Fish Populations of Backwater Lakes in Louisiana
- 1 January 1959
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 88 (1) , 7-15
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1959)88[7:fpobli]2.0.co;2
Abstract
Fish populations in seven backwater lakes were sampled by rotenone poisoning. On the average, 397 pounds of fish per acre comprising 103 pounds of game fish and 169 pounds of commercial fish were recovered from the lakes. Recoveries from individual lakes ranged from 142 to 651 pounds of fish per acre. Non‐predaceous fish made up 56 percent of the total population. Bluegill sunfish, warmouth sunfish, gizzard shad, fresh‐water drum, largemouth bass, black crappie and spotted gar were the principal fishes in the lakes. An average of 78 pounds of available game fish (harvestable‐size game fish) per acre was recovered from the lakes. Fairly large concentrations of fish occurred in relatively small areas in some of the backwater lakes. A total of 974 pounds of fish, of which 475 pounds were game fish, was recovered from a single 1 acre sampling area. On the average, there were 1.9 pounds of non‐predaceous fish per pound of predaceous fish. There were considerably less available forage fish (by weight) for the predators than they themselves made up in the population. The predaceous fish in the backwater lakes must be partly dependent on some type of forage other than fish, and swamp crayfish are probably important in their diet. A large increase in the area of the lakes during high water periods in the spring creates a favorable habitat for a rapidly expanding fish population. The quality of the sport fishing on the backwater lakes is excellent.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: