2005 Biologist Report - Rose Valley Lake

Rose Valley Lake

Lycoming County
April 19-20 and May 23-27, 2005

Rose Valley Lake is a 389-acre reservoir located 15 miles north of Williamsport, Lycoming County, and is owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and managed by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for public fishing and boating. There are three public boat launches at the lake and boating is restricted to non-powered boats and those propelled by electric motors only. Rose Valley Lake is managed under Big Bass Program Special Regulations. These regulations are designed to improve the size structure of black bass by increasing the number of quality-size individuals through the use of higher minimum length limits (e.g., 15” minimum length limit). All other species are managed under Statewide Regulations for Commonwealth Inland Waters.

Fisheries Management Area 3 staff conducted a spring trap net survey using 10 trap net sets from April 19 – 20, 2005, to evaluate yellow perch, walleye, and musky populations. Catches were lower than expected, likely due to warmer water temperatures than usually occur in early to mid April. Fish of note in the trap nets were 2 muskellunge at 46.5 and 47 inches, 12 walleyes from 18 to 29 inches, and 40 bluegill > 9 inches (See Table 1 for a summary of the 10 trap net catches).

Fisheries Technician Jason Detar with a nice 29” walleye from Rose Valley Lake

Table 1. Length-frequency distribution of fish captured in 10 trap net sets in Rose Valley Lake from April 19 – 20, 2005.

Length (inches)	Musky	Walleye	Yellow Perch	Bluegill	Pumpkinseed	Black Crappie	Chain Pickerel
2				25
3				23	2
4				42		1
5				33		13
6				36	2	6
7			2	60	8
8			8	30	10
9			5	32	2	2
10			11	8		6
11			31			2
12			54			1
13			10			1
14			2			1	2
15			2
16
17							1
18		2					3
19		6					1
20		2					1
21		1
22
23		1
24		1
//
29		1
//
46	1
47	1
Totals	2	14	125	289	24	33	8

Also captured were 41 brown bullheads, 25 yellow bullheads, 10 largemouth bass, and 52 golden shiners.

A robust 47” female muskellunge from Rose Valley Lake

Personnel from Fisheries Management Areas 3 and 4 returned to Rose Valley Lake and conducted a joint survey using 40 trap net sets during the week of May 23 – 27, 2005 to evaluate panfish populations. Night electrofishing was conducted on the evening of May 25, 2005, to assess black bass populations.

Panfish catches were below expected levels likely due to the cool temperatures we experienced during early and mid May. Panfish spawning was probably delayed a week or two by the cool temperatures, thus the majority of panfish were likely still offshore during our survey. See Table 2 for a summary of the 40 trap net catches.

The catch of largemouth and smallmouth bass during night electrofishing was excellent, averaging 159 bass/hr with 74% of the bass captured > 12 inches. The lake was placed in the Big Bass Program in 1996 and since then the number of bass > 12 inches has increased along with a consistent increase in bass > 15 inches (Table 4).

13” black crappie from Rose Valley Lake

Table 2. Length-frequency distribution of fish captured in 40 trap net sets in Rose Valley Lake during the week of May 23 – 27, 2005.

Length (inches)	Walleye	Yellow Perch	Bluegill	Pumpkinseed	Black Crappie	Chain Pickerel
2			148	1
3		1	150	1
4		1	150	3	22
5		4	55	3	29
6		4	93	8	28
7		25	136	99	3
8		45	39	52	1
9		17	53	8
10	1	7	14		4
11		10			3
12		29				1
13		30			1
14		12				1
15		1				4
16						7
17						4
18	1					6
19	2					4
20	3					2
21	2
22						1
23	3
24	2
25	3
26
27
28	1
Totals	18	186	838	172	91	30

Also captured were 38 brown bullheads, 38 yellow bullheads, 12 largemouth bass, 7 rock bass, and 159 golden shiners.

Area 3 personnel conducting night electrofishing for black bass

Table 3. Length-frequency distribution of black bass captured during 1.36 hours of night electrofishing in Rose Valley Lake on the night of May 25, 2005.

Length (inches)	Largemouth Bass	Smallmouth Bass
5	1
6	9	2
7	13	1
8	2	3
9	2	3
10	15	6
11	23	2
12	13	5
13	39	4
14	46	3
15	17	1
16	5
//
20	1
Totals	186	30

Table 4. A comparison of largemouth bass catch per hour (CPH) during night electrofishing surveys in Rose Valley Lake in 1984, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2003, and 2005.

	Date
Largemouth Bass CPH	1984	1991	1992	1997	2003	2005
All Largemouth Bass	83.8	126.3	135.5	94.5	105.8	136.8
Largemouth ≥ 12 inches	46.3	19.5	63.2	72.6	81.9	89.0
Largemouth ≥ 15 inches	8.1	1.2	2.0	6.6	7.4	16.9

-- Jason Detar, Fisheries Technician, Area 3

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