The largemouth bass population at one area lake remains a bit of a mystery.
Bob Frye/Everybody Adventures
One lake’s a real mystery. The other is doing just about as well as expected.
Tweaks may – or may not – be coming to both.
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission biologists surveyed Beaverdam Run Reservoir and Penn Township Pond this spring. At Beaverdam they were looking for bass specifically. The Penn Township Pond survey was intended to provide more of an overall picture.
Results varied.
Beaverdam Run
Beaverdam Run is owned by Highland Sewer and Water Authority and is located near Beaverdale in Cambria County. The commission gets reports of good bass fishing there from anglers.
But it’s not been able to quantify that lately.
Biologists surveyed the lake last year and, in looking for panfish using trapnets, caught some nice bass, said commission area 8 fisheries manager Rick Lorson. But when they returned later to seek them out specifically using electroshocking – better suited to finding bass — the result was “horrendous,” he noted.
So they went back and shocked the lake again this spring figuring they might do better.
“However, that did not occur,” Lorson said.
Biologists collected 111 smallmouth bass and nine largemouths. That works out to 57 total bass per hour, four per hour exceeding 12 inches in length and 1 per hour exceeding 15.
That’s not horrible, at least for total numbers.
A quality bass lake, per commission standards, will give up 35 bass per hour of survey work, with seven of those exceeding 12 inches in length and two exceeding 15.
But it’s not what biologists were expecting to see either, especially given how productive prior surveys were, Lorson said. As a result, they may re-survey the lake a third time next year.
“Last year and this year, that’s just far below what we’ve caught previously. We don’t think there is any kind of a major issue, but we have to make sure,” Lorson said.
Penn Township Pond
As for Penn Township Pond, it’s small at just two acres. Biologists have worked with the township to try and improve its fishery, but they’d never surveyed it.
This year’s sampling was meant to see how it’s doing.
Biologists collected 23 largemouth bass. Eight of them exceeded 12 inches, with one hitting 14 and another 19.
That wasn’t bad, Lorson said.
The pond’s bluegill fishery? It’s less impressive.
Lorson said biologists saw dozens of the panfish, but only three exceeded 7 inches.
“That’s not anything to write home about,” Lorson said.
There may not be anything anyone can do to change that, he said. The commission’s first recommendation would be to make all fishing – except for stocked trout – catch and release, and the township already has that rule in place, Lorson said.
Still, biologists will review their data and see else might be done, he added.
