Ohio River Largemouth Bass

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Ohio River Largemouth Bass Project Adult Bass
A Summary of Research by Jason G. Freund
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Summary of Introduction

• Similar Studies on LMB / other rivers

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Relevant Studies Overwintering

• Warden and Lorio 1975 -Loakfoma Lake,MS

• Bass least active in December and January
• Small home ranges

• Knights et al. 1995 - Mississippi River

• Bluegills and black crappie selected water
• with undetectable current if DO was above
• 2 mg/L

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Relevant Studies Overwintering

• Raibley et al. 1997 - Illinois River

• Off-channel areas warmer but DO and
• current flow was lower
• Fish entered main river only to move to other
• off-channel locations

• Gent et al. 1995 - Mississippi River

• Bass related to areas with higher DO and
• low current velocity

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Relevant Studies Spawning

• Nack, et al. 1993 - Tidal Hudson River,NY
• Spawning bass used areas protected from
• waves and tidal changes

• Bruno, et al. 1990 - Orange Lake, FL
• Spawning bass used area of solid
• substrate

• Messing and Wicker 1986 - Central Florida
• Some LMB moved large distances prior
• to spawning

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Summary of Introduction

• Similar Studies on LMB / other rivers
• Belleville Pool, Ohio River

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Belleville Pool
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Summary of Introduction

• Similar Studies on LMB / other rivers
• Belleville Pool, Ohio River
• Radio Telemetry
• Signal Attenuation

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Signal Attenuation
Definition To reduce in force, value,
or amount weaken (The American Heritage
Dictionary)
Implications The Ohio River has highly
conductive water and the main channel generally
exceeds 6m deep.
This impacts radio telemetry signal detection!
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Necessity for Research

• Many fish found to be unaccounted for
• during a search are located in later
• search efforts.
• Previous research mentions attenuation but
• fails to address it

• Lucas and Batley (1996), Barbel in the River Ouse
• Otis and Weber (1982), Carp in Lake Winnebago
  system
• Distance of signal detection greater at 2 feet
• than at 5 feet

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Ohio River Conductivity

• Manufacturer and literature suggests using
• low frequency equipment when water
• conductivity is gt400-500 ?S.
• Main channel conductivity averages 518.3
• ?S with a range of 146.3 ?S to 886.0 ?S.
• Conductivity varies greatly with seasons, but
• overall, conductivity exceeded 500 ?S 66.0
• of all observations within the main channel.

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Summary of Introduction

• Similar Studies on LMB / other rivers
• Belleville Pool, Ohio River
• Radio Telemetry
• Signal Attenuation
• Largemouth Bass in Belleville Pool

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Objectives

• Determine overwintering and spawning
• macro-scale habitat use
• Determine home range sizes of LMB
• Compare water quality parameters between
• major river habitat types
• Relate habitat use to water quality

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Ohio River Macro-Scale Habitat Types

• Main Channel
• Typically deep and wide
• Islands and back channels

• Embayment
• shallower and not as wide
• May be bay-like

• Tributary
• Not as wide, nor typically
• as deep as the main channel

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Summary of Methods

• Signal Attenuation Experiment

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Experimental Design
1 m
3 m
6 m
9 m
1 distance measure
1 distance measure
1 distance measure
1 distance measure
Block of 4 transmitters
Block of 4 transmitters
1 distance measure
1 distance measure
1 distance measure
1 distance measure

• Replicated 4 times per trial, 2 trials
• Repeated measures AVOVA (8 transmitters)

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Measuring Distances
a2 b2 c2 where a ? Longitude b ? Latitude
Boat
c
b
a
Transmitter

• Using GPS, initial and final locations are
• recorded and distance (converted to km) is
• found using simple trigonometry.

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Summary of Methods

• Signal Attenuation Experiment
• Largemouth Bass Telemetry

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Radio Telemetry Methods Capture Methods

• Fish were captured by boat electrofishing
• (20) or through angling tournaments (19)
• and an additional 6 fish were hatchery-
• reared and released on 20 October 1998
• Low electrofishing CPUE required us to use
• tournament caught fish
• Location of capture of tournament fish
• are unknown in most cases

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Radio Telemetry Methods Transmitter Implantation

• Transmitters were surgically implanted
• LMB anesthetized with clove oil
• Fish recovery
• Tournament fish release site
• All fish appeared to have recovered from
• anesthesia before release

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Radio Telemetry Methods Searching and Public
Awareness

• Weekly Searches
• Four element Yagi antenna
• Hand-held loop antenna
• Signs posted at boat ramps
• Discussions with tournament directors
• anglers
• Word-of-mouth

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Attention Anglers Radio Tagged Bass
in the Area
Implanted Radio Tag
West Virginia University in conjunction with the
WVDNR is conducting a radio telemetry study to
assess the habitats within the Belleville Pool
that are critical to Largemouth Bass. If you
catch a bass with an implanted tag, please record
the date, location, and time and report it to
the contact listed below.
Please return catch information and/or recovered
transmitters to
Dr. Kyle Hartman 322 Percival Hall Morgantown WV
26506 [phone] x2494
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Results and Discussion Signal Attenuation

• The distance at which transmitters can be
• detected varies significantly with depth.
• Use DateDepth as the error term as it
• is out best estimate of the variance
• P 0.0020 (df 3, n 256)
• Differences between transmitters was
• significant, differences between dates
• were not.

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Tukey HSD Multiple Comparison Results

• Mean distance of detection varies
• significantly at all depths (p lt 0.05)

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Distances from Transmitters
Depth Key
Black 1 m Red 3 m Green 6 m Yellow 9 m
Location of Transmitters
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Implications for Current Research

• Detection of main channel fish more
• difficult, particularly in the lower pool
• Embayment, tributary, and main channel
• border fish may be biased for
• May explain lost and found fish
• Difficulty in determining an exact cause
• of signal loss (tag failure, mortality,
• dispersal, deep water, etc.)

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Results and Discussion Radio Telemetry Overview

• 45 fish located 469 times from August
• 1998 through June 2000 (23 months)
• Large individual differences between fish
• Importance of embayments, tributaries,
• off-channel habitats
• Importance of movement

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Acknowledgements

• Dr. Bill Thayne
• Dr. Dean Coble
• R. C. Tipton
• Scott Morrison
• Gary Batton
• Eric C. Janney
• West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
• West Virginia University