Took my son to Darby Creek to learn how to fly fish. The creek in the summer is loaded with small sunnies and fallfish. We went to Hoffman Park in Lansdowne/ Clifton Heights. When we arrived the parking lot was overflowing with cars and traffic. There was a Lansdowne cop parked with his lights on. We parked and walked the holes. Every hole was filled with 10 or more people swimming. The bank was littered with trash and some people drinking and smoking weed. Most of the people were there with their families. Small kids to older adults swimming in the creek. In the stretch from the outfield to Bonnie’s plants there were probably 200 people. There’s no public bathrooms at the park. We walked back to the car and passed the police officer, he shook his head and apologized. He said there’s nothing he can do. He’s complained to the borough manager about it and the borough doesn’t seem to care. We drove to Kent park were there was more people swimming but enough space that we could fish. We caught some sunnies and saved the day from disaster. It’s a shame that a local stream is just being over run by people trashing it. Most of the cars had New Jersey plates. If anyone lives in the area I recommend you go on a weekend to see it first hand and file a complaint with the Lansdowne borough manager. Hopefully the more people that complain then they will pass an ordinance that doesn’t allow swimming. The same thing happened last year in Springfield on Darby creek. It’s bad enough having to clean up after ignorant bait fishermen who trash this area but there’s no way level of disgusting trash be left behind should be allowed to continue.
