By Vic Attardo

A study currently underway by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission could change the rules and regulations of bass fishing, particularly tournament angling.

Centering on what is termed the "latent mortality" of catching bass, the multi-year project has already yielded some interesting findings.

New research is being used to determine if the stress of being caught by a fisherman has any affect on a bass' long-term survival and how long a bass can survive after being caught by an angler.

It is just one of the aspects of black bass management that is being undertaken by the PFBC. According to biologist Bob Lorantas, head of the agency's warmwater unit, the PFBC continues to manage black bass, largemouth and smallmouth, through a number of tools.

For starters, the PFBC conducts regular assessments of lakes and rivers that contain bass. These assessments are conducted on a rotation that occurs "once in every five-plus years," according to Lorantas. Some important waters receive annual monitoring.

During the assessments, regional biologists and technicians conduct surveys of both juvenile and adult fish populations. In the case of adult largemouth bass, electroshocking and trap net surveys are performed to determine the number of fish in a body of water. Obviously, biologists cannot survey every inch of every lake, so a number of locations are pre-selected and the work is done in those areas. After performing an initial sampling, biologists often return to the same locations on a second occasion, perhaps several weeks after the first testing, or during another weather season.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

In addition to their adult population surveys, biologists also study what fisheries managers call the "recruitment" of fish, or the number of fish born in any one year.

The results of these studies often provide a forecast of the future bass population and a glimpse at how the fishing might be when the fish grow to legal size.

In addition to these two aspects of bass management, the PFBC began issuing permits for bass tournaments, at the same time instituting a process in which tournament managers send in the results of their contests.

From these, the agency can determine, among other things, what waters might be producing good fishing and what waters might not.

Though Lorantas has made his initial findings public, he cautions that they are not statistically perfect. The fact that some bodies of water experience a large number of tournaments, while others experience only one or two, greatly skews the results. In addition, poor weather can affect the results of a tournament, thus altering the rankings. The exact ranking for a lake or river is not the critical measurement. The fact that the body of water shows up on a "top" list is the real evaluation.

In addition to these studies and reviews, the PFBC also conducts creel surveys from everyday anglers. In those surveys, fishermen on the water are asked how many fish they have caught within a certain time period and to assess their experience on the water.

Because largemouths are recognized for their ability to escape capture in trap nets, the creel surveys are helpful in developing a picture of the black bass population in a given body of water.

Often, regional biologists will comment that their netting and electroshocking has not garnered many bass, but angler interviews point to the quality of a lake or river. This seems particularly true in shallow, weedy lakes where the nets are difficult to manage.

While all these studies have become part of the PFBC's mission for some time, its study on latent mortality in bass (only in its third season) is something new and different for the agency.

The research is being conducted on Foster Joseph Sayers Lake, a 1,730-acre impoundment in Bald Eagle State Park in Centre County.

"What we're hoping to learn is the fate of black bass in our state reservoirs," Lorantas said, noting that the information about how bass are affected by being caught and handled by fishermen could influence everything from tournament regulations to the legal harvesting of fish for consumption.

To date, the study has revealed that the survivability of bass caught during tournaments on Sayers Lake - a typical manmade impoundment in the state - is near 87 percent, which sounds good, but also means that 12 percent of the bass hooked and brought to the weigh-in point do not live through the process.

Though 12 percent mortality may seem high, Lorantas said he has been encouraged by the 87 percent survival rate.

"That is probably pretty low," he said. "In the South (and its warmer waters), mortality rates hover around 30 percent following a tournament."

In a typical bass tournament, caught bass are placed in the boat's livewell to be transported to the weigh-in site. Livewells are oxygenated by a mechanical flow system, and some anglers add a chemical to the well formulated to reduce stress on fish.

After being caught, a bass may spend the greater part of the day in the aerated livewell. Then at the end of the tournament, fish are placed in water-filled plastic bags and taken to a weigh-in site. At the weigh-in, fish are placed in an open container, without water, and their weight is taken.

In some situations, bass are displayed by the lucky angler to tournament spectators, and then the fish are returned to the water. In some tournaments, bass are returned after a short period of recuperation. In most tournaments, they go from the scales directly back into the lake.

As Lorantas noted, the effect of tournament angling is important because, at some weigh-ins, a couple of hundred bass may come in.

With the rising popularity of tournament angling, there has been a growing conflict between the prize-oriented anglers vs. the sportfishermen who routinely harvest fish for consumption.

Most tournaments practice catch-and-release bass fishing and look at consumption-based anglers as reducing the fish's population. But anglers who don't participate in tournaments say the number of bass displaced by the contests detracts from the fishing experience and makes it harder for the regular guy to catch fish.

Lorantas said the study would address the conflict between the two groups possibly by issuing rules governing both camps.

To get a handle on the number of fish being harvested by consumption anglers, the agency is conducting an ongoing creel survey at Sayers Lake. Bass are often caught in the winter outside the normal tournament schedule, so the survey is being taken through the ice-fishing season. Lorantas said he spent many weekends last summer at Sayers Lake studying the effect of recreational anglers on bass and the mortality rate of caught fish.

The agency will work on a computer model to study what effect, if any, changing current rules on tournaments and harvesting of fish might cause.

"We are in the process of working up the data," Lorantas said. "The findings could be used to account for the future of bass in Pennsylvania."

Here is a look at what bass managers are doing to enhance fishing opportunities in your part of the state in 2004:

One accomplishment was the hiring of an independent contractor to conduct a creel survey of anglers fishing the river.

While the Delaware River is most often lauded for its trout, shad and stripers, the study found that black bass, both smallmouth and largemouth, are the most frequently caught fish in the river.

The Delaware River estuary, which extends from Trenton Falls to the state line, has become one of the most popular and productive largemouth fisheries in the Southeast Region. Significant largemouth catches have been reported in this area and tournament results are similar.

In its latest completed findings, PFBC biologists learned of 16 tournament events in this area that netted a total of 340 bass. In addition, eight tournaments were conducted from Trenton Falls to the Tacony-Palmyra bridge and included 166 largemouth bass. In one tournament held between the bridge and the mouth of the Schuylkill River, 134 largemouths were caught. These findings certainly point to a fecund fishery. Ironically, the tidal Delaware River is not governed by the state's Big Bass regulations.

In the lower river, there are three public access sites, all in Bucks County. They are the PFBC's Neshaminy State Park access at Fourth Avenue in Croydon, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' State Park Marina near the mouth of Neshaminy Creek on Route 13 and the Bucks County Park Department's access at Station Avenue in Andalusia.

Farther downstream in Philadelphia are three public access points. These include the city's Linden Avenue access at 9100 North Delaware Avenue, the PFBC's Tacony access at Milnor and Princeton Avenue, and the Frankford Arsenal access in the 5600 block of Tacony Street.

Another top southeastern-region bet based on tournament finding is the Auburn dam section of the Schuylkill River, where 13 events produced 162 landed largemouths. Access is south of Landingville between Schuylkill Haven and Auburn.

For more information, contact the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia at (800) 537-7676.

Interestingly, neither Lake Redman nor another York County hotspot, Lake Willams, are listed in the PFBC rule book as being Special Regulations waters, but other PFBC publications have them so designated.

Lake Redman consists of 290 acres and is off the Leader Heights exit of Interstate Route 83.

The area from the Holtwood Dam through Conowingo Dam to the Maryland state line is a good largemouth fishery. According to tournament results on this popular waterway, 15 events produced 382 largemouths.

Access is gained from the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company ramp at York Furnace, and from the PFBC's Muddy Creek access south of Red Lion off Route 372.

For more information, contact the York County Visitors Bureau in York at (888) 858-YORK.

Sayers Lake is in Bald Eagle State Park off Route 150 nine miles north of I-80. The lake has six launch ramps and a marina. There are speed restrictions in the Hunter's Run area, but otherwise there are no horsepower restrictions on this impoundment.

For more information, contact the state park office at (814) 625-2775. The lake is adjacent to the 5,900-acre state park that offers 169 camping sites.

Another Northcentral Region lake that has received management and tournament attention is Kettle Creek Lake in Clinton County. This 160-acre impoundment is also known as the Alvin R. Bush Dam. In the latest available findings, Kettle Creek Lake had just four recent tournament events, but its 55 participants caught 94 legal largemouths.

Kettle Creek Lake is in a state park of the same name. It is found along state Route 4001, eight miles north of Westport. The park has one launching area with three day-use docks and overnight mooring. The lake is limited to electric motors only.

For more information, call the state park office at (570) 923-6004. For accommodations, call the Centre County Visitors Bureau in State College at (800) 358-5466

Of particular interest was the night electroshocking study of Lower Woods Pond in Wayne County. The pond is a 91-acre impoundment managed under Big Bass regulations. Baseline data on the lake's largemouths and walleyes has been collected in 1997 and 1999.

In its latest night electroshocking study, the PFBC caught 181 largemouths in a little over 2 1/2 hours of survey work. The entire 2.4-mile perimeter of the pond was electro-shocked. Largemouth sizes ranged from 2 to 20 inches, and 25 percent of the fish taken were over 12 inches long. Legal-size largemouths (fish of 15 inches or larger) accounted for 3 percent of the catch.

Lower Woods Pond is eight miles northwest of Honesdale off Route 670.

In the Northeast Region, Belmont Lake produced an impressive 58 landed largemouths at just one tournament - with only 26 participants. Belmont Lake, with 172 acres, is three miles north of Pleasant Mount.

Only electric motors are permitted on Lower Woods Pond and on Belmont Lake. For more information, contact the Pocono Mountains Vacation Bureau in Stroudsburg at (800) POCONOS.

Smallmouths were the most abundant bass species collected in the study, but there were a few largemouths. The highest number of smallmouths was found at the Braddock Lock and Dam tailwater (89 fish), with the Maxwell L&D a close second (85). At Gray's Landing, 68 bass were recorded.

Two PFBC sites will put anglers into the best fishing on the Monongahela River in Fayette County.

The Port Marion access is off Route 88 below Lock No. 8, and the East Fredrickstown access is in East Millsboro adjacent to the county ferry two miles south of Maxwell.

For more information, contact the PFBC's Area 8 office at (814) 445-3454. For accommodations, contact the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau in Ligonier at (800) 333-5661.