N&O article, shocking bass

Watt's With Harris' Bass?: Using Jolts of Electricity, Biologists Keep Current With Lake's Big Fish Population

Posted on: Thursday, 17 May 2007, 09:00 CDT

By Mike Zlotnicki, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

May 17--NEW HILL -- For years, Shearon Harris Lake has been known as a trophy largemouth bass fishery, maybe the best in the state.

And it's still going strong, says Kirk Rundle.

Rundle, 38, and his fishing partner, Bill Collart, 49, caught 126 bass in a little over an hour last week, all without even wetting a line.

They used a gas-powered electric generator and long-handled dip nets.

Rundle and Collart are District 3 fishery biologists for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, and safely shocking fish to sample populations is part of their jobs. The pair worked Shearon Harris Lake recently, and though the data they collected hasn't been officially analyzed, they found what appears to be a very healthy bass fishery.

The pair launched their 20-foot Sea Ark johnboat from Holleman Boat Access last Thursday and headed south. Collart soon cut the motor, and Rundle checked the water for dissolved oxygen, temperature and conductivity. Collart used to the data to make adjustments to the control box that determined the amount of power used to juice the water.

"All right, Maestro?" Collart asked.

With a return nod, Collart cranked up the generator, sending 1,000 volts of electricity to an array of weighted cables hanging like whiskers from a huge frame on the bow, which produced a 10-foot sphere of conductive water. Within seconds, stunned fish floated to the surface, and Rundle scooped a nice 4-pound bass, which was deposited in a 90-gallon holding tank.

"This would be a great job if we didn't have to listen to the generator," Collart said with a laugh, his earplugs firmly in place.

The boat left a trail of stunned gizzard shad, catfish and sunfish as Collart deftly used the steering wheel, throttle and gearbox to keep the boat on the edge of the primrose weed line. Rundle used his 6-foot, 4-inch frame to good advantage, leveraging the 8-foot dip net. In the 15 minutes after they juiced the water, they captured 27 largemouth bass.

Parking the boat in a primrose patch, Collart began to measure and weigh fish, calling out the metric measurements for Rundle to record. The pair admired the fat fish, commenting on their health. The biggest was a little over 7 pounds and 24 inches long.

"The lake has an excellent forage base," Rundle said. "Small sunfish, various minnow species and gizzard shad are the primary species."

Another 15-minute run yielded 22 bass, which the pair quickly "worked up" and released.

Making adjustments

Biologists aren't the only people interested in the numbers and health of Harris Lake's bass.

Anglers are, too.

Among them is Derek Clifton, who is a tournament director for American Team Bass, an area tournament trail, and he has fished Harris for many years. He said he has heard other anglers complain about Harris bass numbers being down, but he has his own opinion from an angler's point of view.

"I think that numbers of bass being caught have declined, but I think the same number of fish are there," he said via cell phone Friday. "I think they've moved. It's just fishing pressure. Your really, really good fishermen can still catch those fish because they make adjustments."

Clifton spoke of adjustments in fishing methods, but Rundle said that bass anglers, who often are proponents of catch-and-release, could make some adjustments in philosophy that would benefit the lake -- and themselves -- even more. Harris has some special regulations, including a slot limit, which means that bass 16 to 20 inches long must be released. Additionally, anglers can keep two fish less than 14 inches in length. Rundle said that the lake might benefit from some bass going home for the frying pan.

"There's plenty of smaller fish, and if you remove some of the smaller fish, it will free up some the forage for the middle-size fish," he said. "Other than the mercury advisory, there's nothing wrong taking an occasional bass home for dinner. They're good to eat."

Rundle did agree with Clifton that anglers do need to make adjustments to catch the heavily pressured bass at Harris.

"Subtle differences in lure color and size can make a huge difference," he said.

Added Collart: "The fish are here, but they can identify every darn lure out there."

Bountiful bass

Rundle and Collart didn't need lures to catch their fish, and there were plenty to be had, just as in previous for years, Rundle said.

"Looking at Shearon Harris over the past 10 years or so, things have remained fairly consistent," he said. "Catch-per-unit effort -- the number of fish caught divided by the numbers of hours of shocking -- has remained consistent."

Rundle dug up previous years' data and provided it via e-mail. In 2001, the commission sampled 535 bass during 4.7 hours for a catch-per-unit effort (CPUE) of 112 bass per hour. In 2003, the rate also was 112 per hour. In 2005, the rate was 130 per hour, and in 2007 it was 86 per hour.

In his e-mail Rundle said the biologists might go back and sample one more time but that "nevertheless, these catch rates are still excellent and don't concern me that they are just slightly lower than previous years."

Bass measuring 12 to 20 inches made up 71 percent of the catch, a "preferred size" Rundle said.

The timing of the outing also was a factor. The heaviest bass the pair found weighed 7 pounds. Had the sampling been performed a week earlier, Rundle said, more spawning females would have been caught, increasing the percentage of larger fish in the sampling. But most of the big females had spawned and left the nest-guarding duties to the smaller males. The lack of extremely small (0- to 4-inch fish) Rundle attributed to those fish being deep in weed beds and hard to catch.

The bottom line

How does Harris stack up with some other area lakes?

Falls Lake produces a catch rate of about 90 per hour, the Tar River Reservoir near Rocky Mount is about 80 per hour and Lake Gaston about 50 per hour.

Clifton says he thinks the slot limit has helped remove tournament pressure on Harris Lake, and he loves to fish it.

"I think it's one of the best bass lakes in North Carolina," he said. "It's definitely one of the top one or two trophy bass lakes in the state."

Rundle agrees. Although the sampling data won't be crunched until later this summer, he feels good about Harris.

"I hear a lot of complaining, but I hear a lot of good things too," he said. "If I had to look for an 8-pound bass in this area, Harris would be it."

Staff writer Mike Zlotnicki can be reached at 829-4518 or mike.zlotnicki@newsobserver.com.

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