Pymatuning crappie anglers will face new size and creel limits beginning March 1. Crappies can still be taken year-round, but on both sides of the state line a 9-inch minimum and 20-fish daily limit will be enforced. The regulatory change applies only to Pymatuning Reservoir.
The jointly managed impoundment straddles western Crawford County in Pennsylvania and eastern Ashtabula County in Ohio. Currently no restrictions are placed on the harvest of panfish, including black and white crappies. But fishery management agencies in both states cite a cascading set of circumstances that led to the regulatory changes.
Crappie abundance and size improved from 2001 to 2012, which dramatically increased angler pressure. Since 2012 the lake’s crappie population has declined while angler numbers continued to soar, resulting in diminishing catch rates. Officials from the Ohio Division of Wildlife initiated talks with their Pennsylvania counterparts to discuss tighter regulations.
In 2014, an Ohio angler opinion survey found that nearly 90 percent of those interviewed supported imposing new harvest restrictions on the reservoir to rebalance crappie populations. At a public meeting in 2016 played host by Pennsylvania Fish and Boat, participants are said to have backed a proposal.
“These regulations have been used to improve crappie size structure and density in other Pennsylvania lakes where they have been applied, and will likely have similar positive results in Pymatuning Reservoir,” said Jason Detar, chief of Fish and Boat’s Fisheries Management division, in a statement. “Growth rates for crappies in the reservoir are well above the Pennsylvania state average, suggesting that the forage base is sufficient to support an increase in crappie density.”
The regulations’ impact on crappies is expected to be monitored in Pennsylvania waters through annual trap net surveys and age and growth statistics. In Ohio, crappie size and numbers are monitored every three years through creel surveys that track angler effort and catch and harvest rates on Pymatuning Reservoir.
Typo alert
“Just wondering, since my photo caption lists me as a Game Commissioner, did I get a promotion or demotion?” quipped Fish and Boat Commissioner Lenny Lichvar after a typographical error last week in a story about the newly released book, “Keystone Fly Fishing” (Headwater).
First Published: January 29, 2017, 5:00 a.m.
