North Park Lake

Anyone hear any news about possible stockings? Species, dates, etc.?

It's supposedly going to be completed on time, but haven't heard anything about stocking.

Thanks.

they likely wont stock any fish until the fall. but people have already put fish in from other local lakes and im sure that will happen all summer

ORIGINAL: northparklake2

i also heard yesterday that they finally started to remove sediment from the back lagoon where the boat launch is

I saw that too.

all the structure in place is either rough cut lumber or stone or a combo of the two

Smallmouth Bass and Perch

I just hope they actually dredge the back lagoon

Catfish, Bass, and Tigers would be great.

once they do restock i wonder what kind of regulations/creel limits the fish and boat comm will impose on north park lake. it's gonna take a couple years to get a decent fish population established, it would be kinda stupid to just let people start keeping fish before the lake is fully populated.

no way this will be done on time, imo

the lake was suppose to be done and filled with water by may 1st. then they said mid may and now i am hoping by memorial day that the lake is full

article in sundays Post....said forage fish were stocked last week and the PAFB doesn't recommend fishing until Jan. 2012. the next paragraph stated that they will stock the lake in Feb. 2012................I was confused unless I'm unaware of some fishing cult that targets forage fish?

North Park Lake slowly returns to life

Sunday, May 08, 2011
By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Two years, $21 million and nearly 300,000 cubic yards of sediment have passed since Allegheny County and the Army Corps of Engineers, with some financial help from the state, began restoring North Park Lake. With a few exceptions, primarily located in and around the Irwin Run tributary, the project is in its final stage and the lake is slowly refilling.

Don't rig up the fishing tackle -- the lake remains a slowly rising vat of milk chocolate-colored sediment, reaching depths of 6-8 feet at the dam and backing up as far as the boat launch. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recommends that public fishing resume Jan. 1, 2012. The first stockings of non-game fish occurred a couple of weeks ago, and the agency plans to restock warm-water game species for permanent residency beginning in February 2012. Limited seasonal stockings of trout would follow.

The Army Corps has completed the project's primary goal, removal of 76 years of sediment that had shaved 10 feet from the lake's maximum depth and turned 15 acres of open water into gooey, weed-choked swamp. Allegheny County has finished some tributary and landside improvements including anti-siltation measures on Pine Creek and North Branch Pine Creek. Further improvements are pending on Irwin Run, near or above the boat launch area.

In addition to the uncovering of the original stumps left in the lake bed when it was created, Fish and Boat crews have built dozens of fish habitats specific to the spawning and cover needs of baitfish and game fish of various sizes. PFBC biologist Rick Lorson suggested that savvy anglers might take note of their placement before they're covered with water.

"Or mark their locations on your GPS units," he said. "Those structures, regardless of what type they are, mimic the preferred habitat of the fish species they were placed there for."

Plant life, it's believed, will most likely repopulate itself in proportions reflecting the increased acreage of deeper open water. When stocking of game fish resumes, PFBC intends to plant fingerling and young adult populations of largemouth bass, bluegills, channel catfish and white crappies. North Park Lake is a shallow, warm-water fishery with relatively low dissolved oxygen content, not ideal for cold-water trout. Limited seasonal trout stockings will precede each opening day.

The return of North Park Lake provides a rare opportunity for wildlife biologists to create a new waterway. As current murkiness settles, the water will take on the "new lake effect."

"Prior to the draining, the [lake's] nutrients were bound to the sediment," said Lorson. "The 'new lake effect' occurs when the lake is refilled and the nutrients dissolve and disperse through the lake. Years 5 through 10 will be the best time for that lake in terms of reproduction and growth. Survival will be high."

Below the dam, the sediment problem on Pine Creek continues. Despite some siltation barriers placed in the drained lake bed by the Army Corps, mud that washed into the creek covered miles of creek bed.

"It buried the bug life," said Lorson. "Pine Creek was certainly impacted, and it will take several years of high water and storm flows to wash out that sediment."

That didn't stop PFBC from stocking trout in the creek during the past two years, although none were planted in the stream section below the dam in 2010. Stocking there resumed this year.

"Dry fly anglers are not going to have as much activity for a while," said Lorson. "They may want to work with something imitating a terrestrial. The fishing gets better farther down the creek."

Tom Walsh, who leads the Pine Creek deflector-placement project for Penn's Woods West Trout Unlimited, said he fished the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section Thursday with little success.

"The creek is pretty silted up. When you wade, you kick up a lot of mud," he said. "But the fish stocked there seemed to be holding up well. Those we caught fought well and seemed to be healthy."

About 10 rock and log deflectors placed by the group, usually in slow shallow stretches, act to narrow the creek and hasten the current, sweeping out siltation, carving deeper channels and improving habitat. The project, which began before lake restoration impacted the creek, is expected to be a big help during Pine Creek's slow return to normal.

The Dan Wagner Memorial Kid's Fishing Derby for children 2 to 12 will be held 7 a.m.-noon Saturday at North Park. Meet at the Rochester shelter located between the boathouse and tennis courts. Prizes and a picnic lunch at noon. 724-544-7284.

Viper's always good for digging up the Dirt...no pun intended.

It's too bad the PFBC doesn't have 1000's of gas wells drilled in the PFBC lakes like the PGC does with game lands. There would be no shortage of money then to repair our dams.

This springs weather probably didn't help Glad Run's dam much, either. Guess it is good for North Park though. They are getting an injection of larger fish sooner than expected.