If you’re interested in wild trout – and specifically what’s to come of them in the future – there’s a first-of-its-kind event being held next month with you in mind.
And if it’s warmwater fishing you prefer? Specifically in southwestern Pennsylvania?
Well, there’s an event for you, too.
First on the calendar, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is hosting a public meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug 17 at the Daily American’s press room, at 334 W. Main St. in Somerset, to discuss the drawdown of Somerset Lake.
It won’t be as simple as pulling the plug.
Call it a case of learning from experience.
In the past – such as with Donegal Lake just last year – when the commission has had to draw down a lake, it’s done so largely all at once, with an immediate fish salvage conducted.
Not here.
The plan is to lower Somerset Lake three to four feet between Aug. 18 and Sept. 18. But then, rather than keep going, it will stop long enough to plant grass on the newly-exposed banks
That’s to control erosion.
The commission didn’t do that at Donegal, said Michelle Jacoby, director of its bureau of engineering. That had consequences.
Donegal’s lake bed never really froze, she said. So when winter storms rolled in, putting at least some water back in the lake, the result was excessive amounts of sediment flowing into Fourmile Run.
The Westmoreland County Conservation District alerted the commission to the problem and it took steps to address it, Jacoby said.
Commission staff installed a “turbidity curtain” at the lake’s breached spillway to catch some mud, Jacoby said. They also hand-planted grass early this spring to hold mud from ever leaving.
The goal with Somerset is to avoid the necessity of taking such steps again, she said.
Toward that end, the commission will partially draw the lake down, plant grass on the exposed banks, then – only after it takes root – draw the lake down another 10 feet or so in late September. A month or so after that, tentatively the week of Oct. 23, the commission will remove the fish left in Somerset and take them to Shawnee Lake in Bedford County.
“What that will allow us to do is seed as necessary as we slowly draw it down so we can create that growth which will hopefully remove a lot of the sediment as it moves there,” Jacoby said.
Work to repair the dam, meanwhile, is scheduled to start in spring of 2018. The hope is the lake will be ready to re-open to angling in summer of 2020.
In the meantime, anglers, boaters and other who would like one last look at the “old” Somerset Lake can attend the fourth annual Lakefest, said commissioner Len Lichvar of Somerset County.
Set for 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Aug. 12, it will be a day of fishing, paddling, guided bird-watching hikes, food, music and more. Activities will center around Wood Duck Road.
Meanwhile, later, on Aug. 26, the commission will host its first-ever wild trout summit at its Centre County regional office.
The day will include a look back at the history of wild trout in the state, with a glimpse of how the fish are being managed today.
The bulk of the event, though, will focus on what’s ahead.
“We’re going to spend the bulk of our time on where is wild trout fishing going to go, the best that we can project it, from the folks in the room,” said Andy Shiels, director of the commission’s bureau of fisheries.
The day will begin with registration at 9:30. A keynote address from commission executive director John Arway, who conceived of the summit, will follow.
There will then be presentations from commission staff on the unassessed waters initiative, wild trout regulations and the process by which streams are classified as wild trout waters.
After lunch, a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources representative will talk about that agency’s plans for wild trout in state parks and forests. A Trout Unlimited speaker will discuss climate change and its impact on fish, while a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative will discuss the impact of genetics on wild trout management.
Commission staff will talk about what can be done to promote wild trout habitat, too.
A highlight, though, Shiels said, will be a synopsis of what researchers have learned about wild trout movements and habits. That will be presented by Tyler Wagner of the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State University.
“It’s going to give us some information that even 10, 15 years ago, we didn’t have the technology to be able to understand or follow or track trout in ways that we can now,” Shiels said.
Audience members will be able to submit questions on written comment cards throughout the day. Commission staff will go through those and present them to the various speakers when they all gather together for a panel discussion that will end the program.
The plan, Shiels said, is to wrap everything up by 4 p.m.
The commission’s Centre County region office is located at 595 E. Rolling Ridge Dr. in Bellefonte. The summit – which will be conducted indoors, so as to avoid any issues with weather — is open to the public and anyone can attend for free.
Preregistration is required, however. That can be done here.
Bad financial news
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is behind and it’s probably not catching up.
Bernie Matscavage, director of its bureau of administration, said that as of June 30, fishing license sales were down 4 percent compared to last year and the five-year average. Most of that drop has been in the form of fewer resident licenses sold, he said.
The problem?
No one seems to know.
Steve Kralik, director of the bureau of outreach, education and marketing, said a number of other states – West Virginia, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – have seen similar sales declines of 3 to 5 percent this year. That’s perhaps tied to poor spring weather, he said.
Commission executive director John Arway said in-house research suggests weather doesn’t matter much, though.
Whatever the reason, it’s unlikely the commission will make those sales up, Matscavage said. By the end of June it’s typically already sold 87 percent of all the licenses it’s going to in a year’s time.
