Thursday, May 07, 2015

video - Boatloads of bass dropped into Elephant Butte Lake

Thousands of fish have been moved from a fish farm in Ada, Oklahoma, and were carefully dropped into Elephant Butte Lake Wednesday morning. This first re-stocking in years is designed to help bring the lake back to its glory years with 20,000 large mouth bass moved to the Butte. “I’m a fisherman. I like to catch whatever bites,” said Ken Swaim, an avid angler. “I’ve been fishing this lake since 1980,” he said, as KRQE News 13 rode along on his boat, as he helped drop 400 black bass out of the 20,000 black bass that were purchased to go into the Butte. “We’re going to come into this little pocket. We’ve seen bass spawning in here,” he said. The fish were transported in plastic bags. “Oh baby, I see them, headed to the bottom,” he noted. “We put the water they came in with the lake water, and gave them a few minutes to acclimate to that, and gradually as they acclimate, more and more you just gradually turn them loose and they just took off,” he said. “When that lake dropped, it’s changed the fishing,” Swaim noted, referring to lake levels. Ron Gilworth, an avid angler, said, “Those fish cost a dollar and a nickel a piece.” He said a community donation effort raised $21,000 in only two months. The Elephant Butte Lake Fish Fund originated with an anonymous donation of $10,000, according to New Mexico State Parks. “The turnout this morning was so unbelievable,” Gilworth said, indicating about 40 boats went out on the water to release the fish...more

Here's the KRQE report:

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