The bass problem in the Beaver Lakes system is apparently still acute.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is still working on eradication, but has not been successful to date.
The Horsefly River Roundtable has not received an up-to-date report recently.
The last report I heard is that only the one bass had ever been seen in Big Lake, but this was last year’s information.
For those who are unaware of the damage these bass can do, they will ultimately wipe out all other species of fish in the Beaver Lakes including trout, burbot, chub, and squaw fish.
Some people fear they might escape to the Quesnel River and somehow into Quesnel lake, and wipe out everything.
Bass prefer warmer water, so this is unlikely to happen; however, the whole problem would never have occurred had someone not transported bass from somewhere else to the Beaver Lake system in the first place.
The next time the roundtable gets a report from DFO, I will ask how much money has been spent to date on the eradication program, and pass this information on. If you catch a bass in the Beaver Lakes please do the right thing and report it to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.