Over the past few decades, bass fishermen in Pennsylvania have enjoyed increasing opportunities, thanks to a general trend of improving water quality, more lakes and more intensive bass management.

That trend might be leveling off, but only because progress has been made, not by any less intensive management. This year, there are mostly encouraging changes to report, more reasons to sharpen your hooks and read up on the fishing hotspots and new fishing methods.

However, there are some areas of concern. Year-to-year bass-fishing fortunes tend to be linked to weather patterns, which affect reproductive success. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has an extensive bass-stocking program, but it's intended primarily to introduce or reintroduce and augment bass populations in waters where natural reproduction doesn't fill the niche sufficiently. It doesn't provide catch-and-release fisheries, as is the case with the modern trout program. Raising bass for a similar put-and-take program would be prohibitively expensive.

RIVER NEWS
"Probably the news for 2005 and projecting into 2006 are young-of-the-year (YOY) bass indices and columnaris disease in the Susquehanna River basin," said Bob Lorantas, Warmwater Unit leader for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. "Weather conditions conducive to bass reproduction, in contrast to the previous few years, led to good smallmouth recruitment in all three of our major river systems. Favorable conditions are lower flows from April through June, along with moderate to warmer water.

"Young-of-year indices were up in all three basins, that is, above the long-term averages," Lorantas added.

For the Ohio River basin, the YOY index for 2005 was 7.8 smallmouths per 50 meters. This was the highest rate since 1986 and well above the 5.1 statewide average. The index was 1.8 in 2000, 3.6 in 2001, 5.2 in 2002, 4.1 in 2003, and was not measured in 2004.

The Ohio River basin includes the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers along with their tributaries. The Monongahela and its major tributary, the Youghiogheny River, have not been surveyed in this study.

Last year's YOY index in the Susquehanna basin was 8.6. Rates there have been 1.6 in 2000, 6.8 in 2001, 2.4 in 2002, 2.6 in 2003, and 1.95 in 2004, based on only a small sample. The average YOY index is 6.9 for the Susquehanna basin, which includes the West Branch Susquehanna and Juniata rivers. Low flows and warm water resulted in excellent growth rates, with the majority of bass reaching between 3 and 4 inches by the first week of July.

The Delaware basin's YOY index last year, 15.7, was the highest on record for any of our major river basins. Indices here have fluctuated greatly from 0.65 in 2000, 10.0 in 2001, 6.7 in 2002, 3.6 in 2003 and 3.6 in 2004 based on a small sample. The long-term average is 5.7 for this basin, which includes the Schuylkill and the Lehigh rivers.