An experimental slot limit for trout on a section of Penns Creek has been so successful that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is considering expanding the measure to other waters in the state.
Since 2014, Section 3 of Penns Creek has been managed under Miscellaneous Special Regulations (allows for the use of all tackle types), which includes a harvest slot limit for trout 7 to 12 inches with a daily limit of two fish from the opening day of the season through Labor Day. Subsequent surveys have indicated an increase in the number of 16 to 18-inch trout and no noticeable reduction in the overall number of fish in the section of stream in Centre and Mifflin counties.
“It did achieve what we hoped it would,” said Dave Nihart, chief of the Division of Fisheries Management.
Now, the agency wants to see if harvest slot limits can work just as well elsewhere in the state.
During a Jan. 7 meeting of the Fisheries and Hatcheries Committee, agency staff and commissioners discussed the creation of a harvest slot limit program for trout. Nihart said agency staff are working to identify streams that would be suitable candidates for the program, and those waters will be named during the commissioner’s meeting on April 12-13.
The data collected from Section 3 of Penns Creek, which is a Class A wild trout stream containing a healthy population of wild brown trout, has made Nihart optimistic the success can be replicated elsewhere.
“We believe it can work. We sampled Section 3 three times, and at the same time sampled Section 4 of Penns Creek just downstream. We didn’t see a change in the number of big fish like we did in Section 3,” he said. “There are waters we believe will benefit biologically from this. The larger fish contribute greater when it comes to spawning.”
Nihart also feels the slot limit program will be accepted by anglers, based on what he’s seen on Penns Creek. The fact that anglers can still harvest trout within the slot limit range – which are more abundant – makes the program appealing, he said. Angler support is crucial for the success of the program, Nihart added, and allowing some degree of harvest while potentially increasing the number of big fish is a strong selling point.
It also helps that more anglers are practicing catch-and-release today, he said.
“We will continue to evaluate this, but even with Penns Creek it was nice to see the positive response that we got,” Nihart said. “I think it certainly opened some eyes because it still allows a harvest while protecting those big trout that people like.”
If the rulemaking is approved by the PFBC board in April, Nihart said he won’t seek final approval until the October meeting, at which point the slot limit would be implemented on Jan. 1, 2022, for selected waters.
During the October 2020 quarterly meeting, the board extended the Miscellaneous Special Regulation for Penns Creek until further notice, including the slot limit designation.
- This story originally appeared in PA Outdoor News.
