TrackingWe were able to locate all of the 92 tagged fish from both years combined. A total of 1900 individual muskellunge locations identified between March 2020 and November 2021. With 1300+ of those locations observed during the warm water period (June-September).
|
Angler RecapturesAnglers reported at total of 27 recaptures in 2020 and 38 recaptures in 2021. During the summer season, June - September anglers reported 10 recaptures in 2020 and 19 in 2021.
|
Mortality
One mortality was observed in the 10 recaptures for 2020 and two mortalities were observed in the 18 recaptures in 2021.
Two un-angled muskellunge stopped moving in 2020 and one in 2021 and were considered to have died of natural mortality. There was seasonal differences in catch and release mortality rates in Stonewall Jackson Lake. Table 2. Tabulated values for the fates of angled tagged muskellunge during their respective seasons; Spring (March-May), Summer (June-September), Fall/Winter (October-February) in Stonewall Jackson Lake, WV over both 2020 and 2021. The proportion of individuals that died post-angling in summer was greater than that of other seasons (based on Fisher's Exact Test).
|
Table 1. Tabulated values for the fates of angled and non-angled tagged Muskellunge in Stonewall Jackson Lake, WV during the warm-water period (June-September) with both years and all sites combined. The proportions of individuals that died post-angling were not greater than the proportion that died naturally during the warm-water period (no statistical difference based on Fisher's Exact Test).
|
Temperature
Current Conclusions
Muskellunge catch and release mortality for muskellunge in Stonewall Jackson Lake, WV during the summer period (June-September) is elevated compared to other seasons. However the difference between catch and release mortality and natural mortality that we observed during the summer was not different. The lower level compared to the James River and the Pond study, of summer catch and release mortality observed in Stonewall Jackson Lake is likely due to the cool water refugia present around the thermocline. However we do not know enough about the population to know how this morality rate impacts the population numbers. Future research hopes to identify how catch and release mortality impacts the trophy potential in Stonewall Jackson Lake. The level of exploitation, aka the number of individuals captured, is important for identifying the impact it will have the population. These are preliminary analysis.