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Fish Cultural Station
Open To Public
Eight experimental ponds at the Game Commission’s Front Royal Fish Cultural Station near Waterlick will be again opened to public angling as part of a continuing study to evaluate the effects of a 12inch size limit on bass, according to Fish Division Chief R. G. Martin. The hatchery ponds were first opened under the 12-inch regulation last year from July 1 through Labor Day, following a similar evaluation of a 14-inch size limit which began in 1961.
The ponds were initially stocked with adult bass and bluegills in a ratio to simulate a natural fish population. This year and in subsequent years of the study no fish will be added, to see what effect the regulation has on reproduction and growth. Four of the ponds have a 12-inch minimum length limit on bass and the other four have no minimum size limit, so the effects on the fish populations can be compared. Regular daily creel limits of 8 bass and 25 bluegills apply. The ponds are open for angling from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on week days (closed Mondays), from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. A total of 1,911 persons fished in the hatchery ponds during the two-month season in the summer of 1965. They caught 249 bass and 1,907 bluegills from all ponds combined. The ponds with the 12-inch limit produced fewer bass but a significantly greater poundage of bluegills than did the ponds with no limit. The total yield from both groups of ponds was nearly equal.
86.3%