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3. Boiling Springs Run

I just received an email from a friend who received an email from Yellow Breeches Outfitters that indicates that the PA Fish & Boat Commission has built a dam at the south end of Children's Lake to somehow improve the fishing in the creek.

I park there in the summer to fish Tricos along the Allenberry water and have noticed over the past number of years the almost total absence of trout in the run and just didn't know where all the fish had gone. I can remember seeing lots of trout in ever riffle and run and many large brookies to 16" and numerous piggy browns and rainbows to 20".

Here is an excerpt from the YBO email:

"This fall, the PA Fish & Boat Commission began a project aimed at making the "Run" a viable fishery again. Their solution involved placing a dam at the south end of Children's Lake, at a point where much water was being lost. Water flows into the Run are now much improved. We thank CVTU for their initiative and cooperation with the PFBC in this vital work."

So I presume this is a very small dam meant just to moderate flows?

-Shawn

Haven't fished there in about 15 years.... used to be a fantastic stretch to fish.... loaded with trout! I have pictures of that stretch with "herds" of trout throughout the run section. If I remember correctly the Run was totally dependent on overflow from the Boiling Springs Lake, the old spillway was not controllable thus the Run fluctuated greatly and in the late summer it would become very small and low.

I was thinking more along these lines -

Bippie,
Actually the Run was very constant and reliable precisely because it depended on the outflow from the lake. The lake is 100% spring fed and has a flow rate of something like 40000gal/hr with very little fluctuation. This means the Run had a constant supply of fresh cold water and would actually moderate teh flows of the Breeches proper. In fact in many summers the run is the only thing that keeps the regs section reasonably cool.
I think a significant part of the perceived variability in flow has more to do with the changes of flow on the Breeches proper. Early in the year the Breeches is high and water in the run would "back up" then as water levels fall the Run appears to lose flow.

On the point of the dam I think the Lake was Drawn down last spring and early summer in an effort to repair the dam in points where it was leaking and starting to errode. I have not been to BS lately but if they added a dam of any sort I would guess it would be over by the boat launch in the corner of the lake by the town pool (which by the way is also feed by the spring (probably one of the coldest pools I have ever been in)
JW

JohnW,
I would agree that the water level of the Breeches itself affected the the water level in the Run section.

The fish in the run are stocked, and move out and/or get poached over time, so the number and size of fish is dependent on stocking more than anything, and that seems to vary greatly from time to time.