Susky Pollution

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Do you think there is something particularly nasty about Edinboro Lake? As the glacial pothole lakes in NW PA go, it is probably top half for being healthy and generally doing OK despite all the insults these lakes chronically get. If you want to see a sick lake, go over to Waterford and take a look at LeBoeuf.

Good to know that Lake Edinboro (what we called it in the early '70s) has gotten cleaned up. Way back when my family lived in Erie, our family spent 2-3 weeks every summer at the C&MA Church conference grounds, a short car ride away from the lake. It may not have been polluted in the sense we're presently talking, but what I specifically recall from >50 years ago...
- After seeing a dead dog floating in the roped off swimming area, my older sister refused to enter the lake again.
- I was just a kid who was ignorant of any potential waterborne illnesses, so I got water up my nose, swallowed some by mistake, and even opened my eyes under water.
- When one exited the water, the scum could be scraped off the skin. It may have been dead/dying algae, but we all thought it was nasty. Drying off after exiting the water would turn a white towel into a dingy brown.

I've never been to Waterford or LeBoeuf (and don't really want to see a sick lake), but we swam in Lake Erie, any of several creeks, rivers, or dammed impoundments with a constant inflow/outflow and Edinboro was - by far - the worst.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

I feel like a lifetime wet wading in Philly makes me invincible.... That and handling landscape chemicals for a decade paying my way through college and grad school.

Troubling, but I am Skuke-tested, Wissy-approved, so I would rather wet wade the Susky than experience swamp *** in August in waders.

 

[Mike]

I am Skuke-tested, Wissy-approved

Me too, but let’s not forget the Pennypack.

 

[krayfish2]

I'm thinking I'm on borrowed time and getting older every day. Wet waded the Susky since the early 80's. Tried to be conscious of open cuts by sealing them with liquid bandage and waterproof bandages. Always get home, rinse off with soap and pour peroxide on any cuts or scratches. 2 years ago, had an issue with my feet itching so bad over the summer that I couldn't sleep. Thought it was an allergic reaction to the foot bed in my wet wading shoes. It was only the bottom of my feet and it got to the point where I would go outside at night and rub them on the driveway until they were bleeding. It has never happened before and hasn't happened since. I'll attribute that to something out of the river. God knows there's enough awful stuff in there.

Some sections that are subject to run off or a very low flow / stagnation. It will have ridiculous blooms of brown and green algae where it makes the river look like beef broth instead of clear water. Don't find too many bass hanging in those areas either so they must not like it either.