If you really want to know if the fishing is any good, Harry White explains, stick a 230-volt rod in the lake and see what floats up. For biologist White, who is, at the moment, adding up the results of his harmless shocking test at Rend Lake, letting the fish go isn't the problem. He's got too many fish. That's the quickest I've ever finished. Like all fisheries surveys, conducted every year at all major lakes throughout the state, White and his workers trolled along the shoreline in a specially rigged boat with a generator and electric shocking rods to temporarily stun fish.
Alternate testing uses nets.
The fish, unharmed, get slipped into livewells then zipped to shore for a quick inventory before being released. But as Garver continues to lift out one bass after another from the aerated tank, the results of this survey reveal something impressive is going on at Rend Lake. He adds there is a direct correlation between annual survey results when he compares the years since the lake was opened in 1972 and when stocking began. His finger is slightly higher than where it started. I'd say it's as good as it's ever been.