Page 9 - Fishing Report | 4-6-16

2016 Overview of Fisheries in NW PA — Continued

Summary of District 2 Waters by Brian Ensign

Allegheny River – Back in 2007, we stopped stocking WALLEYES
in the Allegheny to see if natural reproduction was sufficient. Our
follow up surveys showed we had good number of all sizes of
walleyes from Tionesta downstream. However, from Tionesta to
Kinzua Dam Outflow, our numbers were down. We started stock-
ing that upper section last year and saw a huge increase in YOY
sampling. Anglers are catching nice walleyes throughout the river,
but they are catching exceptional ones in the lower sections be- Pete Cartwright with
low Tionesta – fish in the 30 to 33 inch range. We stock MUSKY Allegheny River Smallmouth
fingerlings in the river and musky fishermen are reporting good
catches. The YOY SMALLMOUTH BASS survey in 2015 showed normal numbers, although
YOY smallmouth is not as a reliable indicator as YOY walleye survey. We are working with
Army Corps at Kinzua to keep water level stable when possible.

French Creek – We stopped stocking French Creek with WALLEYE fry to see the results,
and discovered that stocking was an important component to the French Creek fishery.
We started stocking walleye again last year. Our catch rates looked good with 45 fish per
hour – that is 2 to 3 times higher than before. Walleye outlook is good.

Conneaut Lake – Our surveys show very good panfish populations in Conneaut Lake, espe-
cially for BLUEGILLS.

Lake Wilhelm – An explosion of gizzard shad several years ago have impacted the fishery
here. Our surveys in 2010 showed LARGEMOUTH BASS were present in numbers and
were very healthy. PANFISH have struggled due to competition from shad. We increased
the WALLEYE stocking, hoping they would eat more shad. We need to build up the preda-
tor base to control the shad.

Woodcock Creek Lake – WALLEYES are doing fine. We also see some really nice SMALL-
MOUTH BASS captured in our surveys.

Union City Reservoir – Although only 27 acres, this lake has a really good LARGEMOUTH
BASS population with some decent size fish. Union City Reservoir has the highest catch
rate for largemouths in the entire state among small reservoirs.