Refuge Operations Specialist Steve Van Riper displays a white bass collected in DeSoto Lake. FWS photo.

During the last week of September Brian Elkington and Adam McDaniel from the Columbia National Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (NFWCO), along with staff from DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), and Iowa Department of Natural Resources teamed up to sample DeSoto Lake in Missouri Valley, Iowa.  Two volunteers from the Fish and Wildlife Program at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln also came out to lend a hand.  Sampling was completed as part of a long-term monitoring and management program started in the 1970’s.  The 3 day sampling consisted of 32 fyke net samples.  The fish species most abundantly sampled were white bass, bluegill, and black crappie.  The data we collected will be analyzed and incorporated into the annual DeSoto Lake Management Plan.  Our team of inter-jurisdictional biologists can then make management decisions to help improve DeSoto Lake recreational fishing.