As lake managers, the spring is our busiest time of year. It’s the best time to evaluate waterbodies with electrofishing and or other sampling gear. It is also the time most hatchery fish are spawned or collected from the wild and stocked. As a company, we work from South Florida to the North Carolina/Virginia border, and the seasons work in our favor and allow us to do that, as largemouth bass spawning usually starts in late February in South Florida, and it gradually progresses north ending in May/June in North Carolina. We gradually move our electrofishing surveys north as time goes, following the start of fish spawning season in each region. Lake owners only need to identify their startup season, when things start happening on their waterbodies, to start working.
Lake owners in the South have the luxury of working on and enjoying their lakes in winter while northerners have cold weather and even freezes that deter winter lake work and/or recreation. My schedule is by far the busiest from late February through June. We start electrofishing in South Florida in late February to early March, and finish spring lake evaluations in the Carolinas in Late May/early June. Not all lake management companies work as large geographical areas and that would make it hard to service all our clients as well as we do all at the same time. Spreading out field work, data entry and analysis, mixed with office work allows us to service many more clients and provide them the best service possible.
Once water temperatures get above 50o F, things start becoming active and alive in the water. Monitoring the severity of your past winter helps you determine what may need addressing in late winter or early spring this coming year. Did you have excessively warm or cold temperatures, or lack of/excessive rainfall this past winter? Colder than normal temperatures may have caused a fish kill you are unaware of in forage species such as threadfin shad and/or golden shiners. Threadfin shad have a cold-water threshold of about 45o F and golden shiners about 35o F. Species such as largemouth bass, bluegill and redear sunfish can handle ice covering the surface, but may have been affected by lower-than-normal Dissolved Oxygen (DO) levels. However, Copper-nose bluegill and pure Florida bass may perish in extreme cold-water temperatures when stocked farther north than they can handle. On the opposite side of the spectrum, if it was warmer than usual, certain species of vegetation may not have died back and possibly grew during winter and is already becoming a problem before spring is here. Seasonal weather patterns of excessive hot or cold, flooding and drought affects your waterbody. Weather may also affect hatcheries making it harder or impossible to acquire certain fish species for spring stocking such as threadfin shad, mosquitofish, tilapia, and golden shiners.
Water Chemistry
During the spring, your water chemistry should be good from top-to-bottom, particularly Dissolved Oxygen (DO), unless you have major issues. Sampling water chemistry every quarter can help you understand what kind of swings your waterbody has throughout the year and determine if any water quality issues are negatively affecting your fish population. Spring water quality issues can affect fish growth, overall health, reproduction, egg hatching success and fry survival.
We recommend testing water chemistry in the morning at various locations (depending on waterbody size and number of inflows) for water temperature, DO, pH, and conductivity one foot below the surface and one foot off the bottom in the deepest spot. Test for ammonia, alkalinity, carbon monoxide, chlorides, hardness and salinity (if close to the coast) at minimum in one spot near the middle of the waterbody. With the DO meter, determine if there is a line and at what depth that separates good DO levels and poor, or knowing if it is constantly good or bad from top to bottom is important for all seasons. This will change with the seasons. In a lake with good water chemistry and no aeration system, DO should be good top-to-bottom in spring and fall, with it stratified (layered like a cake) in the winter and summer. The depth of this separation line will vary depending on algae blooms, water clarity and substrate makeup. The farther down this line is the better, as there are more surface acres for fish to occupy during these times. Checking only in the spring is a mistake, as it may look good, but during other seasons the poor water quality section may be large and hindering the success of your fish population. If you have a suitably fitted bottom aeration system the DO will be constant throughout the water column throughout the year and there should not be any issues.
If you conduct an annual fertilizing program or starting one is desired, begin fertilizing in late winter/early spring once water temperatures reach 55-60o F and continue throughout the growing season. Monitor the visibility every other week with a Secchi Disk and add fertilizer as directed on the product label. Desirable visibility with a fertilization program is 18-36 inches. Anymore and you can have submerged vegetation issues, any less can cause a catastrophic fish kill should the planktonic algae (causes green water) die off all at once. Do not over fertilize and do not stop the program mid growing season once it is started. If the pH is not adequate (above 6.5 minimum), we recommend liming in the fall (preferably) or winter, allowing water chemistry to adjust so you can start fertilizing in the spring. A green lake can grow up to 400% more fish than a clear water lake. The largemouth bass can also be 10-15% more robust (Relative Weight) than a clearwater lake.
Adding an aeration system in the spring makes the startup easier than if done in summer or winter. The air temperature is not as hot while installing the equipment, and the water column DO and temperature should be fairly steady throughout, making it less likely to cause a fish kill during the startup process. Spring is also a good time to service pumps (replace gaskets and air filter annually and possibly carbon veins should it have them) and clean bubbler stones every few years with Muriatic acid.
Habitat and Vegetation
Once shoreline and submerged vegetation begin to grow, immediately begin treating foreseen nuisance aquatic vegetation with herbicides to prevent excessive growth in summer and large amounts of herbicides being required later in the year. This may be determined by historical growth, the species of plant and the past winter temperatures whether plants die-off, growth was slowed or growth continued at a normal rate. The sooner in spring problem vegetation is treated, the more successful the treatment. Know your plant species biology, herbicide, application rates and the effects from water temperature on the herbicides used. The more you know, the more effective the treatment is.
Some filamentous algae species will begin to grow underwater on the bottom before other terrestrial plants begin to grow. If treating filamentous algae is required, treat as soon as you see it appear. Like all other nuisance plant species, treating sooner than later is better overall for the lake and your budget. Other early growing species around the shoreline or in the water that has been a problem in the past should be treated as soon as the plants appear to be growing. A growing plant receiving foliage herbicide treatments responds much better than a dormant plant. Some plant species may be best treated by mowing or burning first, then followed by an herbicide foliage treatment of the young new shoots sprout. Just mowing the shoreline, dormant or dead vegetation will open it up to sunlight and allow desirable plants present to grow.
Spring is the best time to transplant soft tissue aquatic vegetation in or around your lake. This allows it a full growing season before winter to root and become established. Make sure plant species chosen and locations around the lake are best for your area, easy to care for, allow bank access and are aesthetically pleasing. Plant species purchased from a nursery specializing in native aquatic plants or a nearby donor site can be sources for your native species. When using a nursery or a nearby donor site, be sure you properly identify the plant to prevent introducing a nuisance or non-native species, creating a problem for you in the future.
Early spring is also a good time to add offshore fish attractors and gravel spawning beds to help by increasing bream and bass spawning areas and providing hiding habitat for newly hatched fish and increasing survival rates, especially in waterbodies lacking good natural habitat. We have observed #57 gravel spawning beds being used in less than five days after installation by largemouth bass and bluegill.
If you stopped supplemental feeding for winter, begin feeding once per day when water temperatures get above 55o F. Feed during the warmest part of day in 4-6 feet deep water. Begin feeding twice per day when water temperatures are between 60 and 70o F. Increase to feeding four times per day when water temperatures reach above 700 F. In some areas the startup temperature may be reached in late February and other areas not until April. In late winter, clean fish feeders, check timers and recharge or replace batteries prior to restarting. If all feed dispensed is not consumed within 15-20 minutes, reduce times dispensed to reduce waste. Most feeding attracts fish, so feeding times throughout the day need to remain the same for long periods of time so the fish will be nearby when the feed is dispensed to ensure most is consumed and waste is reduced. Feeder locations can be points to sight evaluate catfish, bream and shiner populations while fish are at the surface consuming floating feed. We recommend feed with various sized pellets with floating and sinking mixed together. There are various brands of feed on the market. Whichever you choose, make sure it has a minimum of 30% protein. Both Purina and Sportsmen’s Choice offer a mixed size and floating with sinking feed in the same bag. Be sure the feed is fresh and not moldy, certain feed molds can be toxic to fish.
Fish
Order your stocked fish approximately two months prior to wanting them delivered. The hatcheries and weather will dictate when they can bring your ordered fish. Some fish are not available all year long, and some may not be available until late spring or early summer, while some may not be available even when promised. Once they in or available, it is too hot to haul them, so you have to wait until fall for delivery. The farther north your property, the less you have to worry about it being too hot to haul fish. In some instances, getting to the lake to stock can become an issue due to heavy spring rains. The best made plans can become very fluid when it comes to stocking, so be understanding and flexible. But, getting your order in as soon as possible helps to get your fish. The later you get entered on a stocking list, the more people in front of you and the fewer fish for customers closer to the bottom than the top of that list, no matter the species. As stated earlier, some years there are no fish in certain species available due to winter die-offs at the supplying hatchery or natural waterbodies where the species are collected. If it does not look like your desired species will be available one year, consider selecting another good available species as a forage substitute. There are usually alternatives, but the cost and benefit may be more or less depending on the alternate species choices. Again, do your homework or consult your professional lake manager, know your fish species before you talk to the hatchery.
Spring, just prior to or after the largemouth bass spawn, is the best time to conduct an electrofishing survey, followed by fall. Sampling near the largemouth bass spawn assures the most bass, all sizes, male and female will be in the shallower water and more likely to be included in the sample, which indicates how weak or strong the population is. Sampling at this time allows for your lake manager to compile the data, create a management strategy and get started on implementing the recommendations that may include stocking before the summer heat arrives.
The spring is a good time to remove largemouth bass with rod-and-reel or with electrofishing from the designated slot and numbers recommended for the year. This also alleviates predator numbers for post spawn survival of forage hatching during the spring. Most bass management strategies for largemouth have a bass removal component in it, and the bass are easier to catch in spring after a winter of eating very little and preparing to or finishing the spawn. Many clients do not use this opportunity and then find summertime fishing harder to catch the numbers that were prescribed. Again, for this task, spring is the best time, followed by fall then summer and winter, when it becomes harder to catch bass.
There is always lots to do as a lake owner, but spring is definitely the busiest time. Turkey hunting in the morning and performing lake work that can include catching and removing small bass is one way to have quite an enjoyable spring day ending with a fish fry at home or camp.