Redfish and Specks Benefit from Limited Weir Closings

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Originally Posted by Duck Butter

many things to point out, but a couple are:

1. angler creel surveys (fish caught by rod and reel) do not always show the true picture of what is happening as a whole in the population. These are only fish that are susceptible to being caught (it can be argued that these fish were hungry, therefore that is why they are 'thin'). To get a true picture of the ENTIRE population, seines, nets, and electrocshocking are used. They are all equally susceptible of being captured. Angler creel surveys are good for a general picture of what is going on such as success rates, but for actual population data you need to sample all the fish not just fish that were caught by rod and reel

2. the assumption is being made that the weirs have something to do with all the fish in the lake. These fish may not have even been within a mile of a weir ever in their lives, for all we know they came straight in from the gulf and went to Prien Lake. Possibly if the fish that were measured were all caught in front of the weirs, maybe, but these fish were caught all over the lake and possibly in Prien or Lake Charles

3. no distinction between males and females, it does matter

A lot of fish to come in and out of the gulf and our tagging shows that but we do have thousands of trout to spawn in the marshes behind the weirs which is safer and more protection of eggs than spawning on the beach or lake

Marsh is a nursery