PFBC Biologist Report, Allegheny River
Posted by PA-Smallies at 10:32 AM. Filed under: PFBC Notable News
I was recently reading a fishing biologist report on the Pennsylvania Fish Commission’s web site. The report described a recent fish sampling conducted on the Allegheny River, Pennsylvania. The report is fairly encouraging given recent concern about some our Pennsylvania smallmouth bass fisheries. There was also a couple of pictures of a monster walleye and musky caught during the survey!
The 2006 samples of smallmouth bass were compared to 1989, 2003, and 2005 taken at the same location during the same time period. The sampling comparison yielded some positive results. The catch per hour during 2006 was the highest recorded since 1989. Also, the numbers of young of the year smallmouth bass collected during the sampling was found to be above average for this section of the river during 2005 and 2006. The average is based on data going back to 1993.
I know you often year folks talk about “young of year” or YOY but why is it important? Well those little guys eventually grow up to be bigger fish. Understanding how many young of year bass are present as a result of a given years spawn can be a good indicator of how many “legal sized” fish will be present in a body of water 3-5 years down the road.
The study is encouraging but remember it is just one sample of data from one area of a river. It may not be indicative of the entire rivers system. Please take the time to read the article yourself. There is much more data, graphs, and some awesome fish pictures of smallmouth bass, walleye, and a musky collected during the sampling.
PFBC 2006 Biologist Report - Allegheny River
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