Andrwhite610
Active member
Thoughts? Should this open up the lower Tully to various species? I can’t read the article because I’m not a subscriber.
Tully Bushong damn removal
- Thread starter Andrwhite610
- Start date
Here is a dated (2021) article about the removal of the dam >
www.readingeagle.com
What is delaying demolition of the Bushong Mill Dam? [Ask the Eagle]
Near the mouth of the Tulpehocken Creek, where it meets the Schuylkill River in Reading, a dam impedes the cool waters that have been filtered through Blue Marsh Lake. Just above that dam is a stre…
www.readingeagle.com
Nocktavius
Well-known member
Hope they don't botch this one as badly as the Cacoosing hack job.
rancid waders
Active member
I used to work with some guys who used to fish down below there for muskies
caddisflyer
Well-known member
I know people want all the dams removed to allow fish to move freely. And silt does get deposited behind these things for better or worse. I would like to know what the goal of the project is. I could not see article. Sometimes these dam removals do not give good results. The fishing presently is good above and below the dam. If it aint broke... Now if they were going to spend money to dredge Blue Marsh to make more capacity for cold water I would be on board! ( I am looking at it from the point of view of good fishing.)
Nocktavius
Well-known member
Let’s build that dam 100 more feet tall while we’re at it!
LehighRegular
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- Sep 11, 2006
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I think this dam is a low head / high hazard dam. No use for it anymore and the other associated structures are dilapidated. There still is the dam at Grings mill that will imped any fish migration into the delayed harvest stretch of water. This will open up the stream from the mouth (Schuylkill River) to Grings Mill.
Andrwhite610
Active member
Officials talk possible improvements to area once Bushong Dam demo complete
Bushong Dam is in the city's Glenside neighborhood, where the Tulpehocken Creek and Schuylkill River come together.
A slightly awkward segment on the removal.
Interested to see how the smallie fishing changes below Grings Mill.
Another project to enhance connectivity would be to add a rock ramp fish passage facility on river-right below Grings Mill Dam where a natural bedrock ramp exists part way up its face. Fish already ascend the bedrock ramp and leap into the spill at or near the top of the dam. A rock ramp fishway would finish reconnecting almost the entire drainage system (Tully, Cacoosing, Plum) from the Schuylkill upstream to Blue Marsh Dam with the exception of the Plum Ck drainage upstream from the blockage created by the dam on Plum Ck, located about .50 - .75 mi upstream from its mouth.
Regarding Andrwhite’s comment on SMB, I think it’s more likely than not that SMB would move in spring from the Schuylkill to Grings Mill Dam based on their migratory behavior rivers into tributary streams elsewhere. This might not occur immediately, but as lower Tully habitat improves over time in the stretch now impounded by Bushong Dam, this benefit could be realized, as could the seasonal movement of wild and stocked trout from the Schuylkill into the Tully as the Schuylkill warms.
I would expect immediate seasonal movement of some other species to occur, such as the spawning run of white suckers. Access to the Tully for the few American eels remaining in the Schuylkill will be enhanced and with over 30 species utilizing Schuylkill River fishways in spring one can anticipate at least some of those species moving up the Tully as well.
Regarding Andrwhite’s comment on SMB, I think it’s more likely than not that SMB would move in spring from the Schuylkill to Grings Mill Dam based on their migratory behavior rivers into tributary streams elsewhere. This might not occur immediately, but as lower Tully habitat improves over time in the stretch now impounded by Bushong Dam, this benefit could be realized, as could the seasonal movement of wild and stocked trout from the Schuylkill into the Tully as the Schuylkill warms.
I would expect immediate seasonal movement of some other species to occur, such as the spawning run of white suckers. Access to the Tully for the few American eels remaining in the Schuylkill will be enhanced and with over 30 species utilizing Schuylkill River fishways in spring one can anticipate at least some of those species moving up the Tully as well.
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In the 1980’s having boat electrofished the length of the pool created by the dam I was not impressed by its fish population. Pools immediately upstream from mill dams usually don’t have very good fish habitat and have poor substrates. In contrast, the good muskellunge fishing noted in that general area was and is at “the point,” as it is locally known, which is specifically at the confluence of the Tulpehocken and the Schuylkill downstream from the dam. Which species’ fishing is now considered to be fair to good in the pool upstream from the dam?
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caddisflyer
Well-known member
I was confused about the dams being removed. Thought it was one at Grings Mill. I have good fishing for trout below and then a ways above that one. Also some good sized Red Breasted Sunfish above it a short ways. I haven't been down where it goes into river there in a while but never did much good down there.
