Glade Run Lake progressing nicely as a fishery

Posted on: August 15, 2018 | Bob Frye | Comments

Glade Run Lake is home to a growing fishery.

The Fish and Boat Commission stocked Glade Run Lake with largemouth bass fingerlings, as well as with some adult fish.
Photo: USFWS

So far, so good, that’s the story with Glade Run Lake.

Located near Valencia in Butler County, the 52-acre lake was drained in 2011 for dam repairs. It refilled in 2017.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has worked to restore the fishing ever since.

Adult trout were stocked each of the past two years. Anglers can keep those fish.

The commission also planted an assortment of warmwater species. It manages those on a catch and release basis right now, until populations get back to optimum levels.

That’s not likely until 2020 or so, said Tim Wilson, a biologist in the commission’s area 1 office in Linesville.

But the good news is how things are progressing.

The commission stocked golden and spottail shiners in the lake to provide a forage base. Largemouth bass fingerlings went in, too, along with some adult largemouth salvaged from Somerset Lake when it was drained.

Bluegills, pumpkinseeds and white suckers present in the stream that flows into Glade Run swam into the lake on their own.

A survey done this spring revealed all are doing well.

“We had really good survival of the fish we stocked last year,” Wilson said. “I was quite happy to see the bass especially doing as well as they have.”

The commission and a cooperative nursery run by Butler Intermediate High School are stocking the lake with channel catfish. Crews didn’t find any of those in the survey, though that’s not surprising, Wilson said. Catfish are notoriously difficult to catch with electroshocking equipment.

Crews did find bullhead catfish, though. That could be good, if they grow large enough, he added.

Just as encouraging is what’s not in the lake.

Wilson said biologists were hoping they would find any gizzard shad or carp in Glade Run.

“And we didn’t see any of that, thank goodness,” he said.

One other species will join the lake’s mix this year. Hopefully, anyway.

Last year, biologists requested crappies for stocking in Glade Run.

“But the pond failed,” Wilson said. “And so we didn’t get crappies last year. But we’re hoping to get crappie fingerlings this year to start the crappie population.”

All in all, the future for Glade Run looks pretty bright.

“It’s coming back pretty nice. I’m happy with the way it’s turning out,” Wilson said.

Glade Run Lake habitat

The most noticeable thing about Glade Run lake right now may be its trees.

When the lake re-filled, the commission left the trees that had grown up in the lakebed standing. That was by design, said biologist Tim Wilson.

“In the old days, when we built a dam, the first thing you did was go in and rip out all the trees. And then we spent the rest of our careers putting cover back in the lake with all kind of different habitat projects,” he said.

“Here we had a chance to let nature do it, and it did a really good job.”

That cover is attracting everything from turtles to ducks to ospreys. It is and will long be magnet for fish, too.

“It should be really good, beneficial habitat for the fish. I mean, that was the ultimate goal behind it, was to improve the habitat for the fish,” Wilson said.

And that should benefit anglers in the long run, he added.

 

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Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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