“Electro-fishing” — it sounds like something exciting or dangerous — or both! In reality, electro-fishing is an accurate and efficient method for determining the current state of your fishery population and its dynamics. In the electro-fishing process, fish are temporarily stunned and collected to gather data about the species, weights and relative population numbers in your lake or pond. Fish are released unharmed.
Pond balance (specifically, a good ratio of bass to bream) is necessary for an optimum fishing experience. If the electro-fishing survey shows a good variety of sizes of both bass and bream, the pond is most likely in good balance. An overabundance of either species, or the predominance of small, skinny fish of either species, indicates a problem. Electro-fishing can also alert us to the proliferation of an undesirable species, such as shiners, crappie or wild sunfish.
The data provided by an electro-fishing survey is analyzed to create a customized report about the status of the pond and recommended management approaches based on your fisheries goals. While stocking will sometimes be recommended, in other cases the data may indicate no need for adding fish, or other management strategies may be suggested.
