An Assessment of the Warmwater Fish Community in Rowland Lake, September 1999

Rowland Lake is an 87â€"acre water body located east of the town of White Salmon along the Columbia River in Klickitat County. State Highway 14 bisects the lake into a northern portion (34 acres) and a southern portion (53 acres). The northern portion of Rowland Lake was surveyed by a threeâ€"person crew on October 11 and 12, 1999. Multiple gear types were utilized to reduce bias associated with each sampling method. Numerically, largemouth bass and bluegill were the most abundant at 14.3 and 65.5%, respectively. However, bluegill and yellow bullhead comprised 62.5% of the biomass in the lake (40.1 and 20.4%, respectively). Judging from our results, Rowland Lake provides little angling opportunity for warmwater gamefish. Based on stock density indices, larger warmwater gamefish are few in number or nonexistent. According to length frequency distribution, it appears that yellow bullhead provide the best opportunity to catch stock and quality size fish. American shad were sampled from Rowland Lake which suggests that the culvert between the southern portion of the lake and the Columbia River allows for migration of fish. Before any management decisions are made we recommend that the southern portion of the lake receive a survey. Since no boat ramp exists, a method of launching a boat will have to be investigated. We recommend that the culvert between the southern portion of the lake and the Columbia River be investigated to determine if isolation from the river is feasible. Finally, we recommend that the yellow bullhead fishery receive some promotion for those anglers who fish for catfish.