Page 10 - Fishing Report | 4-24-19

Hydrilla Threat Posed to Pymatuning

By Darl Black

If you have launched at Pymatuning Lake during the past couple seasons, more than
likely you have encountered a boat check station at a ramp. State Park personnel in-
spect your boat and trailer, and provide instruction about cleaning your rig before
launching and again when retrieving your boat. It’s part of a program to reduce the
spread of a non-native aquatic plants to all sections of Pymatuning Lake and to nearby

lakes. The particular plant that PA State Parks and PA Fish Commission are most con-
cerned about is hydrilla.

Stacie Hall, Assistant Manager at Pymatuning, says hydrilla was found in the lake back
in 2010. Since then it has rapidly expanded to 1,100 acres. “In 2018 we were only able
to treat 795 acres at a cost of ½ million dollars. Acquiring funding for herbicide treat-

ment is major concern. We have enough grant money for 2019, but are uncertain about
the future.”

Hall said the attempt is to contain hydrilla to the areas it is presently found and prevent
the spread to nearby waters including Lake Wilhelm, Presque Isle Bay and Conneaut
Lake. Killing hydrilla is difficult because it spreads several ways including expansion of
tubular roots and fragmentation of stems.

“If not controlled, hydrilla will impede boating in Pennsylvania’s largest inland lake and

spread to other waters. This is why we stress cleaning your boat and trailer after each
use as well as cleaning your prop of weed strands on the water should you accidentally
motor through a bed of vegetation.”

Pennsylvania Fish Commission Area 1 Fisheries Manager Tim Wilson is gravely con-
cerned about hydrilla. “In my opinion, if allowed to grow uncontrolled, hydrilla would

have negative impacts on virtually all fishing in the lake. In our sampling around hydril-
la suggests that as habitat, it is not used my largemouth bass or any other predator spe-
cies as Eurasian watermilfoil and several other vegetation.”

Wilson continues, “Hydrilla grows in very dense beds. The denseness of hydrilla ap-
pears to prevent Largemouth bass from preying effectively within it. When we electro-
fish through hydrilla, we get bass off the outside edges but not from inside the bed,
whereas in milfoil and some other aquatic vegetation we get bass right in the middle of

beds.”