Officials unveil plans to improve Fishing Creek through Mill Hall
MILL HALL, PA – Fishing Creek as it flows through Clinton County is recognized as one of the best trout streams in Pennsylvania. But in recent decades that has not been the case where the stream flows through Mill Hall.
Officials from the Clinton County Conservation District and the state Fish and Boar Commission gathered along the creek bank Saturday to announce steps will be taken this summer to return trout to the stream in Mill Hall.
Officials from the two agencies chose the first day of trout season to announce an $85,000 grant to stabilize eroding streambanks and begin to build in-stream and near shore habitat. Fish and Boat Commission Waterway Conservation Officer Justin Boatwright said the problem is not water quality, but even with trout stocking, lack of habitat has caused fish to depart that stretch of the creek.
As explained by Boatwright and Conservation District Executive Director Wade Jodun, completion of the project will stabilize eroding streambanks and begin to build in-stream and near shore habitat that will return trout to the stream and facilitate natural reproduction.
Jodun said the project will be bid out to a private contractor and overseen by his agency and the Fish and Boat Commission. The work itself is to begin in July and take some seven to 10 days to complete.
Among attendees were longtime Mill Hall Mayor Tom Bossert, in full first-day fishing attire, include a lengthy rod, and borough council member Derek Berry. Pointing to his young son who was in attendance, Berry noted that in previous decades Fishing Creek would be jammed with trout fishermen as it meanders through Mill Hall; Berry expressed the hope that the habitat work will create a more plentiful fishing environment for his son and future generations.
The rehabilitation project was designed by the Stream Section of the Fish and Boat Commission’s Division of Habitat Management. Work will include log framed wood deflectors, stone deflectors and rock vein deflectors; these features roll water away from the bank and prevent erosion. The project will also include a “J-Hook” which provides fish habitat by creating scour in the center of the channel and modified mudsills which stabilize stream banks, absorb the energy from the current around bends, as well as provide overhead cover, creating fish habitat.
The grant announcement was made outside the Mill Hall Fire Company where inside hundreds of visitors dined on pancakes and sausage as the fire company staged its 57th annual First Day of Trout Season breakfast, a major fund-raiser for the volunteer company.
