Post by Victoria Starnes.—
Bluff Lake is a 1,200-acre shallow lake on the Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge (Check out a few pictures from the lake below). Currently the lake undergoes seasonal drawdowns to provide food for migrating waterfowl. The lake ranges from 5-12ft, so any drawdown will remove a large portion of the total volume. Although this drawdown benefits migrating waterfowl, it could be impacting the fish within Bluff Lake and anglers, some of which fish the lake daily.
That’s where I come in! My name is Victoria Starnes, I’m a graduate student at Mississippi State University in Dr. Colvin’s lab. Over the course of the next few years I will be responsible for learning about the fish of Bluff Lake and how they respond when Bluff Lake is drained. This could potentially help inform decisions made by refuge managers.
Based on what has been learned from other lakes, this drawdown could have both positive and negative impacts on fishing. Because the fish are concentrated during the drawdown, they should have better access to food, like other smaller fish (Check out the picture below and follow the link for another cool blog post!
Although this all-you-can-eat fish buffet could result in larger faster growing fish, it could also lead to low catch rates simply because the fish are full! I'll be using several different tools to figure out if this is happening, but one of these tools is called a creel survey. The best part is, by participating in a creel survey, you can help me while doing something that you might already love to do!
First, let’s talk about what a creel survey is. A creel survey is simply an in-person interview or a short survey about your fishing trip. The "creel" part of the name is simply a reference to a wicker basket traditionally used to hold fish (Check out the picture below!
So, basically, we want to know what's in your fish basket . . . or bucket, or cooler, or whatever you keep your fish in! A few days each month either my technician or I will visit the lake and ask anglers simple questions about what the angler was fishing for (crappie, bass, catfish, etc.), what they caught, and how many of that type fish they kept or released (Check out my tech, Brandon (left), and I below). We will then identify, weigh, and measure your fish before returning them to you. So, you’ll know exactly how many pounds of fish you’re bringing home!
Now, why would you want to be interviewed? This survey is your opportunity to let refuge staff know what you want out of your local lake! By answering a few questions about your fishing trip, you can help refuge managers decide which fish to manage and how these fish need to be managed. Sometimes people have different goals when they're fishing. For example, if you bring your kids out to Bluff Lake you might want to catch a lot of fish, but you might not necessarily care what kind of fish you caught. Now, that sounds a lot different than someone who wants to catch a few big crappie for dinner! Both of these opinions matter, and each could mean something different for how to manage Bluff Lake. So it’s up to you to make your voice heard!