Lake Wilhelm Shad Problem

Just wondering about others obseravtions/ fishing results concerning Lake Wilhelm in 2011. I have never seen any comments about how Wilhelm fishing has gone down the tubes, My report is 2011 not good, 2010 good but not what it was. 2009 was the last real good year for me at wilhelm for bass and walleyes. Torunament results for 2011 where poor compared to years past, the water clarity is 6 to 8 inches at best the weeds are virtully gone as compared to a few years back where they grew down to 5 to 7 feet now they can only grow along the shore in 1 ft of water or less, 6ft deep weed lines are gone. Bass catch rates are lousy compared to years past when it was typical to catch 10 to 20 bass in a mourning's outing. The most I caught this year in a morning was 8 bass typical was 2 to 4 bass in june, & july when you would normally had your 10 plus fish mournings. Evening Fishing for bass was even worse. The number of boats fishing twindled through the year. The pa Fish commission elecrto shocking numbers where down comparing 2004 vs 2010. The walleys catch rates from this lake are way down in 2011 based on the guys I know who fish it all the time and have for years.
The fishing was so bad for bass and walleyes That I stopped going there and hit the other nearby lakes.
I called AL Woomer biologist for NW PA he said that the shad are the problem and cause the water clarity being 6 inches, the lack of weeds, the catch rate etc. He did not say what the solution may be. Also he noted that the shad will out compete the desired young gamefish and panfish for food based on sheer numbers of shad in the system.
I also asked him about the Pa fish commission killing weeds in the lake as popular rumor has it Al said it is not true the lack of sunlight penetration has done that because of the great number shad eating the stuff that eats the stuff that clouds the water. ( that is my oversimlified explaniation of What Al told me over the phone)

post your wilhelm results and comments here also call the PA Fish commission ask if they would be able to do something like other states have done to rid lakes of gizzard shad. I personally love fishing this lake and hate to see it develop into a brown colored shad and carp hole and no offense to carp fisherman as I also fish for them.

Wilhelm used to be the number one lake I would hit for crappie, gills, and walleye. 10 years ago you couldn't beat it for numbers of nice crappie. The last 3-4 years it took a nose dive. The last few times I fished it I didn't catch any crappie over 8" and most were smaller than that. I fished it a few times in 2009, maybe once last year, and none this year. I really liked the lake and I hope they can get this reversed.

Sounds like they need to stock some wipers.

Some of the shad in there that die off in the early spring are bigger than the wipers!

You can't catch them on hook and line and you aren't "allowed" to cast net them in Wilhelm, as far as I know. Maybe they should open up Wilhelm to cast nets w/o the need to buy a permit. In the summer, you can see the clouds of shad and could fill up 5 gallon buckets with just a couple throws. Would be worth it for the locals just for the free fertilizer.

I only fished it once this year (grew up fishing here with my pap and its where I learned to fish) and I don't even make any special trips up there anymore; just a weekend or two throughout the summer to take the kids to my parent's camp.

yea i fished it as a kid for pike, but have given up on it over the years

Sweet. Should improve panfish populations over time.

I would post my comments and concerns about wilhelm but...

are they a different kind of shad then is in pymy and shenango? ... 

There are two main factors affecting Wilhelm right now. One is an invasive species of weeds hydrofoil. It is extremely dense but only grows about 18 to 24 inches from the bottom up. The weeds will grow out to about 6 feet deep depending on the light penetration. These weeds only use about 1/3 of the water column once you get to 5-6 feet so there is relatively little cover when compared to native weeds. This exposes fry and smaller to predation ultimately reducing their populations. The lakes turbity will also increase due to the reduction in total weed growth.

The second is the shad population exploding. This is common when a new species is first introduced to a body of water. While the populations are extremely high many of the game fish feeding on them will usually be in a neutral or negative feeding mood because they are feeding so well. In a few years the shad population should fall and fishing should pick up as the amount of feed diminishes. Most likely gamefish populations are not actually falling "except for the crappie" which do not well with high gizzard shad populations due the larger shad feeding on the Crappie fry.

sounds like its the reason...

but i see a ton of shad in other lakes too so idk.

wipers might be an answer they dont reproduce...

Put a few more muskies in , bait eating machines that live a long time.

ORIGINAL: JEB

ORIGINAL: SmMouthSeeker

ORIGINAL: bronzeback2

Sounds like they need to stock some wipers.

Do what the game commission did for the Pheasants. Close the season on wipers for 10 years to let them populate. 

SMS: FYI: Wipers are stertile as all hybrids are. Thats why they can be a good experimental species to stock. If they do not produce the desired outcome, they will eventaully just die off.

Thank you, I didn't know that.

 



SMS: FYI: Wipers are sterile as all hybrids are. Thats why they can be a good experimental species to stock. If they do not produce the desired outcome, they will eventaully just die off.

 
Excellent point JEB . At times I don't write/ mention the obvious , thinking that " everybody knows that " . I should have written that most times introducing a foreign species doesn't work because ... and then should have continued with wipers and hybrids . Another good reason why writers should critically proof read their composition ! Thanks for the clarification !  

Muskies eat very few Shad. They prefer Carp and Suckers over most other species. These babies love Shad and lots of them!

Yep got me thinking spring too and I'll second making them the new trout, stamp and all. Just wish there was more places with them.