Oct-Dec 2009 - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

that it is maintained with a minimumamount of nutrient input, in order tokeep the water easier to process forsupply to Central Arkansas. Theproblem lies in the large number ofpredator species compared to arelatively small amount of foragespecies. Lake Maumelle is predatorrich, and contains the followingspecies, all of which are known toeat other fish: white bass, hybridstriped bass, saugeye, chainpickerel, largemouth bass, spottedbass, channel catfish, blue catfish,flathead catfish and crappie. This isa large number of mouths to feed!The forage or bait fish population isnot as strong due to low productivity(nutrients). Basically, forage fish eatsmall invertebrate, or aquatic bugs,that eat algae, and other plant life,that are fueled by nutrients.Because this is a water supply lake,it is in CAW’s interest to keepnutrients low, so that they don’t haveto filter them out of the water beforeit heads to our houses.Game FishBait FishWhen anglers want to catch morefish on a lake, their first reaction isusually to want AGFC to stock moreof these fish. This seems logicalenough, but is not always the rightanswer. In the case of Maumelle,there are already too many predatorsand not enough food. Adding morepredators will only mean less foodfor each individual predator, andwould cause a decrease in theaverage size of fish, or may evencause lower numbers, as somestarve.So, to improve this fishery, we cantry to decrease the total number ofpredatory fish and/or increase thenumber of forage fish. We areworking on measures to do both. Inorder to decrease some of thepredatory fish, we have lobbied toallow trotlines in the lake in order totarget some species moreeffectively, especially catfish. Thiseffort was passed, and trotlining isallowed from the eastern tip of thelargest island, and west, whichincludes about 2/3 of the lake.Hopefully, this will reduce thenumber of catfish, and will increasethe forage available for moredesirable game fish.Aquatic Bugs (Invertebrates)AlgaeNutrientsFigure 2. Simplified food chain fora lake or pond.Also, we are still working on placing