Because this is an issue that I am very interested in, but I don't want to hijack the "City Lakes" thread.

The four things I would like to see on the DNR Lake Information reports.
1. An indication of the sampling effort for each lake. Maybe a little paragraph or chart showing how many net lifts were used in the survey. Right now the only way to get some idea of that is to calculate it yourself based on the total fish caught and the average per net. But, this doesn't work if you have one species caught in both types of nets.

2. I would like to see electro shocking sampling integrated into the regular report when ever possible. Sometimes I have read reports that discuss shocking surveys in the "Status of Fishery" section, but this information is usually hard to interpret in paragraph form. I also understand that electro shocking and netting survey are not always done at the same time and that its not done on every lake. But I think adding a shocking specific chart similar to the "Fish Sampled" chart would be very useful when it was available.

3. I would like to see narrower size classes on the "lengths" chart. Some of the size classes could be redistributed particularly the 6" to 8" and 15" to 19" groups. I would rather see 0" to 7" and then 7" and above, since 7" is the usually minimum size of panfish that I keep (and I assume some other people follow this rule as well.) The 15" and 19" size class is also too broad in my experience. To me the difference between a 15" bass, walleye (or anything else really) and a 19" fish is huge. A 15" bass is average, a 19" is a personal trophy. So when I go to a lake with good numbers of fish in the 15" to 19" range I don't know if I will be fishing for eaters or trophies.

4. In the "Status of Fisheries" section it would be nice if the managers could mention future plans and goals for the lake. It would be nice to have a little insight into what the DNR is planning on doing with our favorite lakes. Some additional transparency might also help for average fisherman to understand and accept the DNR's management actions.

Corey,
Thanks for the opportunity to contribute. I hope my feed back is useful and that I am not just being a pain. Most of the time I feel that the lake surveys are an incredible resource and I use them all the time, so I really feel like the things I mentioned are quite small when compared to how great they already are.

I second all of that. I often wonder how the surveys are conducted, and a quick report on how the sampling was done (if available) would be great info.

Electro shocking data would also be a good addition, since a lot of fish don't sample well in nets, even though they may be there in good numbers. Catfish, for example.

I would also love to see length data for all fish, not just "game" fish. I'm sure others here will concur.

I have found the Lake Finder to be one of the most useful tools available to me. I recommend it to everyone. I take a map to every lake I fish, when I can. I love it, and am grateful for the chance to give my two cents.

While sitting here at work today, trying to look busy, I started looking through the Lake Finder to see if any of my favorite lakes have been updated. Lo and behold, there was an update for Nokomis... and there was length data available for all species surveyed in trapnets and gillnets!

Sure, it's cool to know how many walleyes fell into the 20-24" range, but even cooler to know that 14 white suckers were sampled between 15 and 19"!

That's awesome... Thanks!