Times Observer file photo by Josh Cotton Chapman Lake has been coming back to life in recent years after a drawdown. Bass and bluegill have been stocked in the lake over the last three years and the first survey of that effort is set for later this year. Those species are catch and release only at this stage to give time for growth.

When the dam at Chapman State Park needed work several years ago, the lake was drawn down to give crews space to get the job done.

In the wake of that work, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission undertook a multi-year stocking plan to breathe life back into the lake.

Trout have been stocked in the reservoir each of the last three years but the Commission is playing a long game with a couple other species — bass and bluegill.

Bringing the fishery back to life requires planning but, more importantly, time.

“We usually run a three year restocking plan,” Fish & Boat Fisheries Biologist Brian Ensign said.

For Chapman that meant three years of fingerling (about one to two inches) bass stocking and two years of bluegill as well as forage species — fathead minnows and shiners — as a food source for the bass.

Bass were stocked in 2019, 2020 and 2021 while bluegill were stocked in 2020 and 2021. That’s likely all the outside stocking that will be required.

Ensign said something unique about Chapman is that it is fed by the West Branch of the Tionesta Creek.

“That’s additional forage that would be in the lake as well,” he said.

Over the course of the three years, an estimated 45,000 bass fingerlings were stocked as well as 14,000 bluegill.

The lake has historically been good for bass. A 2004 study found bass as long as 17 inches in the lake. Bluegill previously showed low fertility and slow growth rates which is believed to have been caused by some acidity issues.

The fish stocked are now at an age where natural reproduction should be occurring.

“We haven’t gotten in there to do a survey yet,” Ensign said. But that first survey is currently planned for May. “That will be our first initial survey since we’ve had some stockings in there.”

The timing of the first survey corresponds to the spawning stage for the bass when they will be closer to shore.

Ensign explained what they hope to learn from that first survey.

One is pretty simple — “total abundance. How many fish are in the lake.” But that figure will pave the way for calculations about survival rate based on what was stocked. The size of the fish will enable growth rate calculations that can be compared to other lakes in the region. Size distribution will also factor in to the survey.

Ensign said there are too many competing factors to hazard a guess at survival rates, such as water temperature, winter experiences, predation.

“Overall, I would say the survival rate of those is fairly high,” he said, because there are not many “other predators in the lake.” Starting from scratch in a situation like Chapman means “they have a really high chance.”

The fact that all the fish were stocked at the same size also leads to higher survival rates though he cautioned that the cool temperatures of the lake brought by the Tionesta Creek could lead to “significantly slower” growth rates than an impoundment that warms up more in the summer.

Ensign said other species beyond bluegill, bass and stocked trout were in the lake prior to the drawdown, including bullhead catfish, pumpkinseed, suckers and yellow perch.

The perch were a “stunted population” with “nothing of size. We often see this in lakes where the water is really cold,” he said, explaining the lake is best managed as trout, bass and panfish water. “It’s a trout stocked lake. It gets a lot of pressure with our trout anglers. That’s primarily its use.”

The upcoming survey will also reveal whether any of those remaining species survived the drawdown and are still present in the reservoir.

“(We’ll) have a good idea of what once we complete the survey,” Ensign said, but speculated those other species are “probably going to be in the lake” as the drawdown was not complete or long enough to preclude the possibility. “It’s a very good possibility given the conditions they had,” he said.

Anglers shouldn’t expect the results of the survey, even if they’re promising, to quickly result in a change of regulation for the lake.

“The last thing we want to do is open up a regulation that is not ready for harvest,” Ensign said. “We have two options when we have a lake refilled and we begin to stock it.” One is miscellaneous — which kept the door open to keep stocked trout — or catch and release only.

“Because there’s trout in this one and we stock it, we wanted our anglers to be able to harvest the trout,” he said, while the bass and panfish remain protected. “We just want to make sure we get all the facts right.”

The first survey will be a key step in that effort.

“The next thing we would do is allow those fish to grow and mature a little bit more (and) do an official trap net survey” followed by a bass survey.

It’s likely the restrictions will remain in place for at least another year.

“It could be further, somewhere in there,” Ensign said. “(We’ll) have a better projection once we get the survey done.”