Fishermen at Clinton Lake don’t need to be told the Douglas County impoundment isn’t a hotbed for largemouth bass. They discover soon enough the lake has few bass that qualify for harvest under the state’s 18-inch length limit.

No single factor contributes to the problem, but the lack of aquatic vegetation beneficial for young largemouth bass doesn’t help.

“Unfortunately, little of this cover is present at Clinton,” Richard Sanders, area W&P fisheries biologist, said.

Sanders says he has experimented with several varieties, including water lilies, lotus, various pondweeds and waterwillow. Most failed to establish.

“Waterwillow showed the most promise,” Sanders said. “It pioneered into new areas during the second growing season, but high water levels in 1992 and 1993 almost completely eradicated it.”

Waterwillow has been successfully established in reservoirs with fairly stable water levels such as El Dorado, Hillsdale and some Missouri reservoirs. At Clinton, the species has survived at one location for about 12 years and at two others for about three years.

Still, according to Sanders, stands of waterwillow are very sparse and much improvement is necessary before it will afford significant cover for young bass.

In October of 2002, Sanders started a program designed to remove roughfish and improve food-chain dynamics.

One species targeted was the bigmouth buffalo, a large, long-lived roughfish that had become common at Clinton.

“Removal of enough buffalo may increase levels of zooplankton available for sportfish and shad,” Sanders said. “Many zooplankton species feed on phytoplankton, a single-celled plant that makes lake water appear slightly green.”

The aim, he said, is to improve Clinton’s water clarity.

“Food chain and water clarity improvements should improve conditions for a variety of sportfish,” Sanders said, “including sight-feeding predators such as largemouth bass.”

Stocking should also improve the Clinton fishery. Wiper were introduced last year while sauger and blue catfish introductory stockings are planned for this year.

“These species were chosen to take advantage of any habitat improvement that may occur due to roughfish removal,” Sanders said. “These three species also have had a history of success in Kansas waters.”

Sauger do not flush out of reservoirs as easily as walleye and have maintained populations at Melvern and Perry with relatively low numbers of stocked fish. On the flip side, sauger do not grow as large as walleye.

“Maintenance stockings of walleye will continue, while sauger are evaluated,” Sanders said.

Largemouth and smallmouth bass stockings are not currently planned for Clinton, he said, because supplemental stockings of both species in the past ultimately did not improve black bass populations.