CLEARFIELD – Although several groups and organizations wrote letters to elected officials along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding the gates at Curwensville Lake, no one has heard back from anyone yet.
Stacy Bressler, vice president of Central Counties Concerned Sportsmen, spoke to the Clearfield County Recreation and Tourism Authority Wednesday afternoon, saying that the Army Corps should change the way water is released from the dam to ensure optimum temperature for the fish and other aquatic life that live in the river system.
“That lake’s my back yard,” he said. “I’ve never seen it looking the way it did this year.”
Bressler said previously that if the Army Corps did not respond fast enough in the summer by releasing the cooler water at the bottom of the dam rather than the warm water at the top.
Bressler said many events are planned for next year at the lake, including two crappie tournaments, May 19 and Sept. 1.
Two sanctioned Iron Man Bow Fishing events are planned, one June 15-17 and one Aug. 10-12. This event is expected to draw sportsmen to the area from Maryland, West Virginia, New York and Ohio.
Also, a kids’ fishing tournament is planned for July 14. This event, Bressler explained, would be different than a normal fishing derby in that the children would be taught tactics and skills rather than stocking many fish in one place for them to catch more easily.
Bressler also said the sportsmen’s group is in support of Sunnyside Ethanol building a plant in Curwensville, and he said a sit-down is planned between area sportsmen and Sunnyside officials to discuss discharging water at a cooler temperature.
The company’s current plans call for discharging water at 15 to 20 degrees warmer than the temperature of the water.
This, Bressler said, would kill fish in the river from Curwensville to Shawville where the water is already too warm to support fish due to the Shawville Power Plant’s discharge.
