Seining

Managing an established pond or lake for a sport fishery should begin with a comprehensive fish survey, especially when little is known about what fish, insects, amphibians, and other living creatures might be living in the body of water. When doing a survey the species, size, weight, and any other desired details are recorded for each fish or other life form that is collected.

There are several methods of surveying that may be implemented though each method has a bias. Because of this bias Aquatic Biologists, Inc. recommends including at least two of the four common survey techniques in your fish survey: electro-fish survey, a seine survey, fyke netting, or a hook and line survey.

Seining is done in water less than 12 feet in depth. Seining works well when aquatic plants and algae are not at nuisance levels.  Bottom structures, stumps, and large rocks may interfere with the success of seining. A sandy beach with a gradual slope works best for the staging area when conducting seining. 

The seining method uses a large net on two poles (one pole on each side of the net). Seines are typically pulled from the shoreline with a boat in a circular quadrant area, though this is dependant on several factors including but not limited to: location, bottom type, substrate, and targeted fish species.

Aquatic Biologists Inc. utilizes many different seines for sampling fish.  They may include a small 100 foot seine with a 12 foot depth to our 200 foot seine that can fish down to a depth of 22 feet.  Most often we use multiple seines and use one seine as a barrier or wall to further improve the success of our seining.

Seining can be very labor intensive as it takes a fair amount of muscle to drag and pull a large seine through the water.  Often times, when the staging area allows, we may use a four wheeler in addition to our boats to manipulate the seine.  Our larger seines require a minimum of six people to work the seine.  We request at least four of Aquatic Biologists staff to be present when seining. 

Seining is normally scheduled for 4-8 hours on site depending on the size of the lake or pond.  Multiple draws occur during that timeframe.  We always encourage participation by property owners.

Options: (Subject to additional fees)
Detailed Written Report with Fishery Management Recommendations
Fish Scale Collection and Aging
Fish Tagging With I.D. Numbers For Future Monitoring and Studies