Fish Project at ODC Nature Preserve

The fish project at the Outdoor Discovery Center Nature Preserve near Holland, MI was started in the summer of 2009 with the goal of learning about the population dynamics of fish species in five ponds at ODC. Each year, Hope College students and friends have tagged a number of fish, and each year we recapture some fish that were tagged in a previous year. Using this information, we can determine growth rates of individual fish to determine how growth responds to environmental changes, to population density, or to the presence or absence of fish predators. We can track changes in fish population sizes and the relative abundance of each fish species. This information allows us to explore the relationships among these variables, including how fish respond to environmental changes and how they respond to predation from other fishes.

Please include information on both tagged and non-tagged fish; we tag only individuals greater than 15 cm in length, but we desire population information on all fish, including the young ones.

All measurement information is valuable, but optional. If you don't have rulers or scales, no problem. The most important items are species, pond identification (A,B,C, D or E), whether or not the fish is tagged, and if it has a tag, please provide the correct number.

Please use our guide on inaturalist: "Fish at the Outdoor Discovery Center Nature Preserve" to identify species. You are most likely to catch: Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides), Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus), Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus), or a hybrid of the Lepomis fishes. Hybrids are common, and very hard to identify, so you can enter the species as Lepomis and inaturalist will accept this. You may also catch an occasional catfish (Channel Catfish, Brown Bullhead, Yellow Bullhead or Black Bullhead) or a "bait fish" (e.g. Golden Shiner). less ↑