How long does it take a lake to come back?

There's a park near my job with about a 40 acre lake, my lunch time fishing spot. Anyway, I went there this fall and was greeted by signs warning me not to fish or go near the water, that a controlled fish kill was in progress by the Indiana DNR. Sure enough, the shoreline was covered in dead fish, and the stench was horrendous.

I understand why they did it. The fishing here was never great, and by my estimate at least 80% of the dead fish on shore were either carp or way overgrown gizzard shad. They have since drawn the lake way down, and started installing fish habitats around the shoreline. So the good news is that it looks like they plan on stocking and managing the lake better in the future. The bad news is, no chance at lunchtime slabs this year. :(

The question I have though is, how long until the lake has catchable size crappie again?

A lot will depend on how many and what size fish the stock back in the lake. A small lake not far from me went through that about 20 years ago. They drained, dug channels depend spots and built all kinds of habitat. When the brought it ack up the stocked with various sizes of mature fish trapped at other state lakes along with thousands of fry. It was fishable in about 2 years with plenty of catchable crappie, bass and catfish. But usually I’d say around 2 years from stocking before they open one up.

Yep, 2 years at the minimum, closer to 4 if they stock fingerlings. That's assuming they either stock forage as well or feed them to get a good growth rate.

Sounds like they will make it a lot better when It does come back

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Sounds like they will make it a lot better when It does come back

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Yes, I'm sure it will be better. In the meantime though I'm going to have to find a new spot!

My wife and I used to fish Starve Hollow lake in Indiana, they did a fish and weed kill several years ago. We have been back a few times and don't even get a bite.
Sad for us.

Also, don't forget to take in account where you are. IL winters can be long & cold. This would extend the recovery period. We had a fish kill here about 3 years ago and it's just starting to come back now.....gradually!

And a lot has to do with the forage base and weed growth. Many factors I'm afraid.

I was told by a biologist in TN that crappie in a pond under 100 acres would overpopulate and be stunted, lots of little fish and few big ones.

Sounds like you got good answers. Farther north fish grow slower but live longer . Size of fish stocked and forage stocked . Some lakes in the south 2 years ,up north bet it will be at least 4 years just for keepers
. :fish

yes I second what has been said , our southern waters grow fish faster than northern waters .
it might be 4 years or so depending on what if any ,survived the kill and how they re stock it .

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Originally Posted by skeetbum

I was told by a biologist in TN that crappie in a pond under 100 acres would overpopulate and be stunted, lots of little fish and few big ones.

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Depends on the crappie and a lot of other factors. Black crappie are not as prolific as white crappie.

Neighbor has a 4 acre pond with some dandy black crappie. Not stunted at all. Unfortunately they have been a little overfished, everyone keeps crappie and throws the green fish back, so the crappie fishing hasn't been as good lately, but you can catch as many 12" bass as you want.

Ponds are a delicate balance and are easily swayed one way or the other, one thing for sure is to keep the fishing pressure on them, it's better to have fewer big fish than a million dinks, and don't cherry pick just one species.

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Originally Posted by skeetbum

I was told by a biologist in TN that crappie in a pond under 100 acres would overpopulate and be stunted, lots of little fish and few big ones.

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I have heard the same. I was worried they would not put crappie back in the lake, but I found a press release that confirms they did stock black crappie since the fish kill.

TWRA will not even stock a 360 acre lake with crappie. The Williamsport Lakes....biggest is about 60 acres.....was stocked by fisherman with black nose crappie. While the lakes have huge food source.....tons of Shad....it took forever for the crappie to get to 10 inches. Even after all these years of them being in there they are not the length or girth they should be. If you get a chance to fish a lake that has been closed down for the 4-5 years to recover by all means take it. For a year or so the fishing will be off the charts.

Regards


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

more then likely in that small of a lake the IN DNR wont stock crappie, as said 100 acres is about as small as they will usually stock Crappie..

I retract this if you say they restocked with crappie, never heard of them doing this in that small of a lake.

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Originally Posted by dbowling

more then likely in that small of a lake the IN DNR wont stock crappie, as said 100 acres is about as small as they will usually stock Crappie..

I retract this if you say they restocked with crappie, never heard of them doing this in that small of a lake.

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There were pretty decent crappie in there before the fish kill. There were a lot of shad in the lake too, another species that you often hear should not be in smaller lakes. Getting rid of the gizzard shad was one of the reasons for the fish kill, I'll be interested to see how the crappie do in the lake now with no shad available for forage.


DNR restocks Ruble Lake in Fowler Park with over 4,000 bass, more to come next week