Sounds like a fun weekend. You don’t think those bigger bow were caught and kept earlier in the year?
My wife will often talk me into tossing PB, too. She told me one time it was sure hard to catch all the fish while watching me practice casting
The dwr had this in their report last week…
Minersville Reservoir (Blue Ribbon): ★★★
Fall Forecast: Though the reservoir level has been low most of the year, emergency changes aimed at reducing the density of fish have prevented significant die-offs. With the end of irrigation season nearing, the reservoir level will slowly begin to rise and algae blooms will die back. Trout will begin feeding more aggressively, especially following tough conditions this summer. Look for fair to good fishing during the fall. (Oct. 4)
Such a shame we have had drought conditions for the last few years. Last year Minersville was as good as any lake I’ve fished for size and numbers in my life, and I’m no spring chicken. We were even killing it through the ice on jigs both jigging and dead sticking. Hopefully with more water over a few year period it can return to similar greatness.
There has been a steady die off going on at Minersville going back to late spring.
Plus people bait fishing pulled a ton of fish out, including Bass and Wipers.
That being said I think the decision made by the Biologist to pull the Trout regs was a good move, and may have worked to save a base population of Trout.
There does seem to still be a pretty good base of 2 year old fish in the lake.
The 3 to 4 year old fish that we have all been enjoying so much did not fair nearly as well.
With Minersville’s standard stocking of 10 to 15 thousand 10 inch fish come late fall, plus some luck on the moisture front we should be on track for a good recovery.
Maybe next time they let people take Trout and use bait they might put in place a no take rule on Bass and Wipers while people are allowed to use bait.
castnshoot – I think you’ll find that the bass and wipers are going to be in the same shape as the trout. I think that the emergency regulations they put in place did exactly what they hoped, and we’ll see good fishing again next spring for all species.
The wipers will be just fine. Lower numbers of fish in general will mean that those fish will grow FAST. Fast growth = big fish. You’ll see big wipers again next summer. And the small mouth were probably due for some increased mortality as well.
A few of you have mentioned that Minersville has been really good “for the last few years”. The truth is, Minersville has been amazing going back to the 90’s. The only real “bad” years have been years with poor water. It’s really an easy solution out there, and Beaver County has finally latched on to this – when we have good water in Minersville, the fishing is also good.
Without a significant amount of rain/snow this winter Minersville will not be much of a fishery next year. The water is very low and will continue to decrease until October 31st. Remember that on November 1st the regulations will be back in place and the bait-masters crew will have to find somewhere else to fish. One of my greatest fears is that a bunch of chubs will be flushed into the lake once they quit irrigating. I’m not sure there is enough of a predator base left in the lake to keep them in check. The river above and below Minersville is full of chubs just waiting to find a new home. The last few years the various bass species and larger trout really kept the chubs in check. I’m not sure that will happen now. Only time will tell.
Big sky, it’s not likely Chubs will ever be an issue at Minersville again. A bigger fear is some fly fishermen introduce some “ Golden Trout” into the water shed.?
PBH, I agree with with you for the most part. I think helping the predators out during the bait fishing free for all might not be a bad idea.
At least it would alleviate Big Sky’s fear of Chubs.
I think they made the right move this summer. They have Minersville dialed in, only thing missing is water.
There are always tons of chubs in the river above and below the lake.
Like Wiper hunter pretty much said, those chubs would be a weekend snack even for the wipers still in the lake now.
Chubs are are no longer an issue at Minersville.
Only thing put in the lake so far this year is 4500 wipers…
Does anyone want to tell the ( real ) story of how chubs got in Beaver river drainage to start with.
The chubs have been kept in check by the wipers and it is a success story at Minersville. However the majority of mature sized wipers are no longer in Minersville, hence the reason for my concern. The 4000+ wipers they did put in are smaller than a lot of the chubs. So it will be a year or two before they have any affect on the chub population.
](2666CD77 7D4E 4B28 8B22 A0206BDB9D3E — Postimages) Praying that this is the view looking back at the house from out on the lake come this June. 
