Scott's Run

[acesedgley]

After a few skunkings at this lake near my home, finally hooked into 3 largemouths last night.

The nicest part of the trip was that they were caught on one of my first attempts at tying a Dahlberg Diver. This fly worked well, staying on top and making lots of racket.

I had been concerned with the lack of action in my previous trips to Scott's Run, as it had been drawn down for several weeks (months?) recently. Now it's companion Hopewell Lake is drawn down.

I would like to hear opinions (especially from you MIKE) as to how these drawdowns can affect fishing and fish populations.

 

[tomgamber]

GOOD CHOICE. I LIKE A GURGLER FOR THE SAME REASONS. DISTANTLY RELATED FOAM VERSION OF THE DIVER.

I've seen them do drawdowns of lakes, like Twin Lakes in Westmoreland co., to try to kill some of the aquatic weeds. I'm not familiar with Scott's Run but I would imagine the fish populations would benefit in the long run to weed kills.

 

[Mike]

Partial to full lake drawdowns and everything in between can be used for fisheries management purposes, so any fisheries mgr who has man-made lakes in his/her district should be very familiar with the topic and their use as a management tool. Likewise fisheries managers should be knowledgable regarding their potential negative effects. In Pa, more drawdowns occur for seasonal flood control purposes and dam repairs than for fisheries management purposes and some are ill-timed from purely a fisheries perspective. As an example, when the word comes down from HBG that there is a dam safety problem the reaction is pretty immediate and fisheries take a back seat to safety. Impacts on fisheries depend upon the timing, extent, and duration of drawdowns as well as the fish species present. Impacts can be positive, negative, and neutral, all at the same time depending upon the species of fish(es) involved. Drawdowns and their use and impacts are very interesting and lengthy topics in fisheries management and lake ecology.

Drawdowns at this time of the year are not done for vascular aquatic plant management; that is a winter affair.

 

[HopBack]

I was hoping to get out to scotts run lake soon to chase some pickerel. I can remember as a kid having a lot of fun with this small lake.

The pickerel are still there as evidenced by the photos Ive found from peoples catches, however everyone says the same thing, just not that many fish in this lake.

I find that hard to believe and will still test it out for myself but you cant find a single positive report for Scotts run lake.

Maybe someone more knowledgeable with chime in.

 

[Mike]

I don't know the present CP status in Scotts, but it would be hard to believe that they are gone. Since CP are of interest to you, the best SE populations in lakes are in Lower Owl Creek Res near Tamaqua, Tuscarora Lake and Leaser Lake. None have the numbers seen in Poconos lakes, but my understanding from bass anglers is that the number in lower Owl Ck Res approach that.

Upper Owl Ck Reservoir's fish pops are coming on and may be worth investigating as well. Both of the Owl Ck Reservoirs were drawn down. Added benefit...side trip to Owl Ck itself...a Class A ST pop above the reservoirs and used to be below as well. Status below now unknown since the drawdown...water temp regime may have changed.

Of note is that an angler caught a confirmed CP in Speedwell Forge Lake last year. CP were never present in the lake before and the PFBC did not restock the lake with CP following the drawdown. It was stocked with Tiger Muskellunge, however, and at least one caught by an angler was known to have survived the initial stocking.

 

[sarce]

They were still there the last time I went there, about a year ago. Along with plenty of bass and panfish.

 

[acesedgley]

Regarding the CP in Scotts, I did manage one of those earlier this year, usually get several when targeting pan fish and bass in the shallows with topwater flies.

Scott's drawdown was over late fall /early winter...the trout stocking in the fall was cancelled, don't recall if the spring one was as well or not.

the drawdown was for dam repair.

 

[mszoke1802]

Fished Scotts Run over the weekend. Holy heck is it filled with weeds, basically 3/4 lake has a carpet of weeds just under surface. I caught zero fish, saw 2 huge bass and a very large brown trout at far end of lake sitting in shallow water. Nothing was hungry.

 

[Mike]

If the aquatic plants have expanded the surface area covered, it could be because of the partial drawdown if that drawdown extended into or throughout the summer. If partial drawdowns extend too far into a summer, then the drawdowns allow more light to penetrate into normally deeper, darker areas of a lake, encouraging plant growth in new areas. As a lake refills, the plants just grow as well to reach for the light. This is what happened at Kaercher Creek Dam, Berks Co, in the 1980's.