Meeboer Lakes Have Healthy Trout Thanks to Aerator System

The Laramie Region fisheries biologists have found the perfect recipe for big trout at Meeboer Lakes

The electrical aerator system which was installed in 2013 to address winterkill allowed more fish to survive, however, they were smaller than average. Yet recent reductions in the number of fish stocked each year have trout once again thriving in Meeboer Lake.

Traditionally, 25,000 six-to-seven-inch rainbow trout were stocked in Meeboer each spring, and by September they grow into 16-inch fish. Meeboer has long suffered winterkills, which reduce the trout population. Winterkill occurs when fish suffocate from lack of dissolved oxygen, caused when sunlight cannot reach the aquatic plants growing in the water. When oxygen depletion becomes severe enough, fish die.

The aeration system was doing its job and helping more fish survive the winter, but then the lake ended up with too many fish surviving annually. From 2014-2017 the catch rate was .1 trout per hour. By 2018, it was 3.5 trout per hour, indicating a significant increase in the abundance of trout in the lake.