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Prestbury Fishing Club Prestbury Fishing Club Minutes March 27 Meeting A meeting of the Prestbury Fishing Club was held on 27 March 2006. In attendance were George Hauser-President, Marv Doty, Steve Keierleber, and Tom Dornback. Tom gave a treasurers report, followed by a report by Marv Doty, that the rented winter aerator on Lake Prestbury was now unplugged. It had operated well during the winter, thereby preventing a total freeze over of the lake. A discussion followed on the future use of lake water aeration during the winter months on Prestbury Lake. There was agreement that the single aerator was helpful to keep some water aerated and open in the main body of Prestbury Lake during 2005/2006 winter ice conditions. Marv also suggested he had been informed by the vendor that the aerator in use was designed to aerate about one acre of water. The vendor further indicated to Marv he was developing aerator units capable of aerating three acres of water and recommended three aerators in the main body of the lake as he estimated there was between 9 to 11 acres of water to aerate. The vendor implied positioning one aerator north of Turtle Cove, a second aerator northeast of the overflow and a third aerator east of the dock on the west shore may compensate for the less than desirable depth of Prestbury Lake. Other alternatives to increase the depth of the lake are dredging or raising the level of the lake by 12 inches. George Hauser indicted he would take up these subjects, as well as the cost of operating the aerator, with members of the PCA board. Marv Doty then discussed his personal count of game fish that have died in this winters fish kill. Of course this was not a complete picture of the magnitude of this years’ fish kill but it is an excellent indicator to the scope of the problem. Many fish had already been removed from the lake by Marv Doty and PCA at separate intervals. It is not reasonable to anticipate any dead fish were counted twice. Quite a few of the fish that died were Shad. However, Marv’s personal count of dead game fish included: Bass 124 (to 5 pounds) Stripers 87 (to 6 pounds) Catfish 25 (to 7 pounds) Blue Gills 54 Crappie 61 Most of the Bass, Stripers and Catfish were larger fish. It appears that the larger game fish are most affected by unknown causes for this fish kill. There was much discussion on the possible causes of the fish kill. It was concluded that the club does not have enough factual information on the causes of the fish kill, especially of the larger fish. Research will continue as more data and resources become available. Marv Doty has many excellent pictures of the fish kill, if there is anyone interested in looking for clews as to the causes. Steve and Tom gave a report on their ice fishing efforts of this year. No fish were caught and no bites were to be had. Normally ice fishing on Lake Prestbury is usually very good. Steve and Tom reported that in the past, they were able to see down several feet into the lake with a light while ice fishing. This year, probably because of the shoreline restoration work, the visibility was limited to just a few inches. This may have been one of the contributing factors to this years fish kill. The club then discussed the possibility of continuing the restocking of the lake with game fish. After much discussion, it was decided to again not stock any new fish in Lake Prestbury. None were added after last winter. The principal reason for this decision by the club is there is no information available about the actual condition of the water in Prestbury Lake. In addition, the plan for additional shoreline restoration work is unknown to the club.
Tom Dornback Secretary |
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