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Steph Chambers | Tribune-Review
Area Fisheries Manager Rick Lorson holds up a 26-pound muskellunge as Brody Eller, 11 of Somerset, admires its teeth during a fish salvage at Donegal Lake on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 before the $5 million construction project begins to rebuild the facility’s dam. The fish were relocated to Acme Dam, Mammoth Lake and Bridgeport Reservoir in Westmoreland County, plus Green Lick Reservoir in Fayette County.
BY JEFF HIMLER
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016, 10:42 p.m.
Updated 8 hours ago
A 26-pound muskie was the catch of the day Tuesday at Donegal Lake.
The prodigious fish more than filled one of the long, cylindrical baskets Fish and Boat Commission crews and volunteers used to tote their catch from the water's edge to the top of the lake's earthen dam on the first of a two-day fish salvage operation.
The fish are being relocated to other area lakes and reservoirs as water has been drained from all but a small portion of the 90-acre Donegal Lake in preparation for reconstruction of its 1967 dam and spillway.
Rick Lorson, area fisheries manager for the commission, singled out the mammoth muskie as the most-impressive specimen that surfaced Tuesday. He noted largemouth bass and crappie have been more prolific in the lake, which also has been home to bluegill and stocked trout.
By late morning, three commission trucks had left, each carrying about 500 pounds of fish. The haul included “a nice golden rainbow trout” and a 9-pound bass, Lorson said. “The big ones keep on coming. We've had probably three dozen fish over 5 pounds so far, and that's only after an hour and a half.”
The commission's boat crew used electrodes to help collect the fish — directing a roughly 200-volt, 4-amp current into the water to temporarily stun them, making them easy to net and handle.
Lorson expected any catfish would be the last to make it into the boat.
“They stay down as deep in the water as they can get,” he said.
Not all the fish will survive to inhabit new waters.
“We will collect as many fish as we can and move them to other lakes, but it is impossible to capture all of them,” Jason Detar, the commission's chief of fisheries management, said in a press release. “Fish die during any draw-down and salvage effort. Some hide around structures where we simply can't reach them, and others become buried in the mud when they are slow to exit the lake with the remaining water.”
But Lorson said the timing of the salvage operation this fall will give Donegal's fish the best chance of weathering the transfer to a new habitat.
“It's a cooler time of year, so there's more oxygen in the water,” he noted.
Commission fish culturist Barry Wagner said the captured fish are placed in tanks containing water drawn from the lake, insulated to help maintain the prevailing temperature. Each tank can hold up to 250 pounds.
The crew planned to finish Tuesday's work by catching fish in the tailrace, immediately downstream from the dam.
The fish are being relocated to several nearby bodies of water — Mammoth Lake, Acme Dam and Bridgeport Reservoir in Westmoreland County and Green Lick Reservoir in Fayette.
The 24-acre Mammoth Lake in Mt. Pleasant Township contains a similar mix of species, making it a suitable destination for the salvaged fish, Lorson said. “You don't want to upset that balance.”
Beginning in August, the commission lifted all seasons, sizes and creel limits at the lake. Anglers took advantage of that unrestricted fishing — including Dave Yarkosky of Greensburg, who helped relay baskets of fish.
“I've been here every day the last couple of weeks because the fishing was good,” he said.
His haul included a bullhead catfish over 13 inches long.
Mike Sibal, who lives near the lake, prepared for a few seasons without a stocked lake. He caught 10 bass and transferred them to his pond.
“I'll fish at my house now,” he said.
Once the dam is reconstructed and fish have been restocked, anglers should find a greater variety of species in the Donegal Township lake. Lorson said channel catfish will be added to the stocking program there.
Trout are expected to be back in 2019. Lorson said it may take three years from restocking in late 2018 or early 2019 for a new population of bluegills and crappies to fully mature.
According to commission spokesman Eric Levis, the dam contract should be awarded in late spring. Construction is expected to continue through 2018.
The spillway will be widened, and the earthen dam will be reinforced with concrete.
The estimated $5 million project is among five high-hazard, unsafe dam repairs and design of two other dams that will be covered by $25.7 million from Pennsylvania's capital budget.
Dams are considered unsafe if they have a deficiency that, if not corrected, could cause substantial property damage and a probable loss of human life in the event of failure.
Though the lake itself will be closed for public use immediately after the fish salvage, property around the lake will remain open for recreational uses such as hiking.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622 or jhimler@tribweb.com.
Area Fisheries Manager Rick Lorson holds up a 26-pound muskellunge as Brody Eller, 11 of Somerset, admires its teeth during a fish salvage at Donegal Lake on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016 before the $5 million construction project begins to rebuild the facility’s dam. The fish were relocated to Acme Dam, Mammoth Lake and Bridgeport Reservoir in Westmoreland County, plus Green Lick Reservoir in Fayette County.
BY JEFF HIMLER
Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2016, 10:42 p.m.
Updated 8 hours ago
A 26-pound muskie was the catch of the day Tuesday at Donegal Lake.
The prodigious fish more than filled one of the long, cylindrical baskets Fish and Boat Commission crews and volunteers used to tote their catch from the water's edge to the top of the lake's earthen dam on the first of a two-day fish salvage operation.
The fish are being relocated to other area lakes and reservoirs as water has been drained from all but a small portion of the 90-acre Donegal Lake in preparation for reconstruction of its 1967 dam and spillway.
Rick Lorson, area fisheries manager for the commission, singled out the mammoth muskie as the most-impressive specimen that surfaced Tuesday. He noted largemouth bass and crappie have been more prolific in the lake, which also has been home to bluegill and stocked trout.
By late morning, three commission trucks had left, each carrying about 500 pounds of fish. The haul included “a nice golden rainbow trout” and a 9-pound bass, Lorson said. “The big ones keep on coming. We've had probably three dozen fish over 5 pounds so far, and that's only after an hour and a half.”
The commission's boat crew used electrodes to help collect the fish — directing a roughly 200-volt, 4-amp current into the water to temporarily stun them, making them easy to net and handle.
Lorson expected any catfish would be the last to make it into the boat.
“They stay down as deep in the water as they can get,” he said.
Not all the fish will survive to inhabit new waters.
“We will collect as many fish as we can and move them to other lakes, but it is impossible to capture all of them,” Jason Detar, the commission's chief of fisheries management, said in a press release. “Fish die during any draw-down and salvage effort. Some hide around structures where we simply can't reach them, and others become buried in the mud when they are slow to exit the lake with the remaining water.”
But Lorson said the timing of the salvage operation this fall will give Donegal's fish the best chance of weathering the transfer to a new habitat.
“It's a cooler time of year, so there's more oxygen in the water,” he noted.
Commission fish culturist Barry Wagner said the captured fish are placed in tanks containing water drawn from the lake, insulated to help maintain the prevailing temperature. Each tank can hold up to 250 pounds.
The crew planned to finish Tuesday's work by catching fish in the tailrace, immediately downstream from the dam.
The fish are being relocated to several nearby bodies of water — Mammoth Lake, Acme Dam and Bridgeport Reservoir in Westmoreland County and Green Lick Reservoir in Fayette.
The 24-acre Mammoth Lake in Mt. Pleasant Township contains a similar mix of species, making it a suitable destination for the salvaged fish, Lorson said. “You don't want to upset that balance.”
Beginning in August, the commission lifted all seasons, sizes and creel limits at the lake. Anglers took advantage of that unrestricted fishing — including Dave Yarkosky of Greensburg, who helped relay baskets of fish.
“I've been here every day the last couple of weeks because the fishing was good,” he said.
His haul included a bullhead catfish over 13 inches long.
Mike Sibal, who lives near the lake, prepared for a few seasons without a stocked lake. He caught 10 bass and transferred them to his pond.
“I'll fish at my house now,” he said.
Once the dam is reconstructed and fish have been restocked, anglers should find a greater variety of species in the Donegal Township lake. Lorson said channel catfish will be added to the stocking program there.
Trout are expected to be back in 2019. Lorson said it may take three years from restocking in late 2018 or early 2019 for a new population of bluegills and crappies to fully mature.
According to commission spokesman Eric Levis, the dam contract should be awarded in late spring. Construction is expected to continue through 2018.
The spillway will be widened, and the earthen dam will be reinforced with concrete.
The estimated $5 million project is among five high-hazard, unsafe dam repairs and design of two other dams that will be covered by $25.7 million from Pennsylvania's capital budget.
Dams are considered unsafe if they have a deficiency that, if not corrected, could cause substantial property damage and a probable loss of human life in the event of failure.
Though the lake itself will be closed for public use immediately after the fish salvage, property around the lake will remain open for recreational uses such as hiking.
Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622 or jhimler@tribweb.com.
