An extensive
account of Lake fishing in the early years which notes lake trout was written
by John Q. Creveling, an area lawyer, in 1952:
Harvey’s Lake is one of the
finest and most picturesque lakes in Pennsylvania and as a natural body of water has principally spring
water in it. It is one of our deepest lakes and its water is
cool, being fed mostly by underground springs.
Since about 1890 it has grown
into a large and beautiful summer resort, having
no equal in Pennsylvania. Its pure water has been the home
of splendid fish. Before artificial stocking began, the
chief species were pickerel, sunfish, perch and catfish.
Other species were planted including lake trout, bass,
wall-eyes, rockbass, crappies, blue gills, and now brook trout. The chief attractions of the
summer resort are its amusements. These are the picnic
amusements, swimming, boating and fishing.
While not the chief amusement,
fishing has been indulged in the lake to a
considerable extents for many years, and many people have participated
in it. In the course of a year many fish are taken. The
finest fish have been the lake trout and wall-eyes, also called
pike perch.
Pickerel, Bass
Plentiful
I have caught fish in Harvey’s Lake since 1890. After the Lehigh Valley Railroad
was built I would take the forenoon train and spend the
afternoon fishing on the westerly shore, usually catching
bass and pickerel, returning in the evening by train.
In the early days bass and
pickerel were plentiful and easily taken. The fisherman
became more numerous as the Summer resort grew and
gradually it became more difficult to catch a dozen fish,
and it soon became evident that the lake needed stocking.
However, not much of it was done until about 1910, and
thereafter, although I was informed that lake trout had been stocked
in it back in 1883.
After the Wilkes-Barre Camp of
United Sportsman of Pennsylvania had been formed in
1911, the camp began to secure fish from the State
hatcheries to stock the Lake. The camp got shipments of young
wall-eyes, bass, lake trout, crappie, perch, blue gills and
catfish in large numbers, and deposited them in the lake from
year to year. The camp also stocked all the open waters of
the county with fish from State and National hatcheries for
many years.
32-Inch Wall-eye
It is remarkable the great number
of small fry it takes to stock the depleted waters.
The first stocking of wall-eyes in Harveys Lake that I remember
was 50 cans in about 1910. Each can was said to contain
2,000 fish. Those little fish were less than an inch long.
Nevertheless, after they had been stocked three years people began to catch
them. They were then about eight inches long. I saw one
wall-eye taken from the lake that was 32 inches long and weighed
eight pounds and some ounces. The stocking by the sportsmen’s
camp was continued from year to year up to the
present. In the year 1915 the camp stocked Harveys Lake with about 400,000 small fry. In 1916 the State Fish Commission cleaned
out one of its hatcheries, and that year sent to Luzerne county
a large number of fish for stocking the lakes, streams and ponds
in this county. One-hundred-and-four members of Camp 103,
United Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (the Wilkes-Barre camp) engaged
in planting them.
The biennial report of the Fish
Commission covering the year 1916, shows there were
shipped that year to Luzerne county2,565,000 fish for stocking the
waters of the county, and I know that number were planted in lakes
and streams. I mention this to show what a great number of small
fry are necessary to restock depleted waters in order to
provide and maintain public fishing.
Lake Trout Stocked
In 1883
Elderly people informed me that Harveys Lake formerly had brook trout in it. I never
found any there, but in a case ofunlawful fishing which I tried in
court as a lawyer, I called a wit-ness who testified that the lake
was formerly inhabited by brooktrout. Benjamin Dorrance, with
whom I fished, informed me thathe assisted in planting lake
trout in Harveys Lake as far back as 1883. [Editor note: Another
account states 1889]Lake trout thrived in the lake
and a large number of thosevery beautiful fish have been
taken. During the earlier years fish-ing for lake trout was done
mostly by outlines, ice fishing, spearing,gill netting and trolling.
It took much effort to get the
sport reduced to trolling, butit has now, after 40 years,
almost reached that point. Last year theState Fish Commission made a
survey of the fish life in HarveysLake and it is going to restock
lake trout there. This year the commission stocked brook trout
and rainbow trout there, and thatprovided some new fishing. It
may be possible to establish the rainbows. I know two lakes in
the State where stocked rainbowshave grown to a good size.
I think the fish in Harveys Lake, with the exception ofblack bass, are the best of our
lake fishes, and the lake trout thevery best of all its fishes. The
brook trout in my opinion doesnot exceed the goodness of the
lake trout when properly pre-pared for eating. I think the
depth of the water and its purityadd to the goodness of the fish.
Pollution Problem
I have noticed, however, too many
disturbing sub-stances entering the lake. This
should be prevented. It is a shame to pollute this beautiful
lake. I called the attentionof the Sanitary Water Board of
the State to it at one time. Theboard sent an investigator to
report on it. I met him at the lakeand after making an investigation
he said to me: “Don’t expectanything to be done about it. I
will report it correctly, but Iwas told before leaving the
office to go slow and don’t stir uptrouble.” That was some year
ago. Something has since been done but not enough.
I noticed during the period while
the new road at the lake was first repaired and
paved, that a large number of thelake
trout died. I examined many of the dead ones and con-cluded
that they starved to death. The mud from the new roadran
into the lake, an all summer long the water in the deep por-tions
remained muddy. The lake trout came out into the shallowwarm
water, and that not being their element, they died.I
saw a great many dead ones during that period. It resulted
in the lake losing almost all of its best fish. Many thousands
of bait fish were stocked in order to restore the loss. This
stocking would be noticeable for about three years after-ward;
and then they would disappear. Now it appears they areincreasing
in the lake.
Annual Stocking Necessary
I
believe there is too large a amount of gasoline on thewater
during the hatching period for these bait fish to increase,and
stocking with bait fish will have to be continued annually.As
to the quantity of fish taken from Harvey’s Lake over
the years, the amount is not known. However, in one year,about
1915 or 1916, I tried to furnish the Fish Commission withas
accurate an account as possible of lake trout taken in thatyear.
The commission had stocked the lake with 50,000 laketrout
fingerlings, up to five inches in length when planted. They
had grown two years after planting and when then caughtweighed
about two pounds each.
I
inquired of all persons I knew who had caught them and
my total count exceeded for that one year’s catch more than1,500
fish – of an aggregate weight of a ton of half.The
lake is large and it furnished a large amount of fish-ing.
I counted 80 fishing boats on the first day of an open season.It
is the finest body of water in the State and if properly takencare
of will furnish a large amount of fishing and many splendidfish
to a large number of fishermen who enjoy the sport.The
catching of a lake trout of 10 or 12 pounds in ourPennsylvania lakes will give you a thrill. You have a beautiful fish
and splendid food.
The Lake Trout
population was severely stressed during the extremely hot Summer of 1966 due to
low oxygen levels in the Lake. The Fish Commission, however, continues
stocking of Lake Trout. In an earlier time expert fishermen trolled the Lake’s deep waters for this special fish. Among them was Amos Kitchen (1867-1951), a
descendent of the Lake’s pioneer settlers. His son, the late Glenn Kitchen,
recounted his father’s fishing days at the Lake in a 1989 interview with Stan
Sowa, outdoor writer for the Citizens’ Voice:
Glenn says Harveys Lake was a favorite fishery for many anglers, including his
father, the late Amos M.Kitchen. Amos was born at the
Alderson and of the lakeon Nov. 18, 1867, and spent his
entire life there until hepassed away in 1951 at the age of
84 years and 11 months.He was an ardent fisherman and,
as Glenn puts it, “My dadknew the bottom of the lake like
a book.” Not so surprising,since he fished the lake on and
off for more than 80 years.According to Glenn, Amos operated
his own businessas a building contractor and
constructed numerous summerhomes, boat houses and docks at
the lake during his life-time. He was considered by those
who knew him well tobe the most experienced lake
trout angler that ever fishedthe lake.^^When Glenn reflects on days past,
he recalls his dadtelling him about the countless
experiences he had while fish-ing for big lake trout.
It seems Amos used to row a boat
to work at differentlocations at the lake before he
bought his first Model “T” Ford.During one of his trips to work
across the lake he took hislake trout rig along to try his
luck while one of his carpentersrowed the boat. The fish were
hitting so well he never did get to work that day, but he did
manage to catch lake trout.
The two trout in the accompanying
photo were caughtby Amos in July of 1938. They
weighed six pounds, two ouncesand five pounds and 14 ounces,
and were 26 and 28 inches inlength, respectively. These were
the last lake trout caught by Amos because at that age he was
slowly loosing his eye sightto glaucoma. He continued to
enjoy still-fishing until he was 84 years of age, although he was
totally blind by then.Amos was also an avid walleye and
smallmouth bassangler during the years he fished
the waters of Harveys Lake, but he was particularly fond of
lake trout. Most of the lakerswere caught in deep water (50 to
110 feet in depth) with a copper line and a large spoon
with a large single hook. The line had swivels at 20-foot
intervals to prevent tangling. Hishome-made reel was built from a
spool of round stock about 8-inches long and 4-inches in
diameter with a crank on one end, and it was suspended between
two uprights on a small base of wood about 16-inches
long. No fancy outfit, but justthe tickets for catching the big
lake trout that lurked beneath the waters of Harveys Lake back then.
In 1951 the Pennsylvania
Fish Commission found twenty-two species of fish in the Lake. The following
fourteen are listed in order of abundance at that time: (1) Bluegill (2)
Golden Shiner (3) Rock Bass (4) Pumpkinseed Sunfish (5) Brown Bullhead (6)
Yellow Perch (7) Yellow Pikeperch (Walleye) (8) Chain Pickerel (9)
Smallmouth Bass (10) White Sucker (11) Lake Chubsucker (12) Largemouth
Bass (13) Black Bullhead and (14) Lake Trout. Additional species in the Lake were Creek Chub; Spotted Sunfish; Fourspine Stickelback; Spotted Shiner; Bluntnose Minnow; Banded Killifish; Johnny Darter; and Blacknose Dart.
Copyright 2006-2008 F. Charles Petrillo
