Plymouth Dam

[Fredrick]

Well the plymouth dam is almost gone. And the Vincent dam is next . I wonder how long before we notice a difference in the river . Here is some info I gathered
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/shad_schu.htm
http://www.greentreks.org/watershedstv/more_information/featuredtopic_shad.asp
http://www.delawareriverkeeper.org/newsresources/factsheet.asp?ID=92
http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/fisheries/afm/2009/6x06_18schuylkill.htm

I hope this dosen't happen
http://stricklander.com/pages/Boat/ConchyWhitewater.html

 

[Fredrick]

Montgomery County

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is in the process of removing two dams on the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County. The Plymouth Dam between West Conshohocken and Conshohocken boroughs and the Vincent Dam (also known as the Yankee Dam) in Limerick Township are currently being removed. These wooden crib dams were both in disrepair and unsafe. Removal of these two dams will open up the Schuylkill River from Philadelphia to Berks County for American shad and other fish migrations and eliminate hazards to navigation. Anglers and boaters should stay out of the removal zones while the work is in progress.

 

[sandfly]

fish will be in those areas by spring..the dams in maine saw fish the next year. now take them out of the susky so the eels and stripers come back here.

 

[Brownout]

Interesting, any of you guys catch walleye in there, I believe they are a migratory species.

 

[phillykayak]

yup, there are walleye in there. PA Fish and Wildlife conducted an electro-fishing survey just below the Plymouth Dam in June 2009...they report lots of smallmouth, a few walleye and even two shad!

I was down looking at the plymouth dam removal this weekend, they may have it all done by the end of today...really changes the look of the river.

To get to the dam with the big equiptment, they've put a long ramp of stone down to the river from the Conshy side...I hope they leave it and let anglers and kayakers use it to launch...but I think they won't...to get there you either have to cross the railroad tracks or drive back behind the conshy train station stop..which is private property I believe.

 

[FishOnCamp]

I believe that Yankee Dam in Linfield is now gone. I'll have to take a walk down there and check it out. I have a few friends that fish up river out of Jon boats so I hope the level of the river doesn't drop too much.

 

[bam]

I'm pretty sure it's gone or will be soon fishon. I was hunting near Linfield and could hear all the work going on a few weeks ago. It was set to be cleared out in October

 

[Fredrick]

Both dams are gone guys 😛int:

 

[jayL]

I know it's for the best... but I am really gonna miss yankee dam. Lots of memories there.

 

[phillykayak]

I went and took another look last evening, the water level upstream of the (now gone) Plymouth Dam to Norristown looks to have dropped about 4 feet by my unscientific eye...but still looks plenty deep enough for fishing boats/kayaks.

It looks like the Plymouth Dam was built on a pretty sizeable shelf of shallow bedrock that is now exposed and creating pretty swift (but shallow) rapids from bank to bank. I can't see jet skiers getting up river through there right now but we'll see how it all shakes out over the next few months. I'm guessing a lot of built up sediment is starting to wash downstream.

It will be interesting to see how the fishing changes/comes back in the spring. Lot of guys had good success at the Plymouth Dam this year...now it will all be different.

I went to vote this morning and met a Conshy Councilwoman...talked about making the river in our area more accessible to boat/kayak launching for fishing, etc. There really are no good places in the town on this side of the river to get down there and launch. Said it would be good for economy, etc. She said there's been talk about doing something, took my phone number....we'll see.

 

[Brownout]

I think there is an area called the Water Works??, right by the art museum. I've seen pictures of stripers and walleyes taken right there by guys at night. Go find those things 🙂 I've had very good success with walleyes at night on white twister tail grubs on jig heads. You swim the grubs, which is basically reeling them in at a nice slow consistent pace. Literally jigging doesn't work too well in my experience, at all. I'm guessing white streamers would work nicely as well, if you have some casting distance.

philly

 

[JasonS]

phillykayak wrote:

I went to vote this morning and met a Conshy Councilwoman...talked about making the river in our area more accessible to boat/kayak launching for fishing, etc. There really are no good places in the town on this side of the river to get down there and launch...

Some of us consider that a feature, not a bug. ;-) And if people think the Orvis crowd is bad wait till they get a load of the REI crowd. :lol:

On a serious note I hope the plymouth dam removal won't screw up my smallie fishing, that was a great spot for being so close to home.

 

[jayL]

Brownout wrote:
I think there is an area called the Water Works??, right by the art museum. I've seen pictures of stripers and walleyes taken right there by guys at night. Go find those things 🙂 I've had very good success with walleyes at night on white twister tail grubs on jig heads. You swim the grubs, which is basically reeling them in at a nice slow consistent pace. Literally jigging doesn't work too well in my experience, at all. I'm guessing white streamers would work nicely as well, if you have some casting distance.

philly

It's the fairmount dam. It's about 2 blocks from here. I've had success there, but not fly fishing.

 

[skiltonian]

The removal of the goodrich dam (behind Oaks @422 and above the confluence of the skuke) really screwed up he fishing there. Is still miss below that dam to the point. Now all its good for is carp. Even the Oaks dam further up isn't as good, but I don't think its due to the dam removal. I'm curious how Yankee will fish now, but planning for the worst. The older I get the further upstream I must go...

 

[tomgamber]

Tiiiiime...give it time......

 

[bam]

skilt, it's better for the river in the long run. Should make for some great smallie habitat once the new flow carves it's path out

 

[Fredrick]

If it helps the fish out I think its worth it .I'm not selfish about loosing a good fishing hole if it benifits the river and the fish in it . Conservation isn't about improving the quality of your fishing and boating its about inproving the quality of the watershed .