(Stanton) Early spring rainfall has been a welcome sight as far as the Iowa DNR’s Fisheries Department is concerned.
Fisheries Biologist Bryan Hayes says Viking Lake is making progress towards re-filling after a draw down process in 2019. “That’s good news for DNR, for Fisheries, for almost everyone to finally get some much needed moisture. Specifically for Viking Lake that is good news. We’ve been waiting for this. We’ve been needing this.”
The Montgomery County fishing and camping destination has gone nearly three years without being completely full. “We drew that lake down back in the summer of 2019. We are just now talking about maybe filling it. The fall of 2019 was dry, 2020 was dry, 2021 was dry, and now here in the spring of 2022 hopefully we are getting the moisture we need to re-fill that lake.”
The draw down should have a positive impact on the fish population. A couple of factors that lead to that are bass reducing the bluegill population while the water level is low, plus flooding of aquatic vegetation when the lake fills back up. “It puts a lot of nutrients in the water that can drive fish growth. So you have a reduced bluegill population, a beefed up bass population because they’ve taken advantage of the crowded conditions, and then you are going to flood vegetation that is going to bring on crappie reproduction. I think the anglers will benefit over the next 5-6 years as a result of this draw down.”
Hayes says the lake has still been accessible by boat, but with 2-3 feet of water added they’ll be able to get docks put in and have multiple boat ramps re-open.
