Dutch Fork Lake in Washington County holds loads of small carp.
Photo: Pixabay
This wasn’t the plan for Dutch Fork Lake.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which owns the 91-acre water in Donegal Township in Washington County, drained it in November of 2004 after Hurricane Ivan damaged its dam, rendering it unsafe. It remained empty until spring of 2013.
Then, the dam finally rebuilt, the commission stocked it with adult trout and warmwater species.
The hope is that those latter fish – largemouth bass, channel catfish and sunfish – will repopulate the lake on a sustainable basis.
But things aren’t going as expected, at least not on all fronts.
There’s some good news.
Fish and Boat Commission biologists surveyed the lake this spring. They didn’t find any gizzard shad, a good thing as those fish often outcompete panfish for food and space.
The lake’s crappies at least are benefitting.
“In our previous survey in 1998, before the lake was drained, we captured 710 crappies, with only 11 over 9 inches,” said Mike Depew, a biologist in the commission’s area 8 office in Somerset. “This year we only captured 131 crappies, but 33 were over 9 inches and some even reached 13 inches.
“I don’t think the lake has reached its full potential with crappie but hopefully will in the next few years.”
But there’s bad news, too.
Dutch Fork Lake is polluted with common carp.
“We captured over 300 in our nets and most were small fish in the 1 to 2 pound range. Water clarity was poor (turbid) even with the stream feeding the lake being low and clear. This is quite likely attributable to the abundance of carp,” Depew said.
In such situations – small lakes with turbid water and too many carp – bluegill populations suffer. That seems to be occurring at Dutch Fork Lake, he added.
“We only handled 65 from 2 to 6 inches. It is also possible that these could just be very young bluegill that have not had time to grow to larger sizes. We will know more when we age them this winter,” Depew said.
Rick Lorson, who recently retired as the commission’s area fisheries manager, said carp swam into Dutch Fork Lake from upstream before its predator base got established. That accounts for their numbers.
Two things can turn that situation around, though.
“They have a head start, but will stabilize at a lower level as bass begin to eat the smaller ones. We encourage anglers to catch and keep them or bow fish for them,” Lorson said.
The commission plans to survey the lake’s bass population next year, Depew said. It may also stock fingerling-sized channel catfish in the future, too. .
Looking beyond Dutch Fork Lake
Fish and Boat Commission biologists surveyed a number of other area western Pennsylvania lakes besides Dutch Fork this year.
Here’s a look at some of what they found, per biologist Mike Depew:
Overall, the lake’s “fish looked good and healthy.” Crews handled 254 black crappies ranging from 3 to 11 inches, with 24 percent exceeding 9 inches. They also saw 87 bluegills from 2 to 9 inches, with 67 percent longer than 7. Also captured were eight northern pike between 19 and 3- inches. Biologists will survey the lake for bass in 2019.
Doing night electrofishing, biologists captured lots of bass, to the tune of 199 in less than an hour’s work. But, as in past surveys, the fish were generally of poor quality. Just five exceeded 12 inches in length. “It continues to show poor size structure, with the majority of fish in the 6- to 10-inch range,” Depew said. A slot limit for bass – allowing anglers to keep smaller fish – might be needed to address the situation, he added.
Like Northmoreland, this lake is full of bass, Depew said. And like those at Northmoreland, they’re generally small. . This was the second year of an evaluation for a potential slot limit for bass on the lake. “There is an overabundant number of fish from 8 to 12 inches, but few fish over 13 inches in length,” Depew said. Just seven bass topped 13 inches. A slot limit is a possibility here too, he added.
Crews collected “abundant” bluegills, “with a fair amount of healthy looking fish in the 7-inch range, which is surprising as it is a small lake with gizzard shad,” Depew said. They saw just a few small crappies, though anglers fishing deeper water report catching nicer ones. Biologists might survey the lake again in the future to validate that, he added. Bass numbers were poor – just nine were caught – but they included fish up to 21 inches. “We will be considering options to improve the fishery here over the winter but may consider supplemental stocking of bass fingerlings and channel catfish yearlings,” Depew said.
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