Lake Perez Fish Relocated To Little Juniata River

January 25, 2000
University Park, Pa. — Thousands of rainbow trout, large-mouth bass, chain pickerel, sunfish, bluegills, white crappies and other fish that used to live in Lake Perez, the manmade lake at the Stone Valley Recreation Area, are alive and well and living in the east branch of the Little Juniata River.

More than a ton of live fish were relocated Jan. 14 by eight volunteers from the state Fishing and Boating Commission, 12 Penn State faculty members, and 12 Penn State graduate students from Penn State’s fisheries management department.

The fish had to be relocated because the lake has been "drawn down" or drained to facilitate a $2.8 million project to repair and upgrade the spillway at Shaver’s Creek Dam (Intercom, Nov. 18, 1999). The fish were relocated according to Commission guidelines.

At 9 a.m. Jan. 14, a large "gate valve" was opened widely to fill a small pool below the dam — which had been created by placing large rocks in the outflow channel — with water and fish. The graduate students gave the fish a mild electrical shock to stun them; then the volunteers netted and transferred the fish from the stream channel into five-gallon buckets and carried them up the hill to two Commission aerator stocking trucks in the boathouse parking lot.

The process was repeated until the trucks were filled. Then the trucks were driven to the East Branch of the Little Juniata River at Petersburg, where the fish were released into the open water.

Dale M. Roth, Penn State’s director of recreation services and club sports, thanked the Commission staff and the Penn State faculty and students for helping with the project. "This type of fish relocation project is challenging even in the summer months, but even

with the cold temperatures and freezing water conditions earlier this month, the project went well," Roth said. "We look forward to re-establishing a viable and diversified fishery in Lake Perez sometime in 2001."

Roth said the lake may be restocked with a somewhat different mix of fish species, pending upcoming discussions with Penn State faculty in the fisheries management department and Commission representatives.

The lake is now dry above the dam, except for the Shaver’s Creek stream channel that runs through the dry lake bed. Some fish may still remain in the stream channel, or they may swim through the open "gate" through the outflow channel into Shaver’s Creek below the dam.

The Gannett Fleming Inc. engineering firm, of Camp Hill, will design the upgraded spillway. During the repair and upgrade project, recreational activities at the lake will be limited.

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For more information, contact Alan Janesch, Department of Public Information, at 814/865-7517 or via e-mail at .