Joes Valley Reservoir— On May 24, DWR fisheries biologists will sample the population of fish at Joes Valley Reservoir by a process called gill netting, where nets are set at locations where fish travel, and then are captured. The following morning, the nets are gathered and the fish, which are caught are categorized by species, and are weighed, and measured. The small sample of fish caught by the gill nets provides biologists with an estimate of the total population of each kind of fish in the reservoir. From that, they can judge how well the fish of each species is doing from one year to the next.
On Tuesday,В May 24 at 8 a.m. DWR biologists will bring in the nets they set the night before. They will dock at the new boat ramp on the east side. The public is welcome to come and participate.
There are several exciting developments at Joes Valley Reservoir. DWR’s stocking of tiger muskies last year has apparently been very successful, based on angler reports, who say they have been catching 27-31 inch tiger muskies. We will be looking forward to seeing evidence of this species and their size and numbers. We will also be comparing the number of chubs caught this year with the numbers caught in previous years. We will also want to see the weight gains and population increases of our predacious trout species, such as splake, tiger trout and cutthroat trout.
Please remember that tiger muskies are protected until they reach 40 inches in size. The tiger muskies at Joes Valley are not expected to reach that size until late this fall or next spring, so please release all tiger muskies that you catch.
Huntington North Reservoir— At Huntington North Reservoir, biologists will pull nets on Thursday, May 26 at 8 a.m. At this reservoir, we are very interested in learning more about last year’s introduction of the wipers (which are a cross between white bass and striped bass). We are hoping to find good survival and growth of this species, which will representВ a new and exciting game fish for Huntington North. We also hope to see an increase in size and numbers of largemouth bass. Huntington North is the best warm water fishery in Castle Country, and we hope to make it more attractive to warm water fishermen, in search of bass, crappie, bluegill and wipers.
The public is invited to watch and participate in this project.В Once again, meet at the boat ramp at Huntington North Reservoir on Thursday, May 26 at 8 a.m. Watch biologists as they pull nets and weigh and measure each species of fish and see the kinds and sizes of fish that you may catch here.