14 Nebraska Game and Parks Commission • 2014 Annual Report
I M P R O V I N G N E B R A S K A F I S H E R I E S
In September, nearly 1,000 13-inch paddlefish – a species never before
produced in Game and Parks fish hatcheries – were stocked into Gallagher
Canyon and the Midway Complex to create a population of this prehistoric
fish in the Tri-County Canal system that will hopefully become fishable in the
future. They were among the 48,590,168 fish (19 species) stocked into 253
Nebraska water bodies.
In addition to the production and stocking of fish, the Nebraska Game
and Parks Commission renovated fish communities at two lakes during
the summer. Rotenone was applied to Rat and Beaver Lake, a 450-acre
Sandhills lake, to eliminate common carp. The project was conducted in
conjunction with the construction of fish barriers. At 332-acre Lake Yankton,
the fish community was dominated by Asian carp that gained access during
the 2011 Missouri River flood. Rotenone costs were shared with the South
Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks.
Comprehensive rehabilitation projects were completed in 2014 at Harlan
County Reservoir (Phase I), Medicine Creek Reservoir, and Rat and Beaver
Lake. Projects are currently underway on the Cedar River, at Conestoga
Reservoir, Lake Helen in Gothenburg, Louisville SRA, and the Valentine
National Wildlife Refuge.
Fisheries biologists annually collect data to assess fish populations and
evaluate management strategies including stocking, habitat improvements
and fishing regulations. Specific projects were undertaken to estimate
flathead catfish numbers in Branched Oak Lake, northern pike in Lake
Wanahoo, walleye spawning population in Sherman Reservoir, common carp
in Rat and Beaver Lake, channel catfish in southeast Nebraska rivers and
reproduction and persistence of stocked plains topminnows in streams.
