TPWD 1958 F-4-R-5 #399: Inventory of the Species Present in Lake Halbert and Lake Corsicana

".6, JOB COMPLETION REPORT State of TEXAS Project No“ Fae-Rw5 Name: Fisheries Investigations and Surveys of the waters of Region E-B. Job No. B~19 Title: Inventory of the Species Present in Lake Halbert and Lake Corsicanao Period Covered: November 1, 1957 through September 302 l958 ABSTRACT: Lakes Halbert and Corsicana are located on the watershed of Chambers Creek and serve as water supplies for Corsicana, Texaso Lake Halbert is centained by a dam on Elm Creek while Lake Corsicana has an earthen embankment along three sides and ob” tains water by pumping from Chambers Creek. Black and yellow bullhead, together with redear sunfish and warmeuthy were present only in Lake Halbert while spotted gar, longnose gar, blackstripe topminnow and spotged bass were present in Lake Corsicana but not in Lake Halberto This was probably due to the pumping of water from Chambers Creek into Lake Corsicanao Game fish species made up 6&978 percent of the Lake Halbert pepulation and 55023 percent of the Lake Corsicana total. Rough fish accounted for 68026 percent of the weight of Lake Halbert net collections but comprised 80055 percent of the Lake Corsieana totalo This was due to the gar present in Lake CorSicana but not present in Lake Halberto OBJECTIVES: To determine the species present and their abundance as well as te determine the ecological factors influencing their distributiono METHODS: Net and seine collections were started in Lake Halbert in November lQEY and in March 1958 collections were begun in Lake Corsicanat These lakes are only five miles apart and both are located on the Chambers Creek watershedo The specimens taken in gill nets were weighed, measured and examined fer sexual maturity, food habits, parasites and disease“ This data was recerded on forms pram pared for this purpose and filed for future reference. Net collections were made at established netting stations at menthly intervals in both lakes and seine stations were established and run at suitable timese The specimens taken by seining were identified and tabulateda PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: Lake Halbert is the primary water supply for the City of Corsicana, Teresa It is located on Elm Creek and is a watershed lake of some 7,600 acre foot capacity“ This is a shallow mud bottom lake that is heavily infested with lotus (Nelumbo pentapetala) in the upper end. The shoreline is fairly regular with shallow margins that become muddy with rainso The flat terrain offers little protection from high winds which keep the water murky by stirring up the silto Lake Corsicana is located alongside Chambers-Creek about six miles east of Corsicana and is a secondary water supplya This lake has very little watershed and obtains water by pumping from Chambers Creeko There is no dam and an earthen ems bankment forms three sides of the lake with water deeper along the side nearest to Chambers Creeko Lake Corsicana contains some h,000 acre feet of water and has a bottom compOSed of clay with some gravelo There is little vegetation present in this lakeo RESULTS: The checklist of species (Table 1) shows 2h species representing l8 genera and ll families. Lake Halbert contained four species that were not found in Lake Corsicana but did not have a genus not present in the other lakeo Black bullhead, yellow bull“ head, warmouth and redear sunfish were the species limited to the Lake Halbert cola lectionsg Lake Corsicana contained five species, two genera and two families not taken from Lake Halberto Spotted gar, longnose gar, blackstripe topminnow, spotted bass, and green sunfish were taken only in Lake Corsicanau The presence of gar in lake Corsicana may be explained in the fact that water for this reservoir is pumped from Chambers Creek while that for Lake Halbert is from a limited watersheda Four seine stations were established in each lake. The predominant species taken by seining was bluegill sunfish with 7907 percent of the Lake Halbert catch and £309 percent of the Lake Corsicana sample (Table 2)0 Gizsard shad and yellow bullheada were collected from Lake Halbert but were not found in Lake Corsicana while blackm stripe topminnow and green sunfish appeared only in the seine samples from Lake Corsicanaa Table 3 presents a comparison of the rough species and game species in both lakeso The average weight per specimen was much higher in Lake Corsicana with 1,08 pounds while Lake Halbert fish averaged only “55 poundso This no doubt due to the gar that were present only in Lake Corsicanaa Game fish exceeded the rough species in numbers taken in both lakes but the average weight per rough fish was much higher than that of game species in Lake Corsicana while the game species held a slight advantage in Lake Halbertu The comparison of the population of the two lakes shows Lake Halbert to have 3lo7h percent rough fish by weight and 3§022 percent by number while Lake Corsicana has 80355 percent rough fish by weight and has?? percent by numbero The average lengths and weights (Table A and 5) offer some interesting contrasts since except for the gizzard shad all rough species common to both lakes are decidely larger in Lake Corsicanao The opposite is true of the game species where Lake Halbert provides the larger specimens in each species found in both lakeso Tables 6 and 7 present the comparison of the populations of the two lakes in terms of numbers and percentage of the catch represented by each species taken in gill netso White crappie dominated the catch in both lakes with £6032 percent in Lake Halbert and 33901 percent in Lake Corsicanao This dominance by white creppie in Lake Halbert is also indicated in the total weights where 33¢Oh percent were of this species. White crappie provided only 3.82 percent of the total weight in Lake Corsicana {Tables 8 and 9)o Gizzard shad were negligible in the catch from Lake Corsicana in both number and weight but comprised 27 75 peroen.t of the number and 19 89 percent of the weight of all fish taken from Lake Halbert {_ables 6 and 8}” The channel catfish make up 6 16 percent of the total number and lQ¢8T percen+ of the total weight in Lake Halbert and largemouth bass provide 6 26 percent and 2OQTT percent of the number and weight respectively (tables 6 and 833 These same rDP-lefi taken from Lake Gorsicana show rather different results since the channel tfia mak.e up 16 59 percent of the number and 11 83 percent of the weight “hile lergemouth bass with 1 6l pe:rcent of the number provided 2 03 percent of the new“L {Tables T and 9‘0 -potted gar and longnose gar accounted for a small percentage of the oumtor taken from Lake Corsicana with 33 percent a13dfi66 perzett Teena +ively but produced 055 percent and hsnl6 percent of the total weight {Tables 7 and 5}; Lerpsucksrs were of no importance in the net catch from Lake Halbert as they represented only lrfil percent of the number and 1.010 percent of the total weight but in Lake Corsicana this species comprised 3To37 percent of the number and 3L 60 para ent oi ins wei.gh_t to rank second to white crappie as the most numerous species and second to the longnose gar in tot:s l weight The productivities of Lakes Halbert and Gorsicana are compared in Tables 16 and ll, where the catch per lOO feet of gill not set overnight is giweno A total of fourtymfour gill nets were set in Lake Halbert and nineteen in Lake dorsicsneo These net sets totaled hph75 feet in Lake Halbert and 1,975 feet in Lake T3r loans The 99l fish caught from Lake Halbert weighed a total of 566 pounds which was an average of 12 22 pounds per lOO feet of net set overnighto This is somewhat less '3en the average from Lake Corsicena when 621. fish weighed 668 67 pounds and are a.ge ed 33.85 pounds per 100 feet of net on an overnight setc' The difference in number“ dug was not so pronounced for Lake Halbert produced 2201s fish per iOQ feet of net w6iie Lake Corsicana produced 3l¢hs fishe Table 12 presents data concerning the frequency of ocou.rrence of the series; food organisms in the stomachs of fish collected from both latest TLe 315 fish. frzm lake Halbert, that contained food showed a preference for 3'"3 and algae with wiiiv orappie and channel c3atfish accounting for the majority of these preferenretu Tre same preference is to be noted among the 75 fish.from Lake florsioena irat onteined foodu or / Prepared by, Leonard D. Lamb Approved by /2%%;;prtrfi?hmnfiaéné52::é§;mnml Project leader Director M is“‘ ‘i For as division Date_ "_ December 30, l958 n-ng Aflw mun mWWfl-Wmmwm .msmm ._:r:a.:;a....'.'_;.'_._‘... _..;. ___..'_'.:‘.::; .__.:......... -'.:..'.:;:.7:5.....“: .. man”; 3: _ J Table 1. Checklist of Species Taken from Lake Halbert and Lake Corsicena, November 1, 1957 to October 31, 1958 - % Scientific Name Common Name Lake Halbert Lake Gorsicsnn uwlH_i_ii_l__i_____l_______i_ili__________________________“__li__fl__mmi_ml_inwi Lepisostus productus spotted gar x Lepisostns osseus longnose gar n Dorosoma cepedianum gizzard shad x x Ictiobus bubalus smallmouth buffalo x x Cerpiodes carpio river carpsucker X x Ciprinus carpio European carp X x Notropis lutrensis plains red shiner x x Pimphales vigilax parrot minnow X x Ictslurus punctatus channel catfish x X Ictslurus melee black bullhead x Ictslurus_natalis yellow bullhead X Pylodictus olivsris flathead catfish x X Fundulus notatus blackstripe topminnow x Gambusia affinis common mosquitofish x x Micropterus punctulatus spotted bass x Micropterus salmoides largemouth bass X X Chsenobryttn gnlosus 'wsrmouth x Lepomis czsnellus green sunfish X Lepomis microlophus redear sunfish X Lepomis macrochirus bluegill sunfish X X Lepomis megalotis longear sunfish x X Pomoxis annularis white crappie x X Porcine caprodes logperch x x Aplodinotus grunniens freshwater drum X X Table 2. Number and Percentage of Each Species Taken by Seining from Lake Halbert and Lake Corsicana, November 1, l957-October 31, 1958. Species Lake Halbert Lake Corsicana N0. ' No. 2;,cepediannm l .5 E: intrensis h 2.2 ' M7 2h.9 E; vigilax 2h 12.9 17 9.0 E; natalis l .5 E; notatus 2 l.l g; affinis 5 2.7 26 13.7 E; salmoides l .5 h 2.1 Lgicyanellus 7 3.7 L;_macrochirus 1&9 79.7 83 #3.9 E; annularis l .5 l .5 §;_caprodes l .5 2 1.1 “53.7.: Totals 187 100.0 189 100.0 Table 3. A Comparison of the Rough and Game Species Taken in Gill Nets from Lake Halbert and Lake Corsicana, November 1, 1957-Oct0ber 31, 1958. Lake Halbert Lake Corsicana Total number specimens caught Total weight of specimens caught Average weight per specimen Total weight of rough fish tTotal weight of game fish Total number of rough fish iiTotal number of game fish Average weight per rough fish Average weight per game fish Percent rough fish (by weight) Percent game fish (by weight) Percent rough fish (by number) Percent game fish (by number) 991 5M6.95 -55 173.58 373.37 349 6A2 tflatfish and drum are included in the game fish. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 621 668.67 1.08 538.61 130.06 278 3&3 1.9h .38 lbs. lbs. fimdwm r. Hemmewc Sewefiac men Qmewwwewmne aw mommwaHen aw mean meaweeamw aw mwww wees mace Heme mmwemesczosmswmm H. wmmqsmewameoew moc wmmm than . . I. measamu Hosea mam. 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