AFTON – Three Mile Lake is currently being drawn down in order to assess water-quality issues and improve fishing quality.
With the Labor Day holiday weekend here, Union County Conservation Officer Corey Carlton reminds boaters who will be on the lake to be cautious.
“We’re probably about 4 feet, 4 1/2 feet down, as of right now,” Carlton said. “Fishing structures and trees could potentially pop up. We really want to push guys to pay attention. A big concern of ours is Labor Day weekend. We’re going to have a lot of activity on the lake. If you’re going to be out there, we’re not closing it down by any means, but pay attention because conditions are changing.”
According to Natural Resources Biologist Andy Jansen, the lake will be down 17 feet from normal pool later this month.
“The overall goal is to improve the water quality and sport-fish quality,” Jansen said. “Water quality has been declining. The sport-fish community has changed, so we’re seeing less participation by anglers. We’re trying to get it back to where it was when it was really booming in the early 2000s.”
Fish renovation
The second step of the Three Mile Lake project is to renovate the fish population in the lake.
Currently, Three Mile Lake has a high abundance of yellow bass and common carp.
In order to combat that issue, Jansen said a chemical will be applied to the lake to eradicate all fish species. The lake is being drawn down to decrease the amount of chemical needed to accomplish that goal.
Then, sometime in October, the lake will start being restocked.
Jansen said blue gill fingerlings and walleye fingerlings will be added into the lake beginning sometime in October. The blue gill fingerlings are currently being raised at the Mount Ayr Fish Hatchery.
Blue catfish fingerlings, a new species for Three Mile Lake, will also be added in this fall.
Next spring, largemouth bass and walleye fry will be added into the lake.
“(We will) kind of start the process of getting game fish currently in the lake restocked in the lake,” Jansen said. “I will say it will probably take two years before we have good bluegill and bass fishing back at Three Mile.”
Jansen encourages anglers and boaters to take advantage of other lakes in the area while the lake is being lowered and the fish renovation project is taking place.
“There are other opportunities close by for angling,” he said. “Green Valley and Lake Icaria you can recreational boat and Twelve Mile Lake has a really good fish population right now. Alternatives are out there while we’re doing the Three Mile project.”
Water shed
The first part of the project being done at Three Mile Lake is doing a water shed assessment.
Jansen said he and partners from the Natural Resource Conservation Service will look at land use in the area and how it has changed.
“(We will) look for areas that could have high probability of erosion and identify some conservation practices like cover crops and terraces that can be implemented on those areas and reduce soil loss into the water shed.”
That process was recently started.
“There was an assessment done when the lake was built in the ‘90s,” Jansen said. “We want to go back and see what kind of changes need to be made.”