Yes, informative program to the public. Hopefully, such a summit can be repeated in the future, perhaps in western PA next time, where there are generally more toothy guys.
The topic of river studies came up during the discussion. Currently, most of the exciting new research by the PFBC on this fish is unfolding in lakes (Mike has kept us well informed about the lakes in SEPA). However, data on river fish is badly lacking and would be much anticipated by those of us who mainly target river systems. Hopefully there will be studies soon involving rivers - it's much needed.
Three things came up during the meeting that I thought was particularly interesting:
1. Although data is preliminary and needs a few more years to get to solid conclusions...the current evidence is
very strong that yearling muskies (these are year old fingerlings in the 12-18" range when stocked) are surviving much better than the typical, 5-9" fingerlings stocked in the fall. Again, too early to say for sure....however, I would not be surprised if future management practices in PA involve stocking a lot fewer, but bigger muskies.
2. The success in muskie fingerling growth using new, dried feeds (the dry feed fingerlings get bigger), vs fingerlings that are fed live minnows. Although they don't grow as fast, minnow feeding seems to produce a young muskie with better coloration and behavior (avoids predators and seeks cover). Traditionally, minnows have been regarded as superior food for purebreds, but are very expensive. This issue is still being studied and mixed minnow/dry feed protocols are being considered. Whatever the case, things look promising for fingerling production.
3. The routine discovery of very small muskie fingerlings during summer SMB surveys. Although I'm not surprised to hear about this, I'm not aware of any data on this. This implies small but widespread natural reproduction in mid state rivers. Perhaps this is being tallied. If not, it should be tallied as a data set IMO (if possible to do so, obviously funding and manpower are limited).
Although this was not discussed in the meeting...purebreds in the Potomac River (this is not their native range, they just showed up mysteriously about a generation ago) are thriving without stocking. The numbers of muskies in the Potomac has just exploded in recent years producing a very robust fishery and all the fish are wild. Very unusual situation. I would hope the muskie folks at the PFBC have talked to John Mullican in Maryland and compared notes regarding wild muskies in rivers outside their native range.
Anyway, it was an informative meeting (And Kudos to Dave M for enforcing the time hammer - always needed at these sorts of events
)
