Lake Management

Why Lake Management?

The management of a lake is a simple concept. However, actually implementing lake management is a more complex task. It’s not impossible though. Many factors impact a water body. The fish and plants in a lake alter the water and each other. The area and land use around a lake also impacts the water, plants and fish.

In the United States, there is an estimated 5+ million private lakes and ponds. Although lakes and ponds are often built for irrigation and livestock watering, recreation is usually the primary reason for building a lake. Recreation can includes fishing but also waterfowl hunting, swimming, boating and sitting around the water with a cold beverage watching the sun go down.

Lake Management: An Opportunity

Unfortunately, the management of most lakes and ponds for sport fishing and overall water body health is poor. Do you know that as much as 25 percent of all fishing takes place in private lakes and ponds?! Most of the water bodies do not reach their full potential. The quality of a lake is important to those that value the opportunities their lake can provide.

Take care of a lake and it will take care of you. However, it is important that lake managers understand the factors that impact balance within a system. The 5 most significant factors to lake health are:

1. Light – Related to water clarity
2. Temperature – Relates to productivity
3. Nutrients – Relates to fish growth, plant issues
4. Oxygen – Important for fish, plant health
5. Fish Populations – Impacts size, fishing

Properly managed lakes provide excellent recreational opportunities, particularly for popular fish species such as largemouth bass, channel catfish, and hybrid bream. A good fishing lake must be stocked with the fish species of choice, continually maintained, and then fish removed or harvested at the appropriate rate. Most lake owners do not know the fundamentals of lake management, but that is exactly why this site was created. Keep reading.

Goals of Lake Management

The first step in recreational lake management is to decide what kind of recreation is desired. What do you want? As mentioned, pond and lake management can help provide improved fishing, swimming, wildlife attraction, and aesthetics. After setting goals, a thorough evaluation of the lake will indicate which factors need adjustment, management.

It is difficult to manage for all of types recreational activities on the same scale. For example, the best fishing lake and best swimming lake will not look the same. However, lake owners can achieve all of these objectives to some extent, but place emphasis on the most important ones. This site promotes lake management to optimize recreational sport fishing. We offer management practices designed to help you reach your goals.

Although no two lakes are alike, every lake or pond can be managed to provide optimal recreational fishing and associated activities. Not only will practicing the fundamentals of lake management increase pond productivity, but also decrease problems associated with aquatic vegetation, fish stunting, and water quality issues. Each and every lake may be different, but the  same management techniques will work on each and every body of water.

The most important part of managing anything, whether it be a farm, a company, or a fish population is having a thorough understanding of the subject and learning how to identify and diagnose problems. Once a  lake manager is aware of lake inputs, potential lake problems (such as low dissolved oxygen), and how to remedy those issues they can truly manage their lake. The essential parts of any lake management program will include:

1. Fish species selection and stocking rates
2. Fertilizing and liming
3. Aquatic weed control
4. Watershed management
5. Prevention of fish overpopulation
6. Removal of unwanted fish species
7. Lake or pond construction
8. Water quality and lake management
9. Lake record keeping