Lake Raven - 2024 Survey Report

Prepared by Brandon Murray and Niki Ragan-Harbison
Inland Fisheries Division
College Station/Houston District, Snook, Texas

This is the authors' summary from a 35-page report. For a copy of the complete report, use the download link in the sidebar.

Fish populations in Lake Raven were surveyed in 2024 using electrofishing and in 2025 using tandem hoop netting. Anglers were surveyed from March through May in 2025 with a roving creel survey. Historical data are presented with the 2024-2025 data for comparison. This report summarizes the results of the surveys and contains a management plan for the reservoir based on those findings.

Reservoir Description

Lake Raven is a 203-acre reservoir located in Huntsville State Park. The reservoir was repaired and re-impounded in 1956 by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for recreational use. There is no active water level recording on the reservoir, on site reports indicate multiple high-water events in 2024. Habitat features primarily consist of native floating-leaved, emergent and submersed vegetation, as well as non-native emergent and submersed vegetation.

Management History

Lake Raven has a history of producing trophy Largemouth Bass. The population was managed with a catch-and-release regulation from September 1996 until September 2018 when the regulation changed to a 16-inch maximum with a 5 fish bag limit. The regulation allows the angler to retain Largemouth Bass measuring > 24 inches for immediate weighing and subsequent release, or if weighing 13 pounds or more during Legacy-class collection season (January 1st – March 31st), donation into the Toyota ShareLunker Program. Lake Raven was included in Operation World Record (OWR) from 2006-2016, a research project designed to compare growth of selectively bred ShareLunker Largemouth Bass fingerlings to resident bass fingerlings and received preferential stocking under the program for several years. Management efforts looking at catfish reproduction in spawning barrels has been conducted, with efforts to increase the catfish population in Lake Raven.

Alligator weed, hydrilla, giant salvinia, and water hyacinth have all impeded access and degraded habitat to varying degrees at different times and have been managed with an integrated pest management plan including use of herbicides, biological control (Grass Carp, hydrilla flies, and alligator weed flea beetles), and manual removal.

Fish Community

• Prey species: Threadfin Shad, Gizzard Shad, Bluegill and Redear Sunfish were the predominant prey species in the reservoir. Although abundance of the prey species was lower than previous years, most were available as forage for predators.
  
• Catfishes: Channel Catfish were present in the reservoir but in low abundance.
  
• Largemouth Bass: Largemouth Bass were abundant with many available to anglers for harvest. Largemouth Bass had slow growth and overall adequate body condition. They were one of the most targeted species.
  
• Crappie: Black Crappie and White Crappie were present in the reservoir and harvested, legal-size fish were available to anglers.

Management Strategies

• The discontinuation of annual Lone Star Bass stockings will occur with the intention of increasing bass growth rates.
• A larger scale age & growth evaluation will be conducted on Largemouth Bass to further investigate the slow growth rates.
• Continue to control the non-native vegetation community using an integrated pest management plan, with a goal of keeping 20% total vegetative coverage in the reservoir.
• Channel Catfish will be managed as a put-grow-take fishery in the future.

Performance Report as required by Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act Texas Federal Aid Project F-221-M-2 Inland Fisheries Division Monitoring and Management Program