Although the current survey confirmed that the numbers of legal bass are still low (only 4 percent of bass are above 14 inches), the actual number of bass in the lake is high. According to Rod Edgell, the DNR's assistant fisheries biologist for District 4, this lake can still provide plenty of action for bass anglers.

"Carr Lake may be our best lake in terms of numbers," he said. "Carr Lake appears to have a large population of largemouth bass, but with a relatively small percentage of larger fish."

Bass fishermen who are interested in a lot of action can do well at Carr. Although most of the fish will be less than the legal limit of 14 inches, catch-and-release fishing should be very good. According to Edgell's survey data, a remarkable 283 bass were sampled in one hour of electrofishing in 2008. That's not bad!

In the previous general lake survey performed at Carr in 2006, largemouth bass actually ranked No. 1 by weight, which corresponds to the current information pointing to a large population of bass that are less than 14 inches. Not all of the bass here are small, though. In the 2008 survey, largemouth bass up to 18.2 inches long were recorded.

Carr Lake has a public access area on the northwest corner of the lake, but parking is somewhat limited. That is usually not a problem, though, since angler use is fairly low here.

PALESTINE LAKE
Also located in Kosciusko County, Palestine Lake is a sprawling, shallow body of water that covers a total of 290 acres. It is actually a pretty interesting lake, with two deep basins that were individual lakes before the dam was constructed and the surrounding area flooded. The two deep basins have a maximum depth of 31 feet (western) and 21 feet (eastern), respectively. The resulting larger lake has an average depth of 4 feet, and there are numerous points and small bays located all around the lake.

One of the downsides of the shallow water is that the lake is susceptible to summer and winter fish kills. Weed growth can also be excessive here, and during the hot summer months, there are often large algae blooms. Even so, the largemouth bass population is doing well at Palestine Lake.

Biologist Rod Edgell also performed a lake survey here in early June 2008 in an effort to determine the effects of a summer fish kill at the lake in 2007. High temperatures, low oxygen levels and a large algae bloom during the summer was the cause of this most recent fish kill. The last documented fish kill before 2007 was in 1999.

Luckily, the survey showed that the fish kill that took place in 2007 was relatively minor. "Despite the summer fish kill last year, Palestine still contains a good number of big bass," Edgell said. "Although our electrofishing catch rate of largemouth bass was lower this year than in the past, the lake still has good numbers of legal bass."

In fact, fully 49 percent of the bass sampled were greater than the 14-inch minimum size limit. The previous lake survey performed at Palestine Lake was completed in the spring of 2006.