Bob Frye / Tribune-Review
Somerset Lake, already partially drawn down, is expected to be completely drained for dam repairs starting in 2017. Donegal Lake will be drawn down likely as soon as this fall.
That massive 52-pound, 5-ounce flathead catfish that got pulled out of Donegal Lake, the one that could have been a new state record?
It’s good someone caught it when they did.
The lake – and several other popular fishing holes like it – are about to disappear for a while.
Gov. Tom Wolf is releasing $25.7 million in funding to begin repairs on five high-hazard unsafe dams and fund design work for two others.
The lakes that will see almost immediate repairs are Donegal Lake in Westmoreland County, Somerset Lake in Somerset, Kyle Lake in Jefferson, Meadow Grounds Lake in Fulton and Minsi Lake in Northampton County. Those for which design work will be prepared are Belmont Lake and Lower Woods Pond, both in Wayne.
High-hazard dams, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which owns the waterways in question, “have deficiencies of such a nature that if not corrected and the dams were to fail, substantial property damage and a probable loss of human life could occur.”
The commission has been seeking the money to fix them for quite a while. That it finally has it is, in the long-run, good news, officials believe.
“With this commitment in place, our agency has a roadmap for restoring the remaining high-hazard, unsafe dams that we manage for anglers and boaters. We will work diligently to implement the plans to ensure that the lakes remain as centerpieces of local and regional recreational economies,” said commission executive director John Arway.
But the short-term consequences to area anglers will be real.
Repairing dams means draining lakes. Donegal and Somerset, which is already partially drawn down, are soon going to be without water or fish, and then remain that way for a while.
According to Rick Levis, press secretary for the commission, work on both lakes is expected to start in 2017. Construction typically takes 18 to 24 months to complete.
“So construction would last 2017 and 2018, and the lakes would be refilled and reopened ideally in spring/summer 2019,” Levis said.
Donegal will be the first locally to go dry.
“The drawdown schedules aren’t final yet either. But right now we’re looking at drawing down Donegal this fall, maybe mid-September, followed by a salvage. We’ll likely move fish to Mammoth Lake, Lower Twin Lakes or Acme Lake. As we’ve done previously, we will lift the sizes and creel limits and let anglers fish it out,” Levis said.
That of course means it won’t be getting stocked trout for the next two years, too.
Work on Somerset would follow.
“Right now, we’re planning to draw down Somerset in September 2017, followed by a salvage in mid-October 2017. We’d move the fish to move fish to Shawnee (State Park Lake, 35 miles away into Bedford County) and/or Loyalhanna (an Army Corps of Engineers lake 60 miles away in Westmoreland County). And we’ll lift regulations so anglers can fish it out.”
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em? How about fish ‘em while you got ‘em?
With these lakes, that’s the deal.
