TPWD 1953 F-7-R-1 #15: Job Completion Report: Inventory of the Species of Fishes Present in Lake Kickapoo, Texas

STATE Texas PROJECT NO. FuTuRal, eTDb B "* 3 PERIOD June 15 1953 a May 31, 1955 Job Completion Report Leo D. Lewis and Welter Dalqnest TITLE inventory of the Species of Fishes Present in Lake Kickapoo, Texas. OEJEGTEVES To determine the species present and their relative abundance as well as to determine the ecological factors influencing their distribution. TESHNlQUES USED Sir collection stations were established at various parts of the lake on August 10, l953 at sites designed to sample the varied ecological niches pres— ent. It was intended that the stations should be sampled at least once each month - preferably every three weeks , for periods of two days and two nights at a time. These plans were adhered to except when stormy weather prevented running the sta— tions for short penods during the winter months. The stations were run on the fol- lowing dates: August lOwll; September h~53 September 22—23; October 27—29; Novem~ her 18~20 and December 8~lO, 1953 and January 12wl3, February 9-12; March 2uh and March 23-25, l95h. ' All fishes taken in gill nets were removed and, as soon as was practic— able, the specimens were identified, measured, weighed and their sex and stages of gonadal development were recorded. All ripe ovaries and the filled stomachs of pre~ dacioae species were preserved for laboratory analysis. All abnormalities and diam eases were noted and, if pathological conditions were apparent, tissues were saved and sectioned in the laboratory for histological examination. Detailed notes were taken, with especial attention given to ecological and environmental data. The smaller fishes were taken at irregular intervals, with-% inch meshed seines, as weather conditions and equipment permitted. Specimens taken were prew served in formalin for laboratory examination. Extreme Variations in water.level of the lake, and abundance of drowned timber and stumps, made it impossible to-estab— lien permanent stations for comparative samplings of the small fish populations. Flfifilfififl Lake Kickapoo, located in Archer County, is an impoundment of moderate size. The mile and one-half long dam retains, at spillway level, 106,000 acre it. of water. The lake, owned by the City of Wichita Falls, is'relatively recent in origin. The dam was completed in 19H6. The lake is extremely irregular in shape, measuring rough~ ly eaten by five miles. The sources of Lake Kickapoo are the sources of the Little Wichita River and i smell watershed adjacent to the lake. During the early part of the study the river sources were almost dry and the river itself almost still. Heavy rains in HR, it.) the fall of 1953 caused a considerable rise in water leVel and greath enlarged the lakes area, especiallV to the west. At no time prev:ious to May l954 hose er, was the lake less than six feet from spillVay level. Lake Kickapoo is devoid of rooted aquatic Vegetation. There is an abun— dance of drowned mesquite timber beneath the water surface that may serve as covu er for fishes. During the extreme low water level of the lake in the spring and summer of l953,lrush and treads grew densely on the exposed flats. With the lake rise in the fall, this vegetation was covered and remains covered to date. It serves, in a sense, as emergent aquatic vegetation as far as cover for fishes is concerned. There is little or no fixed algae, except in the most sheltered coves and bays. Lake Kickapoo is a "fresh water” lake, with a dissolved salt concentration far below the ".aste” level. The lake is the source of drinking water for the city of Wichita Falls. The water is mildly alkaline (pH of ?.h to 8.5). Lack 6 floflculamimgsalts results in water of extreme turbidity. To sight the lake is muddy, even after periods of calm weather, and following storms is dark, reddish brown in color. Extremes of turbidity, recorded with a Seichi disk ragn ad from 4e mm. after storms to 200 mm. after periods of summer calm. Surprisingly, the lake is quite productive, as far as plankton is concerned, in spite of turbidity. The temperatures of the surface water, away from shore, ranged from a maximum of 290 C (temperatures taken each collection date at 7: 30 AM) to a minimum of O0 C. The western end of the lake froze to a depth of neary an inch and remained frozen for #8 hours in January, lOSH. A total of 23 species of fishes was detected in the lake. These fall in~ to thre egeneral groups: species of rela.tively large size and which a.re present in numoers great enough to cause them to he important in fisheries ma.nagement eith— er as game species or as rough fish; forage fishes, of the ”minnow” and ”sunfish” type (sunfishes in Lake Kickapoo rarely reach 100 grams in weight; are almost never fish for); casual species, too scarce to be of economic importance. Each of these groups is considered separately. Large and Important Species Eleven species belong in this group. Five are rough fish species, and together make up 31. ii-% of the large fish population (h9.6% by weight). Six spew as are game fishes and, together make up 60.h% of the large fish population 0.3% bV main: ,ht.} ‘ Although the number of importa.nt rough. fish species in Lake Kickapoo is greater than in nea.roy lakes (see Completion Reports, Jobs B l a.nd B Q) the total number of rough fish individuals is remark manly small. The river carpsucker is the second most abundant of the large fishes of the lake and, by weight, most importm ant. This situation is usual in all nearby lakes, sometimes in an even more exag— gerate ed man.ner (l9% in Lake Diversion, 43p in Lake Kemp). It is the relative scare ity of the other rough fishes, especially the gizzard shad, that brings the totm l rough.i fish population of Lake Kickapoo so low. The presence, in fair numbers, r o.h the largemouth buffalo and smallmouth hufi alo, s not entirely unfortunate. These forms encourage commercial :fishing in ihe lake and commercial fishermen must, accor din ng to Texas law, remove otheri oug Vh fish species taken in their nets. C a n 1.3.1. As regards game fishes, Lake Kickapoo is like nearby l.akes, in general, out is unigu is in three ways; abundance of cha Ln.el. aVLish, of flathead catfish, and crappie. The low salinit ty and high turolcgry may con trioute to the abundance of the catfis hes Whats ever the reason, the tV es of fie hir ng employed on Lake Kick~ apo differ con siderably from those of other lakes. Trotlining for catfish is very an», '3 J6 common. Channel catfish up to six pounds in weight are often taken. The flat“ head catfish, though less desirable forihe table, is eagerly sought because of its large sise. Most specimens tales on trotline. range from six to thirty i a 0 Mt” ponads in aeiehh. Tie abundanc be of crappie is not an unmixed blessins. Many, p-erhaps the majority of the crappie in the lake, are too sma 1 to consti cute either game or food. Nevertheless crappie of ”eating sise” are abundant and, in contrast to nearby lakes, can be taken in the summer as well as winter. White bass and black bass are as th moderately common in Lake Kickapoo but are not extremely popular sports fishes as they are in other lakes. The high turbidity of the Lake Kickapoo water seems to preclude successful trolling and grea.tly -impedes the efficiency of artificial baits. In spite of this, numerous whee bas s and bi ack bass are taken, especially on live bait. The drum is considered an inferior game and food fish by most fishermen but is almost always saved and eaten when takien. Most drum are taken incidentally to fish ing; fo or other species. Some drum from Lake Kickapoo rea.ch la arge size, spec~ imens weighing twenty pounds having.been-taken. Forage Fishes Included here are those small fishes that, presumably, make up much of the food of the predacious forms. There is no evidence, in our lakes, that they do so. Indeed it would seem that most of the food of the predacious fishes consists of the young of the rough fishes and drum (see Completion Report, Job Bwh). The small fish .fauna of Lek e Kickapoo is relatively poor, including only 1species and one of these (Hybog nathus plac its) was probably released bait of efi _she rman. Only a sin3le specimen. of this form was taken. A single green sun— ish (Lepomis cyanellus) was taken but this may be due to the habits of the span ies. The green sunfish is a species that prefers to lurk under cover. The abun- d es of stumps and drowned mesquite tre s in Lake Kickapoo affords cover in abun— dance, but such places are exactly the habitats we were unable to seine effectively. A sing] e species of minnow, NotrOpis lutrensis constituted 87. 2km of the .sh sample. Another minnow N. buchanani formed 5. 39% of the population a.nd red sunfish, Lepomis megalotis, formed 2 .Tsp. No other species made up even 2% of the population. Casual Forms Three species seem to be so rare in Lake Kickapoo that they are not of eco~ nomic importance. A single longnosed gar was taken in the lake. This individual was very large and extremely fat. Abundance of gars is characteristic of other lakes in the area. It is possible that a larger number of gars might cut down on the large population of small crappie. :. The single plains minnow, Hybognathus placita, taken in the lake may well have been a re leased or esca.ped fisherman a bait. This is the most common ba.it mimnnor of the area, often used for crappie in Lake Kickapoo. The present scar- city of the species in the lake indicates that they are una.ble to exist successe fully in the .Ha.e; they must have been introduced into the lake countless times. We have noted that the plains minnow is most successful in saline waters, sometimes in extremely salty water. .I' The sin shallow, sheltered, mucwbr Two gill nets were maintained at this station throughout the study but no other bullheads were taken, here or elsewhere in the lake. This is not surprising for the black bullhead in north central Texas is a pond and a river pool fish. It seems unable to exist in numbers in even moderately large lakes. f a black bullhead catfish, Ameiurus melee, was from a ale record 0: p} "Y‘ :5 ttomed hey. it was apparently ideal bullhead habitat. a..." Remarks Lake Kickapoo is unique, among the Wichita Valley lakes, in several rem spects. It is still a ”young” lake, both chronologically and biologically. The game fishes still dominate the rough fishes but the present abundance of the riv- er carpsucker indicates that this happy condition will not persist long. The al» most complete absence of gars is unusual and perhaps to be regretted. This may account for the overabundance of crappie. The abundance of channel catfish and flathead catfish is probably a result of the turbid water, unusual in a region where excess salinity is the rule. Perhaps for this reason the bigmouth buffalo exists in the lake in fair numbers and seems to reproduce successfully there. SUMMARY Lake Kickapoo is located in Archer County, in north central Texas. It is an impoundment (dam constructed in l9h6) of l06,000 acre ft. volume at spillway level. The lake is the water supply for the City of Wichita Falls. ‘ Lake Kickapoo is a ”fresh water" lake (total soluble salts less than 225 ppm). In the absence of the flocculating affect of dissolved salts, the water re- mains extremely muddy (turbidity an to 200 mm.) and is mildly alkaline (pH of 7.h to 8.5, usually less than 8.0). Summer temperatures of the surface water reached 2900 at 7:30 A. M.3 winter temperatures reached a minimum of 000., when a part of the lake froze over for two days and nights. There is no rooted aquatic vegew tation in the lake and but little fixed algae. The lake is rich in plankton. Twentywthree species of fishes were found in the lake. Eleven are of large size and important in fisheries management. Five of these are rough fishes_(gizm card shad, bigmouth buffalo, smallmouth buffalo, river carpsucker, European carp), constituting 31.h% of the large fish population and 49.6% by weight. Six species of game fishes {channel catfish, flathead catfish, white bass, black bass, white crappie, drum) make up 68.4% of the large fish population and form.50.5% by weight. The most striking features of the game fish population are the abundance of the channel catfish, flathead catfish and crappie. Catfish are extensively sought with trotlines in Lake Kickapoo. The muddy water makes artificial lures relatively in~ "efficient. The small fish population includes ten species, of which one is probably not resident (Eybognathus placita}. One minnow {Notropis lutrensis) makes up 87.24% of the forage fish population; another minnow ZN. buchanani) makes up 5.39% and a sunfish (Lepomis megalotis) constitutes 2T7@%. Other species occur in less than at of the population. ' One longnosed gar and one black bullhead catfish were taken. These species and the plains milnow already mentioned are casual or rare forms. Lake Kickapoo is still a ”young? lake, both chronologically and biological— ly. The large number of carpsuckers in the lake should be watched and, if poem sible, controlled. The lake may otherwise soon see a dominance of rough fishes at the expense of the game fishes. 30 w H's, 1 H. '11 H 1H“. .3 H. = ,HIHH ".11-; H1 . f-"w'v '32. 1);}: l. o f LEEL: _..H- Has, 5 HH 5: .H ts. 1%.. S . - H- ‘1'} '2' "- .J 7'“. " !-$ 2 ,H. "N {H is- i. .- )1 a“) Lid. LXQH iIC'H ._ JVIL .u‘thmfifl.“ II“ I" ' n ' I WM {’1’”"{:'} l“ .LJI‘H 53:. 61436 F SQQCRQS JQUOT ant Fi- (DUKE (9. {I} F I. I‘D 5*m nus-WWW :23: mm X )Dormsama cepmuti H ”3.1,. - ,4. “1 - " AC 1» E.) 9113 27193: __ 115-3 1-1.? LSL X nu- “um-Imu- J r av ’1" | -1 CEHoUfi mibalus A La ..H..— éCarpiOdeS (Ha pia X " “t earplo K -U’} .0? arififi :Hgtwgpifi lutfienalg X m dyboanEQUS plaQB_ta urn-mm» fimeyhales Vi‘il.fi X “1- “' .. ‘V Leta sz HS pLGc Hatgs H mm "mm :fimeiHHHS mel H.s minimums-L1- :{urcr¢= qujmaops X a Wiflrxmpu'wua 3- aLum ‘ deH . mm .—~<: ... ..T’ . .H‘ _, '7 H =L$QOELS eyafleH W8 X "1' H“ , _,, E x" aHHHUHHs ch*oHephuH A .A .Wm mun-w. IIpomH' megalotis X WWW-ww—mm an umemu‘a “— '- -< -‘-l '* A 1 ‘3: K." .fiomDHHs annularHs A ?Aplofli;mtus grunaiens K {.1 6 e i w esition and Sex Rati s 6f Lap , sf Fisies from Lake Kickapoo, as De e p Males % Female Doresema eepedianum Ictiebus eyprinellus Ictiobus bubalus Carpiefles earpie Cypriaus earpie Ictalurus punctetus “I '3 “Piiedietus eiivaris Morene ehrysops Mieropterus salmoides 27 2 55 #5 Femoxis annularis 628 an 50 50 f Aplediaotus grunniens 77 5.h 6O #0 Table ills Weights, Percentage Composition by Weight and Mean Weights of Large and Important Fishes from Lake Kickapoo, as Determined From Gill Nets. .M__mmnmwa__unm_mm—nmmum—mnn~*——-—~—~—~m_-ww Species Weight % of Total Mean Weight i_ni__iim_a____m_.um_m_mmm_mm___a__iii_*~_whu_"___wm_unimm_i Eprosoma cepedienum ll.h5 lbs. 1.0 .29 lbs. letiebus eyprirellus nun-tun Moreae chryseps Table 111. Weights, Percentage Composition by Weight and Mean Weights of Large and Important Fishes from Lake Kickapoo, as Determined from Gill Nets (Continued) Species ' Weight g b of Total . Mean weight Micropterns salmoides 107.60 9.h b.00 Pomoxis annularis 169.39 14.7 .27 Aplodinotus grunniens 19.35 1.7 .25 Table IV. Percentage Composition of Forage Fishes from Lake Kickapoo, As Determined from Seine Samples Only. Species Total Percent : Notropis bnchanani 85 5.39 Notropis deliciosus 2 .13 Notropis lutrensis 1370 87.2u Pimephales vigilax 27 1.72 Hypognathns placita 1* .06 Gambusia affinis 28 1.79 Eepomis cyanellus ‘ 1 .06 Lrpomis macrochirus 9 .57 Lepomislmegalotis #3 2.7M Lepomi§.microlophus 2 .13 % Probably released fishermen's bait.