Due to the small size and heavy use of the lake, Miscellaneous Special Regulations were applied to Indian Lake to protect the warmwater fish populations from being overharvested. This includes a 15 inch minimum and 2 fish per day limit for largemouth bass, and a daily limit of 10 combined species for panfish.

Fisheries Biologist Aide Joe Cocco with a nice sized Indian Lake largemouth bass

To assess the lake’s warmwater fish populations, as well as to evaluate and update management strategies for the lake, Fisheries Management personnel surveyed Indian Lake in June 2010 using Night Flat-bottom Boat Electrofishing. Due to its small size, trap nets were not used on Indian Lake, so all fish observed during electrofishing were collected. This was the first comprehensive survey the PFBC has performed on Indian Lake.

Night electrofishing for 30 minutes yielded 33 largemouth bass ranging in size from 4 to 19 inches. Of the bass collected, 64% were over 12 inches, and 19% were over the required length of 15 inches to make it a legal fish. Electrofishing produced a catch rate of 12 bass over 15 inches per hour.

Intern Ryan Fuller with a 19” largemouth bass

Although anglers were observed catching numerous panfish, particularly bluegill, prior to the start of the survey few were collected during the electrofishing runs. This was likely due to the extremely high conductivity of the lake which reduced our ability to adequately sample panfish. Of the panfish that were collected none reached any considerable size.

Species observed during the night electrofishing included largemouth bass, bluegills, black crappie, pumpkinseeds, green sunfish and common carp. No trout were observed as the water temperatures were too warm near the shoreline and our electrofishing gear has limited effectiveness in the deeper water in the center of the lake.