LAKE LU

Fishing

Newsletter

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Three Year Monthly Angler Attendance Comparison

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Three Year Bass Harvest Comparison

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Three Year Bream Harvest Comparison

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We got 1.55 inches of rainfall for June 2016. The water temperature is 95˚F at the surface. Secchi is at 23 inches. It has been a very dry start to Summer with less than 2 inches of rainfall for each of the past two months. The lake is currently 8.4 inches below normal pool. I believe that this is the lowest water level I have recorded for the end of June since I have started writing these newsletters.

My dad and I were talking just the other day about how dry it is. He said that the last time it was this dry was in 2000. I think that the lake was down over 24 inches before rains came back in the fall. I estimate that this year will be a historic drought. My father, an 80-year old farmer, always talks about weather, droughts, floods and ice storms. He is the one person responsible for my meteorological skills. We were discussing the Drought of 2000 and I reminded him of the Drought of ’76.

In 1976 I was eight years old, and in this year I experienced my first drought and my first fish kill. As I

recall, 1976 was a mirror of the drought conditions that 2016 are looking like. Dad’s entire corn crop was dry and the corn leaves had rolled up into cigars trying to conserve moisture. One morning dad had walked up from the dairy barn and told us all that the catfish in the pond below the barn had swam up to the surface, were sucking air at the surface, and were about to die. Dad got my older brother Mark and put him in an old Jon boat with a 5 horse Johnson outboard and told him to cut “donuts” around the pond, trying to get some oxygen to the fish. (Years later as a lake manager and biologist I found out that outboard mixing in this manner will actually kill fish faster.) I remember walking around that pond and all these HUGE catfish started floating up and washing up on shore. I knew there were fish in that pond but never knew it held so many big fish. Throughout the day dead fish washed upon shore and we all knew it was over for the fish in the pond. Dad said that since the fish were dead that he might was well try to irrigate his parched corn with the pond water. We worked for a day or two running plastic water lines the quarter of a mile to the corn field. Dad started the water flowing to the field with a gas powered water pump. When the water got to a row he started timing how long it took to fill up a cornrow and he said it took an hour and 20 minutes to fill up a row!!! He said that was so disappointing that he went to the water pump, turned it off, and made a siphon out of the plastic water lines and just drained the pond. I hope I don’t have that kind of summer, but it does appear to me that it’s going to be a dry one.

The dynamic duo of Tommy Hedrick and Buddy Besant have been catching some nice bass. They report that the black/red glitter plastic worms have been giving the best bass results. I had a guy catch a nice slot bass on a weightless fluke. Bass fishing is very slow with best results being during the first and last hour of the day. There is no need to sit out in the sun in the middle of the day thinking you are going to catch the state record. Bass fishing is entering the “bottom of the barrel” days of the June, July and August cycle.

Caleb Bryant 6.5 pound 22.125-inch bass pumpkinseed worm. Biggest bass of his life! From the Lake LU Facebook page

Mike Minear published the following photo on the Lake LU Facebook page. Here Mike’s son Matt (blue shirt) holds a nice bass that 5-year old Mason Campbell caught. This was young Mr. Mason’s first fish ever on his first cast ever! Photo by Mike Minear.

Jay Haffner, District 3 Fisheries Supervisor, came to Lake LU in June and conducted a seine survey. Jay found that there were plenty of fry in the water, indicating that the golden shiner population is being kept in check. One problem is that he found that the lake is still bass crowded. I joked and said that all anglers that do not keep all their bass under 14 inches will be charged with treason! Well we are not going to that level of extreme, but I did try some new motivation support. (see below.)

I typed up some strips and attached them to the back of the fishing permit. It reads, “Anglers are REQUIRED to keep all bass under 14 inches in length.”

Jay seined up a big, swollen up brush hog in the nets. Jay told us that Zoom plastic worms are bad to swell to this proportion, that’s why they are banned in many high end pay lakes. This lure was about a foot long. Bass anglers please throw all damaged soft plastic lures in the trash cans when you leave Lake LU.

Results from the fry seine. Jay will return in September for his Fall seine survey.

2016 BASS HARVEST REGULATION

Anglers have an unlimited bass harvest at Lake LU, as long as the bass is less than 14 inches in total length.

In addition, anglers may also harvest 1 fish greater than 22 inches in total length, per person, per day at

Lake LU.

Please continue to encourage anglers to harvest small bass. ~ Jay Haffner

The weather has gotten hot and so has the bream fishing. One day last week it was 99 degrees Fahrenheit and bream anglers caught 174 bream! It’s finally time to start drowning crickets!

Mrs. Gloria Clark posing with a fine bull bluegill that she caught while fishing off the pier at Lake LU.

A photo of a successful father and son bream fishing trip.

THERE WILL NOT BE A FIREWORKS SHOW AT LAKE LU FOR THE 2016 INDEPENDENCE DAY HOLIDAY!

John Hall and I worked on a grant one year to renovate the Forest Trail at Lake LU. Part of that renovation involved the construction of wooden foot bridges, signage, and an information kiosk at the trailhead. I put this sign up on the trailhead kiosk and joked with Jungle John that he finally had a building named after him. He would always tell me to climb up there and take that silly sign down. I would always tell him that UWA had a Webb Hall, a Foust Hall and that the nature trails needed

a John Hall! This sign is dedicated to the memory of John Hall and his love of nature.

Gray headed coneflower in bloom near the Little House on the prairie.

It was not long after the photo on the left was taken when I suffered a torn meniscus in my knee while working on the lake. I would like to thank everyone for the well wishes and calls of concern. My knee surgery went quick and was fairly painless. I cannot say the

same thing for the physical therapy though, but as of this writing, I am walking without a crutch!

If anyone wants any information regarding fishing, nature trails or prairie wildflower blooming times, please give me a call at 205-652-9266 or e-mail me at lrr@uwa.edu.

Feel free to visit the Lake LU website at www.lakelu.uwa.edu. Thank you, Robby Limerick Lake Manager Lake LU The University of West Alabama lrr@uwa.edu 1-205-652-9266. All photos by R. Limerick unless otherwise noted.