Erie WCO Reports / PFBC / March 2000 Wco Ann Caretto/ Central Erie County.... Trout Stocking for Waterworks Pond is scheduled for April 13th @ 9:45 AM ... Meeting place is the Niagara Launch. Stocking for Conneauttee Creek with the meeting place of the "OLD" Post Office is on the 23 of March @9:30. PFBC Basic Boating Course classes (8 hr course) are scheduled at the Interpretive Center on Presque Isle Park for (March 26th/ 1-5pm, March 27th/ 5:30-8pm, & March 28th/ 5:30-8pm) and a full day class is set for April 1/ 9:00 am - 6:00 pm . Reservations are necessary to sign up for these classes & can be made by calling 833-0351. Class size is limited to limited to the first 30 people for each class. .............................................................................. ............................................................ Wco John Bowser/ Western Erie County... Fairview Gravel Pit stocking is scheduled for April 4th. Elk Creek & Crooked Creek stocking will be at the McKean Exit of I-79 @ 9:30 on April 14th. The PWC Boating Equivalency Exams (for experienced boaters) are being offered at the Presque Isle Park Interpretive Center on Saturday, March 25th @ 1 PM & on Wednesday, March 29th @ 7 PM. This course consists of a 20 minute video & a written test (approximately 1.5 hrs.total). Participants are required to score at least 70% to receive a safety certificate which is required to operate a personal watercraft this year in the Commonwealth. Pre-registration is required by calling 833-0351. Each class size is limited to the first 40 applicants. The Erie Outdoor Sports Show is at Family First Fitness Center this weekend (March 3, 4, &5). It will be the largest Fish & Boat Commission exhibit ever in our area and will feature live snakes. Area officers will be available to answer any of your questions. Suckers are showing up in the tributaries. This is a couple weeks early for them but they do provide some fun on light tackle when fishing worms on the bottom. Plenty of Steelhead are present with some fresh fish still appearing. The Walnut Creek habitat improvement site continues to provide excellent fishing opportunities though crowded on the weekends. 200+ anglers were counted on Saturday from Manchester Bridge to the mouth but the courtesy displayed by anglers toward each other was especially refreshing to see. The Fairview Gravel Pit & Lake Pleasant remain open for fishing until April 1, 2000. This allows an extra month of opportunity from the normal closing date of all other inland approved trout waters in other counties of March 1st. Everyone is aware of the large number of yellow perch being caught under the 8" size limit. Chuck Murray of the Lake Erie Research Unit reports that there is one more year left of the 5 year study being done by the PFBC. Survey crews have been assessing catches, growth rates, year class sizes, etc... to better judge the effect of size & creel limits on the perch. Aside from the on ice surveys, fish have been sampled when caught in the trapnets while taking Northern Pike & Musky as well as in the nets of the Brown Bullhead sampling. All information will be compiled into a Management Report which will no doubt make for interesting reading. Strong year classes for 1996 & 1998 have greatly increased the numbers of small fish and probably given the impression that the older ones aren't growing or that the size limit isn't effective. Probably best to wait & see all the data from the report before conclusions are drawn. Experts are estimating lake levels in August are to be 10" below the existing level. The PFBC will be dredging the Walnut Creek Boat Basin & channel this spring in anticipation of this. North East Marina will also have their basin deepened. Anglers are encouraged to continue reporting poachers & litterbugs. License plate number, car make & color are key pieces of information. On past occasions, officers maybe were not be able to respond to the first report but have gotten the violator at a later date because of info received from a previous report. Poaching fish is a theft of the resource from kids & honest sportsmen. Littering is a threat to public access on private lands. Information can be either phoned in at 814-774-0928 or emailed to jwb014@aol.com. .............................................................................. .............................................................................. Wco Mark Kerr / Eastern Erie County...... Stocking Dates for March: 3/20/00 ... S. Branch of French Creek ...... Corry Hatchery @ 8:30 am 3/28/00 ... Little Brokenstraw ................... Lottsville SR 0957 @ 9:00 am 3/29/00 ... Brokenstraw Creek .................. Spring Creek VFD @ 9:15 am Lots of trout remain in Lake Pleasant with fishing available until April 1, 2000. Office Phone Number for Wco Mark Kerr is (814) - 796-1378
Source: WCO John Bowser
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