The Past, Present, and Future of Pymatuning Walleye

Anyone going to this?  It's a seminar in Pittsburgh this week held by Matt Wolfe.

WHY IS THIS IN PITTSBURGH ???? make to much sense to have it by the lake itself ?

You would think they would have it at the Linesville Hatchery.

i would bet that there's one whole hell-of-a-lot more people who fish pymy within 25-30 miles of pittsburgh than there are within 25-30 miles of the lake.
 
phish

It wasn't very long, but very informative.  I actually liked this Matt Wolfe guy.  He seemed liked he wasn't a fill in.  Many people asked questions, even the heckler behind me, and he had decent answers and he didn't seem to blow smoke.

He started the presentation by describing "Old Pymatuning".  Those of us who fished back in the late 80s, early 90s know exactly what he talked about.
- Population dominated by small walleye.
- It took longer for the walleye to grow because of the amount of walleye and not enough feed.
- Catching 100 fish in a day, but only catching 5 legals.

I agreed with everything he had to say about "Old Pymatuning".

He then described "New Pymatuning".
- Populated by larger, legal, older (and wiser) walleye.
- They grow faster because of limited number of walleye and an abundance of feed.
- The heavy fishing and not replacing the walleye could wipe out all walleye from the lake.

The next part of the presentation asked why this could happen.  He stated the reasons that most of us post about here on the forum.  He stated that most of the reasons they heard about, they had no control over.

- Temperature, but they have no control over it.
Matt is an Ohio guy, so he compared Mosquito Lake often.  They tracked the temperatures at Mosquito and Pymie and they are both very close.  Mosquito has a higher catch rate than Pymie, so temperature doesn't appear to be the problem.  Some guy asked him about oxygen levels, but he said it was all compared to similar measurements from Mosquito.

- Fish Community changed, but they have no control over that.
The bluegill and crappie population are booming right now, the best in years.  He mentioned that the perch are everywhere, but there are thousands of 1-2 inch perch.  This came up again later in the discussion.

- Lake Fertility decreased, again, they have no control over this.
The lake fertility is down, but it is average among other similar lakes (Mosquito Lake).  Zoo plankton is down.  Someone asked about the regulation on fertilizing crops and also sewage runoff.  There are tighter regulation on these and I guess it changed the water quality.  It's cleaner, but not neccessarily better for fish.  Go figure.....

- Obviously, fry stockings are not working.  They do have control over this.
They average 22 million fry in that lake a year, as much as 40 million fry a year.

This is when it got interesting.  He stated the obvious, fry stockings are no longer working in this lake.  Again, he compared Mosquito Lake.  They stock 2 million fry in Mosquito Lake every year, but they have a very high survival rate.  He mentioned that historically, fry have a history of not surviving in lakes at one point or another.  They have no explanation, but Pymatuning isn't the first lake this happened to.

The fingerling topic came up at this point.  He showed all kinds of charts with how many walleye were detected through a 20 year period and what the size were.  Early 90s, the chart showed several walleye, but not too many big ones.  Today's chart, it showed very big walleyes, but not many of them.

He mentioned how the walleye population steadily dropped since 2000, bottomed out in 2005 with zero walleyes detected.  In the late 80s, early 90s, they detected 2 walleyes per minute.  In 2007, they detected .07 walleye per minute.

They decided to try stocking fingerlings in Spring of 2008.  They stocked (he stressed both PA and OH are working together on this) 586,000 fingerlings (50/50 by each state) and 4 million fry.  They marked these fish, some crazy chemical that marked their gill plate or something) and here are the results.

In the fall of 2008, they caught 300 walleye.  Of those, only 3% was from the fry stocking.  Another 3% came from natural reproduction.  94% came from the fingerling stockings.

They are cautiosly excited about these results, but are not out of the woods yet.  They plan on stocking 600,000 fingerlings this Spring and continue to do so each year until the lake population is up again.

He brought up the perch population again.  He said you could fill 5 gallon buckets of 1 inch perch in seconds.  He feels these fish are eating the fry.  But, when these walleyes establish, there will be an abundance of feed in that lake for the walleye.  Which means, they will grow faster the first couple years.

But, be careful.  They are expecting a big catch of sub legal walleyes this year.  And bet your money that they will be watching what is take from the lake.

Someone asked about this.  Matt said that they do this in lakes that are naturally reproductive.  Pymatuning is a put and take lake, meaning the fish they put in are expected to be caught.

Kind of like trouts in the streams.  They are stocked to be caught, period.

Natural reproduction is down in Pymie anyway.  The bottom is no longer gravel, because of the lake aging.  This is a problem in most of the lakes in this area. 

ORIGINAL: walleyenut

Make sure you give him you're input, like raising the legal length to 18 and 3 fish per day. If people would limit their catches the lake would come back strong. 

Thanks for posting that Billy35Litt, that sounds similar to what Woomer and Johns were saying at the MMA meeting.  The population has started to make a slight comeback from the stocking this year, which were detected by the dye they used for tracking.  Hopefully they'll watch the places that are known for violations and keep an eye on what's leaving the lake.  Did anyone ever mention a higher size limit (18")?  I know I mentioned a slot limit and Woomer said that's for management of a specific size.  And I thought well isn't that the point, get all of the fish under that size protected??  Thanks again.

That's why it's their job and not mine ;)

The birds in question were comorants.  They aren't much of a problem if they are passing by, but if they start to colonize and claim Pymie Lake as their home, it could turn into a problem. 

That was my interpretation at the seminar.

Billy,
 
Thanks for all the info, and you have one good memory!

Thanks for the report Billy. I can still remember in the early 90's that I couldn't get more than 3 tip ups in without a flag. I hope the lake returns to its former glory. 

Billy, Thanks for the Great report. I was interested buy didn't go to the Show.

An interesting read. I attended a Outdoor Show in Pittsburgh in 2009. I read this again and it's spot on with what is happening right now. Pretty cool stuff.

ORIGINAL: Billy35Litt

It wasn't very long, but very informative.  I actually liked this Matt Wolfe guy.  He seemed liked he wasn't a fill in.  Many people asked questions, even the heckler behind me, and he had decent answers and he didn't seem to blow smoke.

He started the presentation by describing "Old Pymatuning".  Those of us who fished back in the late 80s, early 90s know exactly what he talked about.
- Population dominated by small walleye.
- It took longer for the walleye to grow because of the amount of walleye and not enough feed.
- Catching 100 fish in a day, but only catching 5 legals.

I agreed with everything he had to say about "Old Pymatuning".

He then described "New Pymatuning".
- Populated by larger, legal, older (and wiser) walleye.
- They grow faster because of limited number of walleye and an abundance of feed.
- The heavy fishing and not replacing the walleye could wipe out all walleye from the lake.

The next part of the presentation asked why this could happen.  He stated the reasons that most of us post about here on the forum.  He stated that most of the reasons they heard about, they had no control over.

- Temperature, but they have no control over it.
Matt is an Ohio guy, so he compared Mosquito Lake often.  They tracked the temperatures at Mosquito and Pymie and they are both very close.  Mosquito has a higher catch rate than Pymie, so temperature doesn't appear to be the problem.  Some guy asked him about oxygen levels, but he said it was all compared to similar measurements from Mosquito.

- Fish Community changed, but they have no control over that.
The bluegill and crappie population are booming right now, the best in years.  He mentioned that the perch are everywhere, but there are thousands of 1-2 inch perch.  This came up again later in the discussion.

- Lake Fertility decreased, again, they have no control over this.
The lake fertility is down, but it is average among other similar lakes (Mosquito Lake).  Zoo plankton is down.  Someone asked about the regulation on fertilizing crops and also sewage runoff.  There are tighter regulation on these and I guess it changed the water quality.  It's cleaner, but not neccessarily better for fish.  Go figure.....

- Obviously, fry stockings are not working.  They do have control over this.
They average 22 million fry in that lake a year, as much as 40 million fry a year.

This is when it got interesting.  He stated the obvious, fry stockings are no longer working in this lake.  Again, he compared Mosquito Lake.  They stock 2 million fry in Mosquito Lake every year, but they have a very high survival rate.  He mentioned that historically, fry have a history of not surviving in lakes at one point or another.  They have no explanation, but Pymatuning isn't the first lake this happened to.

The fingerling topic came up at this point.  He showed all kinds of charts with how many walleye were detected through a 20 year period and what the size were.  Early 90s, the chart showed several walleye, but not too many big ones.  Today's chart, it showed very big walleyes, but not many of them.

He mentioned how the walleye population steadily dropped since 2000, bottomed out in 2005 with zero walleyes detected.  In the late 80s, early 90s, they detected 2 walleyes per minute.  In 2007, they detected .07 walleye per minute.

They decided to try stocking fingerlings in Spring of 2008.  They stocked (he stressed both PA and OH are working together on this) 586,000 fingerlings (50/50 by each state) and 4 million fry.  They marked these fish, some crazy chemical that marked their gill plate or something) and here are the results.

In the fall of 2008, they caught 300 walleye.  Of those, only 3% was from the fry stocking.  Another 3% came from natural reproduction.  94% came from the fingerling stockings.

They are cautiosly excited about these results, but are not out of the woods yet.  They plan on stocking 600,000 fingerlings this Spring and continue to do so each year until the lake population is up again.

He brought up the perch population again.  He said you could fill 5 gallon buckets of 1 inch perch in seconds.  He feels these fish are eating the fry.  But, when these walleyes establish, there will be an abundance of feed in that lake for the walleye.  Which means, they will grow faster the first couple years.

But, be careful.  They are expecting a big catch of sub legal walleyes this year.  And bet your money that they will be watching what is take from the lake.

yep

whatever