Lake Mattamuskeet Carp Removal

Common Carp | credit: U.S. Army

A $1 million federal grant will go towards the removal of large numbers of common carp from Lake Mattamuskeet in North Carolina.

Located within Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, the lake is also home to more popular freshwater fish including largemouth bass, crappie, catfish, sunfish, and striped bass.

Invasive carp, like those in Lake Mattamuskeet, compete with native fish for the natural resources and destroy the natural aquatic habitat.

Carp can degrade water quality by muddying the waters and uprooting aquatic plants. Their destruction also negatively impacts migratory wintering waterfowl that feed on the plants.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has partnered with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) to remove the carp.

Several years ago, barriers were installed at the lake's four tide gates to keep adult carp from entering the lake. Now, the ones still in the lake must go.

The Service awarded WSB the contract to clear approximately 1 million pounds of carp from Lake Mattamuskeet.

During a similar large-scale carp removal effort in the 1940s and 1950s, large haul seines, baited traps, and pound nets were used successfully.

Another approach, known as the modified unified method, utilizes large seines and herding methods to move carp into nets successfully. Once netted, carp are extracted from the lake. WSB will utilize a combination of these removal methods. 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investment will improve the natural environment of the 40,000-acre Lake Mattamuskeet and four outlet canals, according to USFWS.

source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Lake Mattamuskeet Fish Habitat

A wide range of habitat enhancement, fisheries research, and other projects on Lake Mattamuskeet could improve fishing on the lake for largemouth bass and other species.

A multi-year habitat enhancement project on Lake Mattamuskeet is set to begin in 2016. Partners in the project include the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and UNC-Chapel Hill researchers.

The research project will focus on maintaining submerged aquatic vegetation in the east basin of the lake and examining the potential to increase coverage of aquatic vegetation in the west basin.

Previously, the N.C Wildlife Commission conducted annual electrofishing and trap netting surveys in the main lake and surrounding canals to describe abundance, size, condition, and growth of largemouth bass, black crappie, and other sportfish.

A tagging program evaluated adult largemouth bass movement within and between lake and canal habitats.

Lake Mattamuskeet was stocked with 45,000 largemouth bass fingerlings in 2014 and 70,000 in 2015 as part of a multi-year largemouth bass enhancement study.

Numerous angler surveys found that blue crab, channel catfish, black crappie, white perch, and largemouth bass were the top five species targeted.

Fisheries management plans for 2016 include an additional stocking of 50,000 largemouth bass fingerlings as well as the implementation of a largemouth bass movement project to track the movements of individual adult fish as they move in and out the canals.

Located within Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, Lake Mattamuskeet is North Carolina’s largest natural lake (40,100 acres). Lake Mattamuskeet fish include both freshwater and estuarine species because of the drainage canals that connect the lake to Pamlico Sound.

source: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

North Carolina Fish Attractor Study

A North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission study found that artificial reefs made from synthetic materials attract fish for longer periods of time than reefs made from Christmas trees.

The research project was entitled "Using the DIDSON to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Different Fish Attractors in Turbid Reservoirs."

"This study proved that artificial structures made from synthetic materials are a better option for us compared to attractors constructed from Christmas trees, which we would have to replace on a regular basis in order for them to attract the same amount of fish as the artificial structures," said Jessica Baumann, the fisheries biologist who oversaw the fish attractor study.

Baumann worked with other Wildlife Commission staff to evaluate the effectiveness of natural and artificial fish attractors to assess how well they congregated fish and how well they held up over a three-year period.

Fisheries biologists began the fish attractor study in June 2008, sinking three different types of artificial attractors and one natural attractor constructed from Christmas tree bundles into Lake Townsend in Greensboro and Lake Cammack in Burlington. They chose the two lakes because of their abundance of sport fish, similarity in size, and lack of underwater structures.

After evaluating each attractor site every fall, winter, spring and summer for three years, using a high definition imagery sonar unit called the DIDSON (Duel-Frequency Identification Sonar), biologists concluded that artificial fish attractors held similar numbers of fish and lasted longer than the Christmas tree bundles.

As a result of this study, the Wildlife Commission has begun using artificial structure constructed from synthetic materials to help congregate fish in many bodies of water. In 2013, staff deployed 19 synthetic fish reefs in Hyco and Mayo lakes near Roxboro.

They also deployed nine fish reefs in Lake Thom-a-lex, four fish reefs in Shearon Harris Reservoir, and two in the Tar River Reservoir. They plan to deploy similar fish reefs in Lake Raleigh, Lake Holt, Farmer Lake, Lake Michie and Lake Reidsville this summer.

source: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

North Carolina Wounded Warrior Fly-fishing Clinics

Starting Jan. 8, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will conduct fly-fishing clinics for soldiers from Fort Bragg’s Wounded Warrior Transition Battalion.

The free clinics, which are open only to soldiers and their families, will be held on the second Wednesday of each month through March. 

For more information, visit: http://www.ncwildlife.org/fishing

source: N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission

North Carolina "Keep Bass Alive" Cards

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission recently announced the availability of a “Keeping Bass Alive” card, suitable for downloading and printing. The new document provides tips for both recreational and tournament anglers.

The card can be downloaded at: http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/News/documents/Keep_Bass_Alive_Card.pdf

More information on keeping bass alive, including the B.A.S.S.-produced publication, “Keeping Bass Alive: A Guidebook for Tournament Bass Anglers and Organizers,” is available on the Commission’s website, www.ncwildlife.org/fishing.

source: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission

Lake Norman Hybrid Bass

In North Carolina, Lake Norman has experienced an increase in spotted bass populations. According to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, introductions of spotted bass into the 32,475 acre reservoir may have been undertaken by well-intentioned anglers who want to "improve the bass fishery." Fishery managers discourage such measures, noting that introductions of non-native fish into waters where they are not found can have unintended effects.

According to biologists, spotted bass often compete with other black basses and alter their genetics when they interbreed. In some areas, spotted bass can replace a largemouth bass fishery. Kin Hodges, a biologist with the Commission’s Division of Inland Fisheries, warned against private introductions of fish into state waters, saying:

"... we run the risk of seeing diminished black bass fisheries in the future unless anglers quit moving spotted bass into new lakes where they frequently have negative impacts on the existing populations of largemouth or smallmouth bass."

According to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the stocking of fish in public waters of North Carolina without a valid stocking permit is illegal.

source: N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission