Donegal Lake refilling, set to reopen to trout anglers in April
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Jeff Shaffer, a longtime Donegal Township taxidermist, has missed the sight of Donegal Lake when looking out his front window the past three-plus years.
“I really have missed seeing the water, but it won’t be too long now that it will be back,” Shaffer said, discussing the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s plans to refill the 90-acre lake and reopen it for trout fishing this spring.
The commission drained the popular Westmoreland County fishing spot in 2016 and relocated the fish — trout, largemouth bass, channel cats, perch and bluegills — to other lakes to make way for a much-needed dam replacement project.
The earthen dam at Donegal, constructed in 1967, was expected to last 50 years, the commission said.
The $5.5 million project was delayed until 2018 because of an agency budget shortfall. KC Construction Co. of Ivyland, Bucks County, completed the dam in December, according to Paul Urbanik, an engineer with the fish commission.
The commission anticipates formal authorization from the state Department of Environmental Protection to refill the lake to come any day, Urbanik said. However, he warned that to test the new work, the refill will be gradual.
“The soils (of the new dam) have to be tested as it refills and the recently poured concrete is untested,” he said.
The lake will be filled with flow from Four Mile Run.
“It all depends on Mother Nature. Other lakes have refilled in a month or two,” Urbanik said.
Excitement among area anglers grew last month when the commission included Donegal in its fish stocking plans this year.
In addition to pre-season and in-season trout stockings, the commission plans to stock largemouth bass fingerlings, fathead minnows and golden shiners to serve as forage for bass, the commission said. Blue gills and crappies will be stocked next year.
Trout season opens April 18. The commission hopes to reopen the waters April 11 to anglers 16 and under for its mentored youth fishing day program, Urbanik said.
In January, the commission designated the lake for catch and release, no harvest for all species, except trout, according to commission spokesman Mike Parker.
The designation is designed to “re-establish the fish population in that lake,” Parker said. “In two or three years, we should have 10-to-12-inch bass there.”
Both Parker and Urbanik warned kayakers and small boaters not to rush out to the lake.
“We don’t want people out there immediately when people see the water. With the sediment, there’s a lot of mud and we want to make sure the conditions are safe,” Parker said.
“People should use common sense,” he added.
Urbanik said a few more small items will be completed this spring before trout season begins. He said a new parking lot will be constructed, a new boat ramp added and there will be a new trail added along the lake shore.
Shaffer noted fishermen could have a trouble with snags for the first year or two.
“There’s a lot of brush that’s grown in there over the years,” Shaffer said.
He said the rising water will displace some new inhabitants in the overgrown lake bed.
“There’s a lot of deer that moved in there after they drained it,” he said.