Last year was the first year Lake Perez at Stone Valley was filled with water and stocked with trout. Stone Valley is a short drive from State College, PA. The lake was out of commission for six years due to repairs that had to be made to the breast of the dam. The stocking report this year indicated that the lake would be stocked April 14th.
A few weeks ago, I decided to dock my Sports Pal Canoe at Stone Valley. It helps not to have to tie it up and transport it on top of the SUV for every float- and- fish outing. It also saves money on a roof rack that attaches to the existing one so the rack can actually be used!
I figured that my Brother and I could get to the lake early and launch the boat to try lake fishing for the First Day. That we did. In fact, we were first on the water. But of course that changed around 7:30. There were about 30 boats on the lake just before 8:00 with most of them trolling the length of the lake back and forth using electric motors. No gas motors are permitted. The day was perfect. No clouds and no wind. The lake was glass smooth with late morning temperatures around 69/72. It was great to be out early and watching a few swirls in the water caused by trout coming up for an early hatch. It always helps to see that kind of activity. It fuels the excitement and anticipation of catching the limit of five.
We fished for about 4 hours using just about everything except Power Bait and minnows. Bottom line? Nothing. Not even a bite! It appeared that some trout were caught by the trollers, but not many. Pretty odd first day. But after we docked the boat around 12:00, I traveled a short distance to Whipple Dam and caught one brook trout around nine inches. You could actually see trout swimming in the water there just a few feet from shore but most were not interested in what I had to offer.
At least the boat is docked at a very scenic place, Lake Perez, that’s stocked with fish acclimating to their new environment and available to be caught another day.
