The Iowa DNR fisheries biologist overseeing the stocking of paddlefish into Lake Rathbun in southern Iowa is pleased with the results.
Fisheries biologist Mark Flammang says it’s remarkable how fast the fish grow, and the first group stocked is now around 36 inches long. “And they’re probably weighing around 15 and maybe even some approaching 20 pounds. Last year’s fish are probably in that, oh, probably nine to 12-13 pound range,” he says.
There are 25 fish that are tagged and Flammang says they gave him a scare when there was no activity recorded. “I was feeling kind of low this last winter because my fish disappeared from me and I thought, oh, my Lord, all these fish died. But as it turned out, they were hiding,” Flammang says. There are multiple sensors around the lake that are activated when the fish are near them. “Somehow they were avoiding those, and they were staying in just certain locations where they happen to be in kind of a dead zone in terms of coverage,” Flammang says. “And come spring time or actually late winter, they started running all over the lake again. I mean, these fish might move seven miles in three or four days.”
Flammang says they’ve been able to get some good data on the favorite fish hangouts. “That’s not only valuable to us, but we’ll be able to pass that information along to the angler just to help the angler start to take advantage of what’s really a totally new opportunity in terms of Iowa fish and fishing. Because we have an opportunity now to go out and capture what will eventually, I think be a trophy fish,” he says.
Flammang says they believe they way the these fish have thrived in the lake and reservoir they could eventually going to grow to be well over 50 pounds. “I’m going to go out on a limb and say I think eventually that you know what we may possibly break 100 pounds someday, ” he says.
Flammang says there have been many sightings of the prehistoric looking fish with the long flat nose. He has seen them as he is fishing around the lake. “And one was just feeding off the surface and you could see his big spoon rostrum sticking out of the water and his tail in his back, and he was just cruising along, you know, loading up on plankton before he moved into deeper water. So pretty exciting to watch,” he says.
Flammang says a lot of anglers go to Missouri, Arkansas or Oklahoma where they pay money to catch one of these fish in some of the large reservoirs in those states. Flammang says they should be able to stay home and catch the fish in Lake Rathbun and the reservoir here in a few years.
The paddlefish have also been reintroduced to the Iowa Great Lakes and biologist there say the fish appear to be doing well.