Central PA lakes

[Gat_Mehn]

I live in Lewisburg PA and was wondering if anyone could tell me what lakes are nearby that I can fish. I normally fish the river but would much rather fish lakes, the boat traffic on my part of the susquehanna makes it very hard to fish this time of year.

[NateFollmer]

Howard (Sayers Dam) is about an hour away from you. Although it doesn't seem to be producing as well as it has in recent years, thats going to be your best place to fish. Northumberland is lacking in lakes compared to the rest of the state, although the Susquehanna makes up for that (when you can fish without all the darn boats everywhere).

Lake Chillisquaque (no idea how to say that) is around your neck of the woods too. I have never fished there but it seems to be a decent place.

If you come down Rt. 15 and hit 304, then 104 and finally 235, you can go to Walker and Faylor Lakes. Faylor is my #1 for shore fishing. Walker WAS an awesome fishery but something is wrong this year. the crappie and carp are all dying, they are claiming bacteria caused it... The bass don't seem to be biting as much though

Ah, almost forgot about Middle Creek Lake South of you (It's near Selinsgrove). Decent little place for some bass and panfish.

Some of the best lakes in the central pa region are the smallest ones so don't let that scare you away If you're willing to travle further, let me know and I'll list some more haha. Most of these are less than an hours drive from Lewisburg.

[basser89]

Growing up about 20 minutes away from where Nate is, I can't really add anymore lake wise that he hasn't listed.  :-[

I did just hear about what's going on at Walker over the weekend. Very sad! Fun lake to fish (when its healthy)!

[NateFollmer]

@basser89 - They claim it's bacteria only, but there was an oil tanker truck crash in mid May that dumped oil into Mitchell Run (which feeds Beaver Creek, which flows into Walker). If it was bacteria and heat only, I would think that Faylor would be seeing the same effect (AND it should be worse there because it would heat faster). I didn't see any oil or anything when I was at Walker for the opening day of bass, but I did notice a weird film covering the timber in the water (which could have been caused by bacteria also).

Who knows though, I'm no biologist, but it just doesn't seem right to me... When the bite is on at Walker, you can pull some BIG bass out of there!

[Gat_Mehn]

Thanks a lot for the info Nate! Yeah I have also heard many local anglers talking about the issue at Walker Lake. I haven't fished there for several years but whenever I did I usually caught some nice ones. I just got off the Susquehanna a little bit ago and only caught 1 smallie,  there were tons of boats out and the fish seem to have hit the deeper water. I'm looking forward to the action heating up again in the fall on the river, love catching them big smallies!

[Gat_Mehn]

Are boats allowed on Middle Creek Lake? I have a 16 ft. bass boat with a 40 hp motor.

[NateFollmer]

I honestly don't know. I looked on the PA Fish Commissions site and there isn't an access area on that lake so I'm going to say no. Even if they do, with it's small size, I bet it would be electric only. Walker is electric only and Faylor is no motors at all (but I like to row, keeps me from getting too lazy haha). Faylor is owned by the PA Game Commission and they fight with angler's all the time and won't change the rule.

[basser89]

Thanks for the heads up Nate! I hadn't heard anything about that before. Too sad, hopefully, they'll get it fixed soon! Like I had said, that was always a fun lake for me to fish!

[boatnik13]

Any ink on this lake subject of walker or is this just word of mouth???  Trying to figure out why only the carp and crappie. I do know that these two species congregate in shallow headwaters of lakes in the spring season till about the end of may. This could be the reason it did not effect the bass, pike & cats.

[NateFollmer]

Boatnik, the sunbury times did two articles on the fish dying. If you google walker lake crappie they both pop up (sorry I'm on my phone and can't get the link).

Its really bad. I just went up a few days ago and it smells of dead fish all over the place...

[boatnik13]

Sounds like we have our own gulf oil problem.   Gulf of WALKER.

[NateFollmer]

Haha at least their admitting there is an oil spill in the gulf "its bacteria!"

Anyway, there are plenty of lakes around so don't let that spoil the fun. I'm heading to Colyer tomorrow (which is only about 60% full because of the crack in the dam) ill let you know if its worth the drive from where you are!