One Clean Up Effort to Make a Lake Safer for Loons & Other Wildlife

Photo by Wayne Casey

The annual draw down of a lake can be an opportune time to help loons and other wildlife living there. I make it a point every year when the water is down to inspect the shoreline at all

the favorite fishing spots and not only build my collection of lures, but also remove hundreds of feet of fishing line from rocks, stumps, and branches. I have found lead sinkers, jigs, spinners and even a cell phone with a battery that would have otherwise released its mercury into the environment. Although it is typically a cold, windy time of year the warm feeling you get from collecting a coffee can full of lead shot is very rewarding.

Fish in Winter
By Donald Miller, Large Lake Fisheries Biologist, NHF&G

Adult loon with Yellow Perch Photo by John Rockwood

As waters cool in the fall and early winter, warmwater fish (especially bass) retreat to deeper areas of lakes and ponds and endure the winter months there in a sort of semi-hibernation.  Their metabolism slows significantly and they rarely feed. Coldwater fish, salmon and trout, are active in the winter, even though their metabolism also slows down.  Perch, white and yellow, are coolwater species and remain active during the colder months. These fish tend to move around in schools, as they feed in the soft, bottom sediments for invertebrate larvae and worms.  Often, yellow perch are found in the deeper areas of ponds during the winter, sometimes 30 feet down!

Photo by Brian Reilly

Yellow perch spawn in late March/early April along shorelines, where their gelatinous skeins of eggs are released over aquatic vegetation, trees and rocky substrate.  Eggs generally incubate for 2-3 weeks before hatching. Yellow perch populations can easily become stunted, i.e., reproduction remains high while competition for food reduces their size.  They often overpopulate a waterbody to the point where they are the dominant species.