Year-Class Production of Black Bass Before and After Opening of a Spring Catch and Release Season in New York: Case Studies From Three Lakes

Impacts of angling for black bass (Micropterus spp.) during the nesting stage have received much recent attention, with particular focus on individual nest and genetic implications.  However, few empirical studies of population-level impacts have been conducted.  New York State historically protected nesting bass with a closed season.  In 1994, a special spring bass season was opened in the New York waters of Lake Erie, and in 2007, a spring catch and release season was opened in most of New York’s remaining waters.  Long-term monitoring programs were in place on two inland lakes and New York’s portion of Lake Erie prior to the regulation changes, facilitating assessment of impacts on year class production of liberalized regulations.  In Canadarago Lake (surface area 787 ha), fall electrofishing surveys sampled both young-of-year largemouth (M. Salmoides) and smallmouth bass (M. dolomieu).  Mean catch per hour of largemouth bass during the six years prior to the spring season was 15.6, compared to 27.8/hr over the post-change years (p = 0.63).  For smallmouth bass in Canadargo Lake, pre-change catch rates averaged 1.2/hr, with a rate of 0.6/hr after the change (p=0.32).  In Oneida Lake (surface area 20,700 ha), a trawl survey provided an index of young-of-year smallmouth bass.  Average catch-per-haul during the six years prior to the regulation change was 0.4, compared to 1.8/haul during the following five years (p=0.04).  A gill net survey of age-2 smallmouth bass in Lake Erie produced a year class index of 3.0/net over 17 years prior to opening of a spring bass fishery and a catch of 6.0/net over the following 15 years (p=0.04).  In all cases, year class production increased following the opening of spring angling for bass, although no results were statistically significant.  Our results suggest that population level impacts on bass recruitment do not result from spring fishing in large lake systems.