The reservoir, also known as Raccoon Lake or Mansfield Reservoir, is located in Parke County, approximately seven miles east of Rockville, Indiana. Gizzard shad has predominantly been the most abundant species in Harden Reservoir since the early 1960's. The first management practices at the lake focused on trying to decrease the gizzard shad population. Emphasis later shifted towards utilizing the shad to provide more diverse and increased numbers of angling opportunities for predators. The latter has been accomplished through predator stockings and fishing regulations.
Striped bass is an open-water species that prefers to feed upon shad.
Other than in 1996 when Harden received a double stocking, striped bass have been stocked at therate of 10 fingerlings per acre. 20,700 10.0 1.96 Back to text Fall evaluations of striper stockings have been conducted every year since 1994, except for 1996. Therefore, in 1998, it was recommended that future stockings be divided between the RSRA ramp and Hollandsburg ramp to aid dispersal. The present survey was conducted to evaluate the success of the 1999 striper stocking and survival of older stripers at Harden Reservoir. In addition, walleye were collected to assess natural reproduction in the lake since stockings of them were discontinued after 1996.