By Alan Janesch
Public Information
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 fish were given a mild electrical shock to stun them; then volunteers netted and transferred the fish from the stream channel into five-gallon buckets and carried them up the hill to two aerator stocking trucks.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.
"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," said Dale M. Roth, Penn State's director of recreation services and club sports. "We look forward to reestablishing 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.