By Louie Stout
Shafer Lake doesn’t get as much attention from Michiana anglers, but it might be worth putting on their radar.
Indiana fisheries personal were there last fall to get a snapshot of the walleye and hybrid striped bass (aka wiper) that the DNR stocks annually.
The district fisheries team used electro-fishing for the walleyes and gill nets for the wipers and fair numbers of both species turned up.
In two hours of shocking one week and another two hours the next week, the survey turned up 67 walleyes with youngsters comprising 40 percent of the catch.
That’s pretty strong since DNR considered 6 per hour as a successful stocking.
“We only found 1 per hour when we were there in 2006, so that’s a good sign that the numbers appear to be improving,” says District Biologist Courtney Weldon. “I’ve been hearing from anglers that they are doing better with walleye and this survey suggests they should be.”
Indiana stocks about 130,000 spring fingerling walleye annually in the 1,400-acre reservoir lake located in White County and it sits below Lake Freeman. Both dammed reservoirs are fed by the Tippecanoe River.
Weldon said they caught walleye up to 18.2 inches, and the biggest fish was five years old.
The wiper survey didn’t turn up as good of numbers, but the nets did capture a hybrid that measured 29.7 inches, the largest ever been trapped by the DNR during Northwest Indiana surveys.
Indiana stocks about 13,000 wiper fingerlings there each year.
“Most of what we caught were around 14 inches, slightly on the smaller side, but healthy,” she says. “We did catch a mix of 16 to 21 inches.”
Incidental catches included sauger, native to the Tippecanoe River flowage, between 19-21 inches, white bass up to 17 inches and “a lot of healthy channel cats.”