TPWD 1960 F-3-R-7 #540: Basic Survey and Inventory of Fish Species in Striker Creek Reservoir

Report of Fisheries Inyestigations Basic Survey and IEVentory of Fish Species in Striker Creek Reservoir by John N. Dorchester Assistant Prpject Leadgr . Dingell-Johnson Project F—3—R—7, Job 13-12 June 1, 1959 - may 31, 1960 H._D. Dodgen — Executive Secretary Texas Game and Fish Commission Austin, Texas Narion Toole Kanneth C. Jurgens and William.H.'Brown Coordinator Assistant Coordinators A B S T R.A C T This report covers the third year and comples a series of investigations conducted on Lake Striker. Data was taken quarterly and where possible compared to the data taken from the first two years. Gill net collections indicate that the water quality is having no effect on the fish population as largemouth bass, channel catfish, and black crappie are main— taining a steady gain over the years. It was previously thought that the poor water quality'would not support a good fish population. Gizzard shad are the most abundant fish, while the spotted sucker made up the most weight of fish collected. There is still a good population of ferage fish available and fishing has been good to excellent. The principal problems encountered were the large population of shad and suckers along with abundant growths of aquatic vegetation. Job Completion Report State of TEXAS Project No. F-3-R—7 Name: Fisheries Investigations and Surveys of the waters of Region i-B Job No. le2 Title: Basic Survey and Inventory of Fish Species in Striker Creek Reservoir Period Covered: June 1 l9 9 e Ma 31 1960 '_ _ OBJECTIVES To continue to study the effects of the poor water quality which exists in the lake on the Species of fish present and to continue to study growth rates of major game spe— cies and existing population. PROCEDURE This period covers the third year of Lake Striker's existence and completes the series. Data were collected at qnarterly intervals on the 10th of each month during this job. water samples and temperatures were taken in the afternoon. There were six net sets made each collection month at randomly selected locations. Seining collections were also made at randomly selected locations. Limnological Data Limnological data was taken in the same manner as previously. Water samples were taken with a Foerst water_sampler at five foot intervals from surface to bottom and at three locations on the lake. The locations were near the dam, midway between the Texas Power and Light Company powerhouse and Brown‘s Marina and toward the upper end of the open water. Temperatures were taken at the same locations as the water samples. A rem versing thermometer was used to obtain this data. Because of high winds and.rough water only one series of water samples and-tempers atures were taken. Also; it was found during the second year that the water stabilized and varied little from time to time so it was felt that the data lost was not too im- portant. Other limnological conditions recorded were turbidity (Secchi disk), color of water? skyy'wind, timefi and air and surface water temperatures. Netting Collections Netting collections were made in the same manner as in previous years. Eight ex- perimental type gill nets with mesh size ranging from 1 to 3 inches were set in six randomly selected locations. The nets were left out overnight. A total of as sets, made up of 32 nets} were made. All fish caught in nets were saved. These fish were then separated according to species, counted and their total weight recorded. The game fish were also individually Weighed and measured for both standard and total lengths. Coefficients of condition 2.5. (”K" factors) were determined from this data. The average lengths, weights, and con- 7dition factors were calculated for each species each collection month. Spot checks were made on stomach contents and sexual development. Seining Collections Seining collections were made in the same manner as previously. Seining collec- tions were made with a 26 by 6 foot bag seine with l/huinch mesh. A.tota1 of 2h seine hauls, representing four collections were made. All specimens were preserved in 10 percent formalin solution and brought back to the laboratory for identification. FINDINGS Limnological Findipgs Table 1 gives the results of the water samples and temperatures taken in.August 1959. The extreme variations of other conditions over the year are as follow: sur- face water temperature ranged from 55 to 88 degrees, air temperature ranged from 50 to 87 degrees, turbidity (Secchi disk) ranged from 26 to #8 inches (which is a great improvement over the first two years), wind - calm to strong NW winds, sky- clear to high overcast. The water color was green each time. In May 1960 the lake was in the process of "turning over" and the water was very odoriferous. Except for the high chlorides still present, the waters of Lake Striker have be- come about normal for the East Texas area. Fish Findings Both netting and seining collections yielded 33 species of fish, representing 11 families. This includes one additional species not found before. A.total of #3 spe- cies of fiSh have now been collected from.Lake Striker over the th rec-year period. Two additional species, which were not collected, are known to be present in the lake from stocking, thus making a grand total of #5 Species. Table 2 lists each species phylogenetically for 11 years. 'The names are from Hubb's, " A.Checklist of Texas Freshwater Fishes," dated December 1958. Netting Results. --Table 3 gives the tabulation of the quarterly netting on Lake Striker. This table list the number of fish of each species caught by nets each col- lection month, the total for the year, percentage of each species for this year, and the last two years, and the change in percentage from the other years. Also, it gives a breakdown of the nmmbers and percentages of rough fish and game fish for the three- year period. There were 16 species collected by gill nets, 7 rough species and 9 game Species, which includes seven species collected every trip. Again the rough fiSh numbers were predominant-over game fish each month although game fish numbers made slight gains over the year. The average percentage of rough fish and game fish was roughly 72 per- cent and 28 percent respectively, compared to 7h percent and 26 percent the first two years. A total of 700 fish were caught by gill nets Over the year. This includes 198 game fish and 502 rough fish. Gizzard shed for the third year were the most commonly collected species. There were 272 shad caught which made up 38.86 percent of the total numbers. Spotted suckers were next with 121, or 17.29 percent, followed by bluegill sunfish with 95, or 13.57 percent, chub suckers with 55, or 7.86 percent, and largemouth bass with 35 or 5.00 percent. The greatest changes in percentage of fish caught by nets over the three years were made by the spotted sucker with a gain of 16.98 percent, black bullhead with a loss of 1h.32 percent, and gizzard shad with a gain of 8.93 percent. Over all, game fish increased 3.28 percent. Because weights of all fish were not taken the first two years, no comparison can.be made on this data. Table h shows the weights of netted fish from Lake Striker during the third year of study. A total of h20.86 pounds of fish were collected for an average weight of 0.60 pounds. Rough fish made up 7h.89 percent of'the total weight. The greatest weight of rough fish is made up of spotted suckers whose weight (h0.38 percent) was more than all the game fish combined (25.11 percent). 0f the game fish weighed, largemouth bass and channel catfish were the highest at 12.86 per— cent and 5.72 percent respectively. The highest average weight of the fish netted were carp at 5.00 pounds (based on one Specimen). Spotted gar were next in average weight at 2.93 pounds, followed by largemouth bass at 1.55 pounds, spotted sucker at l.h0 pounds, and channel catfish at 1.20 pounds. The least average weight was held by the bluegill sunfish at 0.09 pounds and spotted sunfish at 0.08 pounds. Seining Results. - Table 5 gives the numbers of fish collected by the bag seine each collection month. It lists species from each year for the purpose of comparison of catches. Seining the third year yielded 18 species and a total of 1633 specimens. The most abundant species this year was Notropis lutrensis, while Labidesthes sicculus was second (it was most abundant the previous two years). There were seven species collected every time. There was one species not previously collected which was col— 1ected this year (Opsopoeodus emiliae). The most abundant game fish taken by seining was the bluegill. These seining results indicate the excellent population of food fishes available for bass and other predator species. Growth Rates. m Table 6 shows the standard lengths of six game fish species in an attempt to indicate growth. Only three Species show a continuous gain, while one spe- cies appears to be standing still and nothing definite can be said about the other two species. Largemouth bass, channel catfiSh and black crappie showed good gains each month. Bluegills appeared to be at a standstill. Lengths on white crappie and war- mouth indicate no trend. Condition of Fish.'~ Table 7 gives the condition of eight species of game fish with the average "K" factor and changes in average "K" factor over the three years. Again the largemouth bass and channel catfish were outstanding by their continual gains. The white crappie had a lower condition factor the second year but gained the third year. All other Species lost in condition the second and third years. Even though the conm dition of most of these fish is falling they are still considered to be in good shape. Food Habits. w As before, no intensive study was made of the food habits of the fish in Lake Striker. Spot checks were made on some of the game fish to get an idea of the main diets of these fish. Of all the largemouth bass checked, stomach contents were shed with the exception,one sunfish being feund. As many as six shad were found“ in one stomach. Channel catfish stomachs contained a variety of food items including what appeared to be fingerling channel catfish remains. Other items were corn, moss, bluegills, beetles, shad, and bottom organisms. Both species of crappie were feeding exclusively on shad. Sexual'Development and Spawning Activity. w Some of the bass checked in August of 1959 were Spent, while most of them were approaching ripeness in the February 1960 collection. The bluegills were all approaching ripeness in February while all suckers were ripe and flowing at this time. Channel catfish were evidently Spawning success~ fully as evidenced by the fingerling catfish found in the stomach study. H O o 0 HOW.) Of.) -—~]O\\J'I-l—" (.1010 l-'I-’ A. Annotated Checklist of Fish Species (all years): — Lepisosteus productus (spotted gar) ~ their numbers in the collections dropped greatly percentage wise. Only five were collected in August. Amie calva (bowfin) - none was collected the third year. Dorosoma cepedianum (gissard shad) a this is the most commonly collected fish in the lake and was again on the increase in numbers. ' Eson americanus (grass pickerel) — none was collected the third year. Cagpiodes carpio (river carpsucker) - none was collected the third year. beostoma oecilurum (blacktail redhorse) - none was collected the third year. Minytrema melan0ps (spotted sucker) - one of the fastest increasing fish in the lake and also the highest percentage of weight of fish in netting collections. Erimyzon eucetta (chubsucker) - this pepulation is remaining fairly stable and numerous. - Cyprinus carpio (carp) a only one five—pound specimen was collected. Notemigonus c soleucas (golden Shiner) a only a few were found by seining. OBSOEOGOduS emiliae tpugnose MiDHOW)- two specimens were seined in February and is a new species to the list for the lake. Notropis fumeus (ribbon Shiner) taken in small numbers in all seine collections. N. umbratilis (redfin Shiner) - none was collected the third year. . brazosensis (Brazos River Shiner) u none was collected the third year. . roseus (weed Shiner) - none was collected the third year. . blennius (river shiner) n none was collected the third year. N. venustus (spottail Shiner) - one of the more common species of minnows in the lake. ' N. lutrensis (redhorse shiner) — the most commonly collected fish by seining. E.stremineus (sand shiner) w though formerly quite common, only two were col— lected the third_year. N. atrocaudalis (blackspot shiner)} - none was collected the third year. E. volucellus (mimic Shiner) - not found the second year, three were collected in May. Pimephales vigilan (parrot minnow) w quite common in the lake. Hybognathus nuchalis (silvery minnow) - none was found the third year. Ictalurus punctatus (channel catfish) - a popular game fish, this species is increasing in numbers. . 9;. males (black bullhead) . the black. bullhead is gradually decreasing in num— bers. .l° natalis (yellow bullhead) - this species is also declining. Pylodictus olivaris (flathead catfish) m though not collected, this fish has been stocked in the lake. . ” Fundulus chgysotus (redspot topminnow) u only two specimens were collected. E. notatus (blackstripe topminnow ) not too common in Lake Striker. Gambusia affinis (common mosquitofish) m fairly common in the lake. Labidesthes sicculus (brook silversides) w the second most commonly collected fish by seining. - Roccus ghgysops (white base a fiftyusix adults were stocked in the spring of 1960. Micropterus salmoides (largemouth bass) _ this Species is doing well in the lake and many are caught by fishermen. . ‘fi. punctulatus (spotted bass) — only two were collected during the year. Chaenobryttus gulosus (warmouth) - this species is apparently on the decline. Lepomi§_c_ nellus ‘green sunfish) - only two specimens were collected. L. .flinctatus (spotted sunfish) - fairly ‘cOmon in the lake. . microlophus (redear) - only four were_taken by seining. . macrochirus (bluegill) w one of the most common species in the lake. . auritus (yellowbelly) - none'was collected the third year. m . megalotis (longear) w none was collected the third year. IEHEHEH ltflbfltfltfl 5. M2. PomOxis annularis (white crappie) though not too common, most of the crappie are of a good size. 43. ‘2. nigromaculatus (black crappie) less common than the white crappie but of a larger average size. nu. Ammocrypta vivax (Arkansas sand darter) ~ none was collected the third year. #5. Etheostoma gracilie (slough darter) - only one specimen was collected. Additional Stocking In the initial report covering Lake Striker's first year, it was recommended that white bass_(Roccuschryscmm) could possibly be stocked at a later date. It was felt dur- ing the latter stages of the third year that conditions were such that it would be ad— vantageous to stock white bass in the lake to help the shad population and-also to provide an.additional sports fish species. 0n.March 29th and April let, a total of 56 adult white bass were transferred from Caddo Lake and put in Lake Striker at the U. S. 79 bridge crosu sing the upper end of the lake. These fish were marked by clipping the right pectoral fin. It is hoped that this species will spawn and soon establish itself in the lake. Approximately one month later it was reported that one of the original fish had been tak— en by a fisherman about one mile from the area of release. Vegetation Aquatic vegetation is one of the major problems in Lake Striker. Lake personnel are carrying on a vegetation control program which is possibly helping to some extent. Be- cause of the fallen dead timber and brush in the lake, which is worse this year, access to many areas of the lake is impossible. The principal aquatic vegetation species are as follow: Parrot feather Mygithyllum brasiliense Very abundant Coontail Ceratophyllum'_p. very abundant Sawgrass ZizaniOpsis miliacea _Very abundant Cattail Typha op. Common CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It was felt that the fish population in Lake Striker would dwindle rapidly and be— come very poor due to the poor water quality. waever, time has helped the condition of the water and the fish pepulation has held a high standard even though many Species have apparently declined. Fishing, for bass especially, has been termed as good to excellent and even "the best in Texas" by veteran fishermen. This is due largely to the fact that the lake at the beginning was never closed to fishing and that there is a good forage fish population present. Also, fishing pressure has been kept high. Considering the above conclusions, it is therefore recommended that: 1. Sport fiching be kept high and increased. 2. An extensive vegetation control program bemaintained, especially for sub- merged aquatics. 3. An occasional check be made to see the progress of white bass in the lake. Prepared by John N. Dorchester Approved by Assistant Proyact Leader Dir ctor Inland Fisheries Divisior Date August 12 1960 6. Table 1. -_Chemical Condition of the water of Lake Striker in August 1959 Lower and Midlake Upper end -Depth 0 ' 5 10 15 20 10 15 _2O 10 12 pH 7.2 7.1 6.9 6.h 6.8 7.1 ' 7.0 7.0 6.h 6.8 'H Alk 10 20 22 26 53 10 22 23 #0 10 32 2O 20 01 163.12 170.21 170.21 170.21 163.12 170.21 177.30 177.30 163.12 163.12 177.30 _ 170.21 170.21 177.30 D0 6.6 h.h h.6 1.2 1.0 5.2 h.8 h.6 I Temp 88.h 88.2 87.8 83.3. 81.0 89.6 88.2 88.0 83.1' 83.1 87.1 87.1 85.6 85.5 Table 2. I. II. III. IV. VI. VII. VIII. 7. - A Checklist of Lake Striker Fish Species, All Years Family: LEPISOSTEIDAE - Gars_ 1.. Lepisosteus productus - spotted gar Family: AMIIDAE - Bowfins 2. Amie calva - bowfin Family: CLUPEIDAE - Earrings 3. Dorosoma cepedianum w gizzard shad Family: ESOCIDAE — Pickerels h. Esox americanus - grass pickerel Family: CATOSTOMAIDAE - Suckers Cappiodes cagpio - river carpsucker Moxostoma poecilurum - blacktail redhorse 5 6. 7. Minyprema melanops - spOtted sucker 8. Erimygon sucetta _ lake chubsucker Family: CYPRINIDAE - Shiners and minnows 9. Cyprinus cagpio w carp 10.. Notemigonus cgysoleucas — golden shiner ll. Opsopoeodus emiliae - pugnose minnow l2. Notr0pis fUmeus — ribbon shiner 13. N. umbratilis ~ redfin shiner 1h. .N° braaosensis - Brazos River shiner 15. ‘N. roseus — weed shiner 16. .E‘ blennius w river shiner 17. N. venustus - spottail shiner 18. N. lutrensis - redhorse shiner 19. N. stramineus - sand shiner 20. N. atrocaudalis a blackspot shiner 21. N. volucellus - mimic shiner 22. PimepNales vigilax- parrot minnow 23. Hybogpathus nuchalis - silvery minnow Family: AMEIURIDAE _ Freshwater catfishes 2h. Ictalurus pggctatus - channel catfish 25. I. melas - black bullhead 26. I. natalis - yellow bullhead Family: CYPRINODONTIDAE - T0pminnows 27. Fundulus chrysotus w redspot topminnow 28. .E“ notatus - blackstripe topminnow 1958 XXX 33*: in a a x N a a x a a a H KN 1959 KERN 1% KNX N NR 1960 a a NNM'N XXX N continuation Table 2. -.A Checklist of Lake Striker Fish Species, All Years 1958 1959 1960 IX. Family: POECILIIDAE - Mosquitofishes 29. Gambusia affinis - common mosquitofish x'_ x. x X. Family: ATHEBINIDAE — Silversides 30. Labidesthes sicculus - Brook silversides _ x x x XI. Family: CENTRARCHIDAE — Basses and sunfishes 31. Micropterus salmoides - largemouth bass ' x x x 32. ‘N. pggctulatus - spotted bass x x 33. Chaenobgyptus gggosus - warmouth x x x 3h. Lepgmis cygpellus - green sunfish x x x 35- .23 punctatus - spotted sunfish x x x 36. N, microlophus - redear sunfiSh x x x 37. N, macrochirus - bluegill sunfiSh x x x 38. IN. auritus - yellowbelly sunfish x x 39. L. megalotis — longear sunfish x x #0. Pomoxis annularis_- white crappie x x x #1. .3: nigromaculatus - black crappie x x x XII. Family: PERCIDAE - Carters M2. Ammocgypta vivax -.Arkansas sand darter x x #3. Etheostoma gracile - slough darter x x