4 replies to this topic

[Bob La Londe]

I got the opportunity to go out with Russ & Mark with AZGFD last night on the shock boat to do a bass survey. It was a blast, although I felt that Mark and Russ did all the work while all I had to do was the fun part. Netting stunned fish. I think they said we netted and recorded 116 fish on seven different sites. Those included:

Largemouth bass
channel catfish
flathead catfish
yellow bullhead catfish
red ear sunfish
bluegill
warmouth
tilapia
crappie
striped bass
threadfin shad
and a couple bullfrogs

We did not log every fish netted, and we didn't net even a fraction of the fish stunned. The primary species was bass and in one amazing stretch we didn't even net all of the larger bass stunned.

Because I have fished every place we shocked last night it gave me an interesing perspective on the numbers of fish in those places. In a couple places the results were very close to what I expected, but in one stretch I was totally floored. I've always caught fish there, but based on the shear numbers of quality fish we shocked relative to my catch rates there I have come to the conclusion I suck as a bass fisherman. LOL.

If you ever get the chance to go out on a shock boat in areas were you fish you should go. Russ and Mark are old hands at this, but I had an absolute blast. At midnight we loaded the boat and headed back to Yuma, but I would have been up to hit a couple more areas. I was tired, and I wasn't doing the most of the actual work, but it was so much fun I would have loved to go again. I even told them if anybody cancels on the rest of their surveys to call me I would love to go again.

I think the biggest fish netted was a flathead that looked to be about six pounds to me. There were a bunch of bass in the 2-3 pound range, 4 or 5 in the 4 pound class, and one approaching 5. I think we netted close to 100 bass from 2 inches to almost 5 pounds.
The other thing to note is we shocked thousands of shad. There were a lot of them in the 6 inch class.

We didn't shock a lot of crappie, but the ones we did were pretty big. Mark was the one who got them, and he said he thought they were bass at first.

As expected there weren't a lot of bass in the shallow baren silt flats, but where there was a major change within them there were decent numbers. I also think in a couple areas were there was a lot of bait fish (shad and sunfish both) and heavy grass we weren't seeing the bass that were there come up from under the grass but where in a couple places there was a break in it we did have some stunned fish that were seeable and netable.

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures. We worked all after sunset, and while we did shock a lot of quality fish there were no toads. I have caught quite a number on regular hook and line bigger than the biggest ones we shocked.

[Big Bass Man]

I have a friend that is a Fishery Biologist and he gets to do that as part of his job. How cool would that be, to have a job like that!! Sounds like you had a great time Bob!! I would definately like to go, on some of the lakes I fish, with a shocking team.

[toadfrog]

Watched them do it but was never in the boat . Sure would like to know what lies beneath some of the places I fish .

[Musky Glenn]

The Western NC Muskie Club run chase boats for the wildlife department when they are shocking for muskies. It never seaces to amaze me at what is just below the surface. The depth that the shock is effective to can vary, but ours usually only stun down to about 8-10 feet. A big musky can,sometimes, swim out of the edge of the effective reach of the electricity. I make mental notes where the large schools of suckers are located. Musky Glenn

[saltshaker]

Bob La Londe, on 16 November 2011 - 04:53 PM, said:

I got the opportunity to go out with Russ & Mark with AZGFD last night on the shock boat to do a bass survey. It was a blast, although I felt that Mark and Russ did all the work while all I had to do was the fun part. Netting stunned fish. I think they said we netted and recorded 116 fish on seven different sites. Those included:

Largemouth bass
channel catfish
flathead catfish
yellow bullhead catfish
red ear sunfish
bluegill
warmouth
tilapia
crappie
striped bass
threadfin shad
and a couple bullfrogs

We did not log every fish netted, and we didn't net even a fraction of the fish stunned. The primary species was bass and in one amazing stretch we didn't even net all of the larger bass stunned.

Because I have fished every place we shocked last night it gave me an interesing perspective on the numbers of fish in those places. In a couple places the results were very close to what I expected, but in one stretch I was totally floored. I've always caught fish there,but based on the shear numbers of quality fish we shocked relative to my catch rates there I have come to the conclusion I suck as a bass fisherman. LOL.

If you ever get the chance to go out on a shock boat in areas were you fish you should go. Russ and Mark are old hands at this, but I had an absolute blast. At midnight we loaded the boat and headed back to Yuma, but I would have been up to hit a couple more areas. I was tired, and I wasn't doing the most of the actual work, but it was so much fun I would have loved to go again. I even told them if anybody cancels on the rest of their surveys to call me I would love to go again.

I think the biggest fish netted was a flathead that looked to be about six pounds to me. There were a bunch of bass in the 2-3 pound range, 4 or 5 in the 4 pound class, and one approaching 5. I think we netted close to 100 bass from 2 inches to almost 5 pounds.
The other thing to note is we shocked thousands of shad. There were a lot of them in the 6 inch class.

We didn't shock a lot of crappie, but the ones we did were pretty big. Mark was the one who got them, and he said he thought they were bass at first.

As expected there weren't a lot of bass in the shallow baren silt flats, but where there was a major change within them there were decent numbers. I also think in a couple areas were there was a lot of bait fish (shad and sunfish both) and heavy grass we weren't seeing the bass that were there come up from under the grass but where in a couple places there was a break in it we did have some stunned fish that were seeable and netable.

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures. We worked all after sunset, and while we did shock a lot of quality fish there were no toads. I have caught quite a number on regular hook and line bigger than the biggest ones we shocked.

Sounds like you had a great experience, Bob. Sounds really fun.