Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened?

Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (Full Version)

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CATMAN610 -> Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 3:46:18 PM)
Shawnee Lake in bedford county was as close to a fishermans paradise as we get close to home here. Large amounts of bass, pike, walleye, panfish and the decent odd number a very big musky. The last several years that seems to have all changed. Now the only large number of fish seen here are big schools of carp, and swarms of pint sized bullheads. Any thoughts on this from anyone familiar with the lake?

plnoldrick -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 4:00:00 PM)
half-ass warmwater fisheries management on the states behalf. all they care about is thier glorious trout program.

bronzeback2 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 5:58:58 PM)
Exactly, why so much is put into trout?, and was told that they can't even come up with wiper fingerlings to stock in arthur this year! think they need to take a long look at what provides the most interest and return for their money as well as opprutunities. Think there is a lot of us who spend a lot more time fishing for more than trout.

davef -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 6:25:23 PM)
Up untill the year they had the big draw down (10 years?) i used to catch limits of nice size perch in the fall. Ever since i'm still trying to catch one nice one.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 7:33:54 PM)
I remember the perch too, 5 - 6 dozen minnows worth anyhow. Now they're not much bigger than the fatheads if you catch one at all.

nitro 929 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 8:42:43 PM)
The lake has some kind of alge in it that takes the oxygen out of the water. There is no weeds in the lake to put oxygen back in the water so the fish are actually dying. The last 2 year I have seen 3 and 4 pound bass floating all over the lake. The PFBC is going to treat the lake mid Apirl to mid May. I am not sure what they are going to put in the lake but they said it will kill alot of small fish. It is going to get alot worse before it gets better. It will be many many years before the lake is back to what it used to be.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 8:49:48 PM)
I would love to know who the genious was from the PFBC who always wanted to kill off the weeds in the lake all the years past. why? so people could use the swimming area for a few weeks a year without getting a weed or two stuck between their toes?

BassinTom -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 8:51:20 PM)
I use to fish Shawnee years ago to and had tons of good catches and luck there but in the past few year post draw down everything has stopped. I have to agree Davef with the draw down theory does do more harm than good. It seems that every lake I have fished that has gone on draw down has lost the size and amount of fish being caught. Is it that mother nature is survival of the fit? I don't know but draw downs just do seem to help fisherys IMHO. As to the trout stocking of the PFBC that is what most angler live for in this state. We have one of the largest trout stocking programs in the country. If I remember correctly reading some where that PA is one of the best states to fish for trout. But if you go to the following link and pick your county you can see what has been stocked in previous years. http://http://pfbc.state.pa.us/pfbc_webgis/WWCWStockingDetails_historical.aspx

nitro 929 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 9:42:50 PM)
I know one of the draw downs was to fix the bridges and one to fix the boat docks in the park where you can rent the boats. But I think all the other ones where so stupid. I can remember when you could hardly get a boat through most places because of the weeds. That is when the bass fishing was great.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 9:50:43 PM)
Right,,all the fish were thriving then,,,and so were the fishermen. And the draw-downs were just putting all the legal sized fish on a silver platter for the meat-hunters who kept everything.

nitro 929 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/22/2008 11:46:30 PM)
There was a bunch of them to!!!!

porter64 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/23/2008 12:42:42 AM)
Trout are the PFBC's bread and butter! Thats how they make they're money on put and take opening day trout fisherman and forget that us who are after predator fish ,kept or released, are the ones who seem to care the most. Not all trout fishing! Just the one day a year guys Same with the game commish. It seems the last people that they want to help are the true outdoorsman!!

Panfisher -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/23/2008 9:33:10 AM)
Since the big drawdown to fix the bridges the lake has gone to the dogs. The lake has never recovered from that. And last summer the water turned brown. I waded in with a white T-shirt and was brown when I got out. I quit fishing the lake. Not worth the effort any more.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/23/2008 9:51:42 AM)
I understand trout fishing is where they make thier money but, take a close look at the number of guys trout fishing this year and the number of trout they are putting in, both are in decline. The PFBC is losing that battle too. After trout season is over what fair-weather weekend angler would want to take thier familiy or anybody else to a lake that smells is brown and empty?,,,not to mention campers, picnicing, and hikers?

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 10:58:27 AM)
What happened to shawnee is an embarrasing disgrace to park management, pfbc, or both. For the past 15 years they have been screwing with that lake, apparently trying to fix something that wasn't broke for the sake of taking credit for something that was already great. Even after they drained the lake down, the fishing actually got better. They should have let that place alone and stuck to riding with their deputy suck boys to lead another load of pelletheads to slaughter. Does anyone remember how good the perch and crappie fishing was until they placed all those wooden stakes in one area that allowed thousands upon thousands of pan fish to be cleaned out? Then they decided to eliminate every single weed in that lake, ya know, the only cover/habitat the fish had in that lake. The spawning conditions were prime there and the bass fishing was incredible until they decided kill all the weeds. Now the water is dirty, swimming area is disgusting, and the fishing sucks. Did the weeds bother the campers riding their bikes around the lake or walking their dogs. Or maybe the few people renting row boats. I have tried to get answers and all they are full of lame excuses.

plnoldrick -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 1:17:23 PM)
hey trout fishing is great. alot of guys love to fish for trout. i even like to every once in a while. but because a million people want to fish for one day does not constitute a reason to forget about other species. we are surrounded by states who have thriving trout programs but also equally thriving warmwater fisheries management. ive said it before and i'll say it again, these programs like panfish enhancement and big bass etc are generic and dont work for everything. instead of doing cheap things like downing tree's, dumping gravel or rock, introducing species of plant and animals that manage lakes naturally etc they throw millions of fry or fingerlings at declining fish populations or dump thousands of gallons of weed killer and draw down lakes excessively and destroy ecosystems. you can only "reboot" a ecosystem so many times before it starts backfiring. it's never gonna change untill they start managing fisheries locally and dump the generic project regulations and start aggressive habitat management to prevent situations instad of implementing extreme measures to deal with problems that result from the sit back and see what happens mentality.

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 2:26:14 PM)
I fish for trout too, and to be honest I fish for them more than once a year. I don't mind paying for a stamp that supports trout fishing. I can't sit here and blame the trout program for what happens to the other fishing, I don't have any numbers to support it. Actually, it seems that less attention is given to the trout program with less being stocked and even though you can fish for them now, it seems to be a shorter trout season if you are counting from opening day through spring. There are things about trout season that do make me laugh, but I don't bash trout fishing like a million others will do on this site for the next 2 months or so. It's the same thing every year, put and take, put and take. No reason to act like they are an endangered species while stocking them and return later to make sure everyone fishing is following the rules to a tee while other non trout fisheries are falling apart from mismanagement, stupidity, etc. Now, after shawnee has turned into a dirty dead sea, they have a warden out there patrolling with an attitude. There are dead bass floating the shorelines, meanwhile he is checking the same people 2 to 3 times a day like that is going to save the place. What about all the screw ups that ruined the lake to begin with, should we worry about that?

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 3:52:17 PM)
I don't want to put down trout fishing at all either, I also fish for them quite a bit, although not as much as years past through no fault of my own(see in-season schedule for that reason) I would like to make a few points that could improve everyones trout season. 1. just as was mentioned above, these are put and take, not gold bars 2. Just because someone might have purchased a PFBC hat at the local sports show, doesn't mean they work for them, please don't follow around guys fishing, stocking, or watching the stocking and pester them about everything. I have tons of examples if anyone wants. 3.For your own sake don't follow around and kiss the wardens butt, or tell everyone the warden is on your speed dial, no one cares. 4.Please don't stand around talking about hating stocked trout or telling everyone, "this is for the kids", and then be seen running buckets of fish into the woods to try and hide them in your "secret" hole. 5.If someone walks up to you at a creek and asks if they stocked it,,please just tell the truth and don't say "i dunno", because if they did we'll find out as soon as we start fishing anyhow. If everyone would voice there own opinion, or be as worried about warmwater fishing as much as they do trout,, we'd all be alot better off.

Kokanee Killer -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 7:18:27 PM)
i have been told that one of the problems with the algae is the area is rich floodplain with a lot of agriculture runoff,more phosphates in the water a lake can become too fertile. i agree with all posters the lake just is not the same since 1996 drawdown they keep messin with it

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 7:35:55 PM)
There probably is alot of rich and fertile land around the lake but that means the land should absorb. Fertile water is kind of the same concept, I think. If anything, the phosphates helped the weeds and abundance of fish. That's when the place was thriving. I don't think that is the problem, why would that be the problem all of a sudden. The Einstein's who messed with the lake are the reason for this disaster.

Kokanee Killer -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 7:43:57 PM)
yeah i dont know,but i also remember the lake being a lot deeper at the breast area so to me that sounds like a lot of siltation runoff, i dont know for sure ask the pafbc lol[;)]

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 7:46:02 PM)
I'd say it hasn't been the same since the end of the Pike explosion in 2002, I was there in the fall of either 03 or 04, not sure, but they stocked an entire truck of fingerling tiger musky that day, 3500,, the driver told me less than 10 percent would survive. But he also said at the time that the lake was so rich and full of nutients they would double in size the first 3 years. Now they seemed to have flushed all that time money and effort down the toilet.

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 7:52:34 PM)
From what I have been reading, I must of had the best kept secret of fishing in the southwest because shawnee was unbelievable after the drawdown of 2006. I watched in agony as all the fish were sucked into the creek that year, but after I gave it another shot a year or two later, after everybody thought the place was finished, I was amazed of the amount and size of fish. I can understand the purpose of them draining the lake, but all the other 'solutions' they had to a non-problem blew up in their faces.

Kokanee Killer -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 7:53:50 PM)
yeah, everytime they opened the spillway it looked like a hatchery for hammerhandle pike and tiger muskies heck trout guys were catching them at manns choice in the big river

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 8:00:48 PM)
I'm not sure why the water depth at the breast changed. I do know they did alot of inspection and work to the breast and that area when the lake was down in 1996.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 8:09:33 PM)
In 2001-2002 the pike in that place were far from hammerhandle's, more legal sized pike were being caught than sub-legal, but as usual the meat-hunters were there in full attack to make sure that didn't continue

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 8:19:21 PM)
Do you remember when they drained the lake down in 1992 and placed all those wooden stakes in that new wonderful spot they created? Speaking of meathunters, that was goodbye panfish for that place. The was one of the most unecessary things I had ever seen. The retirees were at clear shade creek worried to death about spreading the brookies out into the riffles so they wouldn't be caught so easy. Yeah, that really works! Cleaned out a day or two later. But the exact same guys were keeping 100 crappie a day at the new desperate meathunter spot at shawnee.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/24/2008 8:30:19 PM)
I remember seeing guys shoulder to shoulder fishing there from ice-out to trout opener, and from thier own mouth telling us they were keeping 50 in the morning and 50 more at night, where was that brazzen, bold, pathetic warden then, probably still watching guys fishing for 3 inch perch at the outflow, or watching a bunch of guys in PFBC hats fall all over them at a trout stocking somewhere

coolerfull1 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/28/2008 8:12:45 PM)
Well, I know it's that time of the year to stock up on cans of corn, tune the radio station to listen to the pirates lose, and sit at the local trout lake, but anybody who read through this thread should call or email the pfbc and demand answers. I feel sorry for the bait shops around shawnee that were there for as long as I can remember, I heard they even have petitions to sign pleading people to contact the fish commision and or the state to do something about this. They may have to close down shop anyhow. Shawnee reminds me of the rest of western PA, a dying population with everything going to waste and nobody cares.

CATMAN610 -> RE: Shawnee LK,bedford county,,what happened? (3/29/2008 8:32:48 PM)
I heard from someone yesterday that they are going to nearly tottally drain the lake in april/may, and start over from there. In about 5 years the fishing may be back to some normalsy if they don't botch this up as well. I still get a bit sick to my stomach when i think about killing weeds to ruin fishing and please a few swimmers. You can camp anywhere and swim at the YMCA you only get a certain amount of good fishing holes.

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