a chance to escape predators. With better survival, those year-classes show up as crews take length and weight measurements before releasing the fish back to the water. Large numbers of 6-inch and 10- to 11-inch bass were prevalent, indicating a couple good growing seasons. However, it was a less common species that grabbed the attention on board. "We are seeing a nice upturn in 11- and 12-inch white bass or ‘stripers’ in our Coralville survey," notes Sleeper. "Stripers run in cycles. We will have great fishing for a couple years, then a few years of nothing. That’s good news to anglers in the year ahead." Those schools of stripers will be around 14 inches next year. Late summer and early fall fish surveys are a major element of the DNR’s fisheries management program. The Lake Macbride-based crew samples lakes and streams throughout seven counties. Their counterparts are busy across other areas of the state. Some engage different methods to determine their lake’s health. "Right now, we are backseining on the natural lakes," reports Jim Wahl, DNR fisheries management biologist at Clear Lake. "We are primarily in the beach areas, with 50-foot seines with one-quarter inch mesh. We are just looking for young of the year fish. For walleyes, it tells us the survival rate of stocked fish. For other game fish, it gives us an idea of reproduction for the year." Wahl says initial results show an average to slightly above normal reproduction for "the class of 1999." "We are seeing good numbers of spottailed shiners; the dominant forage fish in the natural lakes. Yellow bass and bullheads are important, too, as forage fish when young and eventually as game fish." Around the first of October, fisheries workers conduct intensive, nighttime electroshocking studies on Clear Lake, Black Hawk, East and West Okoboji and Storm lakes. That will involve marking fish and recapturing them on ensuing nights. The recapture rates can help determine the densities of certain species. "You’d like to see good reproduction year after year, but you don’t," says Wahl. "It takes several years to get some fish, like walleyes, to acceptable sizes. The fishery rides those good years. This (sampling work) gives us credibility with the anglers, too. They’ll understand when fishing is down for a couple years, if we can assure them that in a year or two it will return because we are seeing a good year class coming up." The surveys are an annual report, of sorts, for the scores of waters fished each year by nearly a million Iowa anglers.

Uploaded: 9/22/1999