ON OUTDOORS: DUCK CREEK CUTS BACK ON VEGETATION

Pool No. 1 at Duck Creek Conservation Area is a heavily fished lake (about 12,000 fishing trips annually) that has, for the past 50 years, produced good numbers and large-sized largemouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, redear sunfish, warmouth sunfish and chain pickerel. No other public lake in Southeast Missouri can match this fish production.

Pool No. 1 has also been known for its extensive coverage of aquatic vegetation. The pool is shallow -- the average depth is 4 feet -- and very clear, which is an ideal environment for aquatic plants.

On May 16, Missouri Department of Conservation personnel applied herbicide to seven areas (11 acres total) in the pool. The treated areas included the fishing jetties on the east side and in the southwest corner. Three large areas (3-4 acres each) on the south end of the pool were also treated. Within two weeks, the submerged and floating vegetation were dead.

In June, MDC personnel will create boat lanes to the three interior areas and treat the remaining fishing jetties. Anglers interested in obtaining a map showing the treatment locations should contact me at the address below.

Some anglers think that all of the aquatic vegetation should be eliminated, but most anglers realize the vegetation is why Pool No. 1 has such good fish populations. Herbicides can be very effective at controlling aquatic vegetation, but they are also expensive. We used approximately $4,500 ($440/acre) of herbicide to treat the 11 acres.

Compared to herbicides, grass carp are cheap, but their use is risky. In some Missouri impoundments, grass carp have been stocked and all of the aquatic vegetation has been eradicated, which has ruined the fisheries. Another problem with grass carp is that they are long lived (15+ years) and almost impossible to remove when they are no longer needed. Consequently, MDC does not plan to stock grass carp in Pool No. 1.

This past winter Pool No. 1 froze over, which resulted in a small fish kill. According to angler reports and our April electrofishing survey, the fishery was not damaged. Once the weather warmed up, anglers reported catching good numbers of crappie and bluegill. As usual, crappie were large, with a few reportedly weighing over 2 pounds. In general, harvested bluegill were 8-10 inches long.

According to our electrofishing survey, largemouth bass catch rate and size structure -- percentage over 12 inches in length -- were similar to previous years. Almost 50 percent of the bass we captured during the survey were longer than 15 inches.

Likewise, the bluegill population was similar to previous years. Eleven percent of the bluegill in the sample were longer than 8 inches, which was an all- time high.

The warmouth sunfish population continues to improve, with good numbers of large warmouth over 8 inches. Anglers interested in warmouth should target the west shoreline.

For additional information about the fish populations status in Pool No. 1, please contact me at Missouri Department of Conservation, 2302 County Park Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701. The phone number is 290-5730 (ext. 240).

Paul Cieslewicz is a fisheries management biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation.