Lake Level Article

[Phil S]

Curious what everyone thinks about this article as it relates to fishing, populations, and spawning. I don’t know enough to comments but I surely would think it could affect spawn, especially in the river arms.

 

https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2022/jan/10/corps-plan-aims-to-maintain-lower-beaver-lake/?fbclid=IwAR22DqSmTz1rJTgEIOrC-pVyzSqu06XYC24F5IDVvcszQ1r7RNkfG7ASo_U

[fishinwrench]

As long as the level remains relatively stable the effect on the spawn won't be a factor.    Drastic up/down lake levels are what can really screw it up.

[Quillback]

This ought to put some vegetation on the banks too.  It all gets killed off when the lake is high all spring so when it goes down then we have however much bank was covered by 10 feet of water that is nothing but gravel or rock.  

[Notropis]

Well, I knew sooner or later something would cause me to come out of my self-imposed retirement from posting on this forum.

When I helped manage the fish populations on Beaver Lake from 1986-2014, there was one correlation regarding high water levels that I had the most confidence in. High water, especially water levels that remained high throughout the summer produced the best spawns and the most favorable conditions for the young fish to survive in the future. Fish that were affected the most were the sunfish species (bass, crappie, bluegill etc.) High water in the Spring would produce large spawns because of plentiful spawning habitat but high survival and growth of the fingerlings depended on continued high water in the summer that provided excellent nursery habitat (flooded brush, grasses) for the young fish to forage and escape predation. 

During normal and low water years bass fingerlings spawned in the Spring averaged around 2-3 inches in August usually numbered 100-200 per acre. Years when the water levels stayed high in the summer produced bass fingerlings from 3-5 inches in length and some years numbered over 1000 per acre. The best year classes of bass in Beaver Lake were almost always produced during those types of years!   

I wouldn't worry about the corps plans too much. They may want to keep the levels lower but mother nature dictates the levels far more than corp policy. Some years they have no ability to reduce the water levels especially those flood years that fill all the White River Lakes creating a situation where they are forced to hold high water in Beaver.