In great shape
Survey says area lakes are exceptional fisheries
Tim Horton pulls in a large mouth bass outside of
McFarland Harbor.
"Our lakes are really something special," he said. "They are some of the best places in the country to fish for bass."
Horton's endorsement of the four Tennessee River lakes in Alabama - Guntersville, Wheeler, Wilson and Pickwick - are not just home-state boosterism for the Muscle Shoals angler.
Surveys conducted by the Tennessee Valley Authority this year confirm Horton's contention the lakes are exceptional fisheries.
During its annual spring sport fish survey earlier this year, TVA scientists caught an average of 91 largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass per hour from Wilson Lake, said Donny Lowery, a TVA fisheries biologist. It was the most fish per hour collected from any of the 21 TVA lakes surveyed this year.
During the surveys, the scientists use special boats capable of delivering an electrical shock to the water that momentarily stuns nearby fish, allowing them to be collected. After being weighed, measured and checked for disease and parasites, the fish are released back into the water.
Lowery said the number of bass collected from Wilson Lake this year was much higher than previous years. In 2006, the scientists collected an average of 42.3 bass per hour from the lake.
The scientists collected 76.1 bass per hour from Wheeler Lake, up from 37.9 per hour in 2006. The catch rate on Pickwick Lake rose 35.3 per hour in 2006 to 47.7 this year, Lowery said.
Lowery was pleased with the size and health of the bass collected from the three lakes in the Shoals and Guntersville Lake.
"All the Tennessee River reservoirs look to be in great shape, especially the ones here in Alabama," he said.
The average size of the bass caught at Lake Guntersville was 2 pounds.
"That's pretty amazing. We had over 90 largemouth bass that weighed 3 pounds or more," Lowery said.
Lowery liked seeing fish of all sizes collected during the surveys of the four Alabama reservoirs. He said a mixture of sizes indicates a healthy fishery.
The scientists collected 1,370 bass from Wheeler Lake, of which 53.8 percent were 10 inches long or larger, Lowery said. Of the 1,094 bass collected from Wilson lake, 50.6 were 10 inches long or larger.
"On Wheeler, we had tons of nine-inch bass, which is a second-year fish. The number of 10- and 11- inch fish was down a little, and then we had a big spike in the number of fish in the 13- and 14- inch range," he said. "It's really good to see a mixture of sizes like that because it shows we have a lot of younger fish coming on the replace those in the 13- and 14- inch range and larger as they die or are removed from the reservoir by anglers."
Professional angler and fishing guide Jimmy Mason, of Rogersville, said he has noticed the increased number and size of bass in local lakes.
"It's been a good year for fishing around here," Mason said. "The fishing on Wilson has been outstanding this fall. Wheeler has been good, but Pickwick has really improved."
Mason said a proliferation of aquatic vegetation on Pickwick Lake this year has enhanced the bass habitat there. He predicts the vegetation, which is the bane of many recreational boaters, water skiers and other lake users, will lead to many more large bass being caught on Pickwick Lake during the next few years.
Horton said if some large beds of aquatic vegetation remain intact, Pickwick Lake will become a destination for bass anglers from around the world.
"I think it's going to be good for the Shoals area and its economy," he said. "People will start coming here again like they did in the early '90s when the fishing was so great. Pickwick has been down the past few years, but it is coming back strong now."
Lowery said the increased number of large bass being found in the local lakes is going to be a boon to local tourism efforts.