An Assessment of the Warmwater Fish Community in Kapowsin Lake (Pierce County), September 1999

Kapowsin Lake was surveyed by a threeâ€"person crew from September 7-9, 1999. Multiple gear types (electrofishing, gill nets, and trap nets) were utilized to reduce the sampling bias associated with each sampling method. Largemouth bass and bluegill were the most abundant species sampled both numerically (32.6 and 42.5 percent, respectively) and by biomass (39.4 and 26.3 percent, respectively). Other species sampled during the survey, in order of highest to lowest abundance, include: yellow perch; rock bass; pumpkinseed; black crappie; brown bullhead; and coho. Few largemouth bass of quality size and greater were encountered during the survey. Similar to bass, few bluegill of quality size and greater were sampled from the lake. Our recommendation is to resurvey Kapowsin Lake in the spring to obtain a truer account of size structure. Additionally, a creel survey is recommended to assess angler preference, pressure, and harvest on Kapowsin Lake.