(Area) A fall netting is underway for the Iowa DNR. They are surveying the bluegill and crappie population.
Fisheries Biologist Bryan Hayes says the water temperatures in the past couple of weeks have dropped to suitable levels for their surveys. “When water temperatures get below 65 degrees the fish get active again and the movement of bluegills and crappie along the shoreline allow us to trap them in nets and survey their population numbers.”
They began at Littlefield and found some good things. “Set some nets and had a good sample of fish. Really healthy looking fish. Bluegills kind of rival the ones we’ve been seeing in Prairie Rose as far as length and condition. Really good body condition on those. We also saw some large crappies, they are few in numbers, but they are nice big crappies.”
The survey at Littlefield also found yellow perch as large as 12″. Hayes says these fall netting surveys give a good indication of where to ice fish this winter.
