Texas Game and Fish, Volume 14, Number 4, April 1956 Page: 4
32 p. : col. ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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Redfis
IN
Many salt-water fish will live in fresh water. In fact, some grow
faster and larger when transplanted. Now the Game and Fish Com-
mission is experimenting to see if two exciting marine gamesters
man be established in inland lakes.
By LEO D. LEWIS and WALTER W. DALQUEST, Aquatic BiologistsTEXAS
An exciting experiment is under way .n north-cen-
tral Texas. IE it is successfu-, the future :f fishing in
some inland lakes and reservoirs may be profoundly
affected. Two kinds of -e Texas coast's most popular
salt-water game fishes, the redfish (Scianops ocellata),
sometimes called channeL bass, and the speckled sea
trout (Cynoscion nebulosus), also called spotted weak-
fish, have been introduceC into Lake Kemp.
Lake Kemp is an artif cial lake formed in 1923 by
a dam across the Big Wichi-a River in Baylor County
about 50 miles west of Wichita Falls. The resultant
impoundment measures abc-1 twenty by eight miles
at spillway level and contains approximately 560,000
acre feet of water.
For a number of vea- the lake furni-hed splendid
fishing, but eventually i: flowed the pa-tern of other
impoundment lakes. The natural fertility of the lake
Typical shoreline of Lake Kemp, ,ear Wichita Falls, new home of
the salt-waler fist, left. The surrcinding area contains a great dealbecame depleted, and the rough fish population, prin-
cipally gizzard shad and river carpsuckers, increased
to such an extent that the game fish population was
"squeezed out."
Moreover the headwaters of the Big Wichita River
lie in the soft rocks of the Blain Formation, which
contain large amounts of sodium chloride (table salt)
and calcium sulfate (gypsum). In drouth years these
salts were not diluted by rainfall, and built up in the
lake until the waters were far too salty for human
consumption. The natural salts were augmented by
salt from oil well pollution, and it was questioned
whether the lake was suitable for range cattle or irri-
gation. Game fishes were injured and sometimes killed
by the heavy salt concentrations, and the more resist-
ant rough fishes were favored in their competition
with the game species. A detailed study of the fishof salt and has built up salinity in the lake's water. If salt-water
species fare well here, they may be -ried in fresher waters.TEXAS GAME AND FISH
W
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Texas. Game and Fish Commission. Texas Game and Fish, Volume 14, Number 4, April 1956, periodical, April 1956; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1543928/m1/6/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.