Lavage findings

[shanai]

HFFA members have been weighing and measuring fish caught after monthly tournaments for the last several months. We did a lavage check during one of the weighing but results revealed little information. Few remnants of fish parts but mostly unidentifiable.

Yesterday, as my partner was bringing in his bass, the bass spit a whole bunch of shad in various stages of decomposition. there were probably close to a dozen shad that came floating out as well as what was left in the live well. This all coming from a bass weighing about 1 1/2 pounds caught in the vicinity just pass the homeless camp.

Previous lavage notes other things that have been spit out including a four inch crayfish and larger shad in the three inch range. We even had a bass spit out part of a plastic worm. Interesting that there are still crayfish in Lake Wilson unless it was a crayfish brought in from the outside. The bass that had the crayfish was caught before the Wahiawa Bridge so maybe this is a good sign that crayfish may still be a viable food source as I have not seen much crayfish except for up by the North fork rapids.

steve

[roadwarriorsvt]

Myself and others have found crayfish remnants in our livewells after a day of fishing. Mainly the red shells. I've never seen crayfish in the lake or around the rapids, but its apparent that they are alive and well as a forage source in our lake. Hopefully the shad population is thriving. They seem to be the lifeblood of our lake.

For a lavage to be fruitful, it should be performed right after landing the fish, something tournement anglers are much too busy for.

[medc808]

There is crayfish by the boat ramp. They have been sighted, and the youngsters love to catch them in the stream that feeds into the lake. Have seen sizes from an inch to 4 inches.

But not too sure what happened during this recent dry spell. Glad to see the water level up.

[roadwarriorsvt]

Depending on the species, most will burrow into the mud when the water dries up.