Athens, Georgia Electrofishing
Unseasonably warm weather by February standards had the shock team on the water recently. All the lakes were near the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. The first lake was an aging county watershed lake. Since the lake was designed to hold drinking water not trophy bass the fishery was is in terrible shape. County watershed lakes are typically barren bowls and today was no exception.
The Results
This was a tough shock but we still managed to get a few solid fish. The flooded grass provided great bluegill habitat so the bass followed. The larger bass were still hanging deep but some we shallow enough for us to shock them.
Lake #2
The second lake was similar to the first one except it was a built for fishing. It had produced several nice fish in the past but it’s approaching 12 years old so the original fish are dying off. This has resulted in lots of small,stunted fish since bass are rarely harvested.
Wrapping Up
Spring is the best time to shock the largest fish in your lake or pond. The big females that hang deep offshore for the majority of the year come shallow for a short window. Sometimes fish appear more healthy than they are due to females carrying extra weight. Fall is the best time to see the true state of a fishery. Electrofishing in Fall will show how well the fish recovered from the spawn and survive high water temps of the summer.
