By that time the walleye population was dependent upon stocking, but the fishery from previous stockings was still quite good in 1996 (the specific year, I believe) during an angler use and harvest study. The success of stocking, however, greatly declined as the largemouth bass and smallmouth bass populations expanded, no doubt aided by the implementation of the Big Bass regs at the lake, which further allowed the bass populations to grow. Bass in lakes feed on fingerling walleye and the conflict between maintaining good bass populations and good walleye populations in impoundments is well established as being problematic for fisheries managers. It’s a common occurrence in Pa and elsewhere.
In one unusual occurrence, however, in a newly established Pa lake at the time (Kahle Lake, Clarion/Venango Co’s) there was a temporary shift from bass dominance to walleye dominance and back to bass dominance. This all happened in about the first decade or so of the lake’s existence and was most likely an artifact of the stocking densities and dual successes in the new impoundment.(Likewise, you may recall the tremendous success of 1200 tiger muskies stocked at about a 1.5-2 inch length when Leaser Lake was re-impounded following the dam’s repair. In a normal situation in an established lake stockings of those sizes of t mky would have been fruitless).
Walleye stocking in Nockamixon was terminated after 2014 following more than a decade of attempts to overwhelm the bass population by doubling the allowed statewide maximum stocking rate during alternate years and normal rates during most other years. It didn’t work based on a population evaluation with trap nets. A low density population continued to exist despite the high stocking rate.
You can find the warmwater/coolwater stocking records by county and water body within each county going back to the yr 2000 on the PFBC web site.
