Valley Lake

Channel Catfish

Good

This species is maintained by stocking and apparently few people harvest Channel Catfish because we collected 30 fish in 30 minutes of electrofishing in this smaller size lake. Fish ranged from 17” to 24” and weighed up to 3.8 lbs. Site Regulation: 6 fish daily limit.

Common Carp

Average

No Common Carp or grass carp were collected or observed during this survey, however they may be present in low numbers and therefore difficult to collect. During our last survey in 2004, both Common Carp and grass carp were collected.

Bluegill

Average

In 2016, Bluegill collected ranged up to 7.4” and weighed up to 0.33 lbs. 14% were greater than 6”, 3.5% were greater than 7” and none exceeded 8” in length.

Largemouth Bass

Average

In 2016, he largest bass collected during sampling measured 15.7” and weighed up to 2.1 lbs. 83% of fish collected were greater than 12”, 44% were greater than 13”, 8% were greater than 14” and 3% exceeded 15”. This size structure will maintain the population with natural reproduction, but being such a small lake, it’s difficult to grow larger size fish in any quantity. Site Regulation: 15” minimum length limit ; 3 fish daily creel limit.

Black Crappie

Average

Two Black Crappie were collected in sampling. The largest was 8.5” long. This is the typical size where crappie stunt in small lakes, so to improve their size, either the largemouth bass population needs to expand or anglers need to harvest a bunch of smaller crappie to open up space for survivors to grow.

Redear Sunfish

Developing

Redear from recent stockings were detected and a fish greater than 7” long was collected, suggesting a past stocking of Redear Sunfish as well. Redear can grow to over 1.0 lb in our area, so if they thrive like expected, some really nice fish may inhabit this smaller lake in the next few years.