LAGRANGE, Ind. (AP) - State wildlife officials who hoped the Midwest’s bitterly cold winter would eradicate a nuisance fish from a northern Indiana lake say the pest actually survived in large numbers.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says a mid-May survey of LaGrange County’s 69-acre Royer Lake found hundreds of gizzard shad in the natural lake despite evidence that many of the fish died over the winter.
DNR district biologist Neil Ledet says he hopes the lake’s bass population will keep its gizzard shad population in check.
Gizzard shad can overpopulate lakes and compete with popular sport fish. In large numbers they can also indirectly reduce water clarity by feeding on microscopic animals that normally eat algae.
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