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Fish stocking to begin in Lake Leota

EVANSVILLE — Fish will return to Lake Leota in a few weeks as the start of a three-year, $25,000 fish stocking program for the recently dredged lake.

The Save Our Lake Environment group is organizing and fundraising for the effort, member Kyle Allen said.

"It's a great thing for Evansville," said Allen, an avid fisherman and local business owner.

He grew up next to the lake and recalls 30 to 40 years ago when the lake was good for fishing.

"We're real short on lakes in Rock County—fishing lakes—and people will come to Evansville to fish the lake," he said. "When they're here, they'll spend a little money and have a good fishing experience."

SOLE will start by adding 2,000 pounds of fathead minnows to the lake in mid-April, Allen said. The minnows should spawn twice this summer, he said.

That should make enough food for 20,000 bluegills, crappies and perch, which will be added in fall.

"Those fish do well in this kind of water (and are) readily available through the supplier we're going to be going through," Allen said.

The fish will be coming from Gollons Bait & Fish Farm in Dodgeville.

In the fall of 2010, 10,000 more pan fish—bluegills, crappies and perch—will be added. In fall 2011, the stocking will be completed with 1,600 bass and walleye.

Ideally, the lake would be closed to fishing for three years while it is being stocked so the fish can grow and reproduce, Allen said. It would take a couple years to get the state Department of Natural Resources to officially close it, so SOLE plans to put up signs asking people to consider the growing fish.

The lake would be able to handle recreational catch and release fishers while it's being stocked, and size limits also will protect the fish, said Don Bush, DNR fisheries supervisor for the Rock River basin.

Lake Leota will be added to the DNR's list for future stocking programs, Bush said. The DNR could add bass as they become available possibly next year, he said.

Leota is a small lake, so fishermen need to be careful because it could get fished out pretty fast, Allen said. He's hoping to work with the FFA to hold fish surveys to monitor the number of fish in the lake.

The FFA also is helping build fish cribs. About 200 wooden pallets bound together will be sunk as fish shelters in several locations, and more will be built over the winter and placed on top of the ice to later sink, Allen said.

SOLE is working to get the needed permits from the DNR.

Lake Leota was drained in 2005 and sat empty until this winter when contractors removed about 200,000 cubic yards of material from the lake. Water now fills the lake, though it is still a few feet from full until dam repairs are completed this spring.

Draining the lake eliminated the carp, which were a big problem in the shallow water. Many swam upstream, and Allen guesses the carp have returned.

"We're not going to get rid of those," he said. "I don't think it will be as noticeable as when the lake was 1 foot deep. Now it's deeper."

The only way to get rid of them would be to dump a chemical that kills everything in the creek starting in Dane County, but it's an expensive, lengthy process, he said.

The carp aren't going to be as big of a concern as all the geese—about 200 of them have returned, he said.