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. 

The presentation showed numbers on this as well.  Most of the fisherman at Pymatuning are from PA and are 70+ miles away.

Pittsburgh is 90 miles away.  My house is 76 miles away.

ORIGINAL: phishfearme

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

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.

ORIGINAL: dealinsteel
Did anyone ever mention a higher size limit (18")?

Some mentioned slotting.  It was towards the end of the presentation, so it was hard to follow with all the noise.  What I got was slotting the size doesn't really matter because they stock it every year and if you increase the size, you will have a log jam at certain sizes.

If you fished in the early 90s, remember all the small walleyes being caught?  If they increase the size limit, it would take even longer to catch a legal.

They determined 15 inches was a good size to keep the fish moving out of the lake to make room for the next stockings.

As long as they keep pumping fish into this lake and they live slotting won't improve it anymore than stocking it each year would.

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

Nice report on what is taking place.  I also suggest to watch out for the officers.  I am a little closer, I llve 75 miles from the launch at Manning.
 

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.

Thanks for taking the time to share that with us. Its always interesting to hear what is really going on.

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

ORIGINAL: mikeg
you have one good memory!

I wish.  I took notes because my dad wasn't able to make it.  I figured I'd share it on here because there seems to be a lot of people who think they have all the answers.

We should all sit back and pay more attention to the people who run the lake, instead thinking we run the lake just because we are able to throw a line in it once in a while.