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. 

"a lot of people who think they have all the answers"
 
Really? You think so? [insert sarcasum here]

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

Well I hope they figure out something on that lake. I fished from 10 am till dark yesterday and caught a few dink perch.  The only place I have any success with walleye this year is Kinzua, guess I will spend my time up there.

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.

Thanks for digging it back up. Sure seems to be spot on....which bodes well for Pymy's future.

yep

This report shows just exactly what has happened to the lake, if they continue to stock massive amounts of fry they will be eaten. I'm glad they finally admitted to their mistake of putting the alwives in the lake but its too late to get rid of them so only good sized fingerlings will survive now.

Post-Gazette report:

Anglers may soon be looking at a very different fishery at Pymatuning State Park.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission biologist Craig Billingsley said an alewife explosion in the 17,000 acre Pymatuning Lake is creating such a shortage of emerging "keepers," he may recommend new walleye regulations or resort to stocking species that fare better with alewife, such as a hybrid striper.

"It may get to the point where we're forced to," he said, "and it could be as soon as next spring."

Alewife are putting a double whammy on walleye, Billingsley said. Not only do they compete with walleye fry for plankton -- in short supply this spring, because of cold, wet weather -- adult alewife also feed on walleye fry.

The same scenario occurred the past two years. Just why alewife are thriving now is a mystery, Billingsley said, but studies at other lakes where the same situation has occurred indicate that lakes don't always recover.

"This year was like the dead sea," said Bill Blangger of Monongahela and a Pymatuning regular who said he caught nothing on his last five trips to the lake this summer. Last spring, the few walleye he did catch were big.

Alewife, sometimes called false herring, are anadromous, meaning they can live in saltwater and freshwater. Though fragile, especially when handled as bait, in big numbers they can have a staggering effect on a fishery.

Despite a stocking this spring of 21.5 million walleye fry -- 10 times the usual number -- young of the year surveys recently completed showed poor survival. Before the alewife boom, just 2 million to 4 million walleye fry produced some of the best year classes ever, Billingsley said.

A cold winter might put a dent on the alewife population, said Billingsley. "The guys in Erie say they can correlate good walleye years with years the alewife died off."

He also plans to stock 20 million walleye next spring but to grow them to double their usual size before planting them, a move he called experimental. And he's exploring whether to begin stocking other species.

"A few years ago, hybrid stripers got loose from the hatchery at Linesville and did quite well," he said. Smallmouth bass thrive on alewife, too, and a healthy number showed up in the recent fall survey. Numbers also were excellent on muskie, perch and black crappie.

"The perch are getting to be 13 inches and the crappie, nine and 10 inches, which means next spring should see good sizes," Billingsley said.

Because one-quarter of the lake is owned by Ohio, there is no season limit on any species, and Billingsley said imposing a walleye season would have little effect. But new creel limits might improve the walleye population. He has suggested increasing the minimum size from 15 to 16 inches, provided three of the six fish allowed per day were under 16 inches, and three, over.

"When the big year classes come on, guys could thin out the 14 inchers and the rest would go into the upper size limit," he said.

whatever

If the walleye population was significant, the alewives will be food.  Just like the abundance of panfish.

The lake's population changed over the years and if we want our walleye fishery back, the numbers have to switch back to walleyes.

I wouldn't be surprised if the day came where fry will be more prone to survive, once the panfish vs walleye numbers fall back in favor of the walleye.