By Louie Stout
An innovative Indiana DNR project worked so well the first year that biologists plan to continue it.
The project focuses on excessive small bass numbers in three lakes within the Tri-Lakes of Whitley County in northeast Indiana.
Last season, the DNR plucked 955 bass averaging 10 inches and transported them to Huntington Reservoir, a body of water known for having too few bass.
Tri-Lakes system, which consists of Round, Big Cedar and Little Cedar (270 acres total), has long been known to have a stunted bass population and anglers asked the DNR to do something.
Fisheries research revealed some fish measuring 13 inches were as much as 10 years old! Those fish should have been heavy 3 and 4 pounders.
“When we did an electro-fishing survey there, we got 200 bass an hour,” says biologist Tyler DeLauder. “That’s way above normal.”
Officials hope that reducing the bass population will help rebalance the lake. They plan to continue to remove bass annually for five years, unless studies show better growth results of the bass fishery.
While bass are small, the lake also has been known as an excellent bluegill lake.