Week 4: Milfoil Galore

June 12, Monday:

Monday consisted of yet another day of data collection. However, we were met with an unpleasant surprise. In all of the areas where we expected Milfoil beds, the plants had grown to nearly reach the surface. Although we were not shocked to see large amounts of Milfoil in these locations, the rapid growth to near surface levels was concerning. After only a few days of very warm weather, the water temperature of Candlewood Lake had risen to 74 degrees, therefore enabling the plants to undergo rapid ascension towards the surface. Although the initial growth of the Milfoil seems to have been stunted by the colder than normal weather of May and early June, it unfortunately does not seem as though it has lessened the overall population of Milfoil. We are hoping that with the addition of ~5,000 more Triploid Grass Carp, these large Milfoil beds will not spread and will be reduced throughout the summer and next year.

On Monday, Luke and I worked to sample sites in Danbury and Echo Bay a second time. We again saw favorable results in terms of the number of grass carp present in Danbury Bay. Fish were also clustered in the Milfoil beds now visible around the central island in Danbury Bay and in coves around the Danbury Arm. This suggests that the carp program is working, as the fish tend to be located in the Milfoil beds.

As of today, we have also started to record the temperature and weather of each day we sample the lake. This information will be vital in determining if there are any trends between fish activity and the temperature or weather conditions.

Special thanks to Scott for helping us sample today!

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June 14th, Wednesday:

Today marked the first day of sampling in which we were relatively unsuccessful in regards to finding fish. We sampled the New Milford Arm of the lake in addition to the inlet behind Candlewood Isle and across from Echo Bay. Despite the fact that we were unable to find many many fish, this data was not surprising. Due to where the fish were originally released, both areas that we sampled today held the lowest possibility for finding any of our 50 carp.

Additionally, today was the first day in which we saw fairly significant boat traffic out on the lake during the week, a result of the beautiful weather. Therefore we have formed a hypothesis that the number of fish seen is negatively correlated to the amount of boat traffic on Candlewood Lake. As we continue our sampling, we will also collect data on the number and types of boats seen while in the region of each sampling site in order to test this hypothesis.

Special thanks to Alan and Noreen for helping us sample today!

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June 16th, Friday:

As our last day of sampling for the week, we collected data from the Sherman Arm of the lake for the second time. We hope to complete an entire data set of the Lake at least twice before Forth of July weekend, as we assume that the amount of boat activity during the holiday weekend will scatter the carp.

In regards to sampling, we saw a total of 12 individual carp in the Sherman Arm, a much better number considering the lack of fish seen on Wednesday. While we saw a lot of fish that were previously seen the last time we collected data from the Sherman Arm, we had an exciting find in Shelter Cove, the cove that the New Fairfield Board of Selectmen wanted to add chemicals to. In this cove, we not only heard the signals of the three fish that had been in the cove last time, but the signal of one fish that had not been heard since its original release in 2015. This made for a total of 4 fish found in the cove's large Milfoil beds, which is very positive indeed in light of recent decisions made by the Town of New Fairfield.

Special thanks to Alan for helping us sample today!