Hurricane Irene hit the northeast pretty hard. Two of my local warm water haunts were destroyed by the storm. Both impoundments suffered a catastrophic dam failure and subsequently bled out. What happened to the pictured lake left is a bit of a mystery. The dam looks intact, but it appears that the floodgates may have ruptured. Water is still rushing out at an alarming rate from the base of the dam but the waterline is no where near the dam at the current time, so I have no idea where the water is coming from. The coves and shorelines are littered with the remains of fish.
On the back side of this high and dry island (to the right of the egret) Icaught my largest NJ bass of 2011, a spawned out female that pushed the scales to the seven pound mark. This was a favorite place to fish. I could be on the water in minutes from leaving my driveway. It was a convenient place to drown some flies after work and still be home in time to put kids to bed.
I saw NJ Fish & Wildlife in there during the week trying to rescue fish from the receding waters. I have no idea what the future holds for this lake. Will the dam be repaired, the lake restocked and restored to it's former self? Or, will it slowly dry out and return to a meandering stream. Only time will tell...
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Yea N.J took a beating during Irene. Sorry to hear about your lake.
ReplyDeleteWhat impoundments were those?
ReplyDeleteMy wife had family in Manville, and I saw a stream of pictures come out of there that amazed me. Furthermore, her grandmother had a home on the Raritan canal she got out of a few years ago, but I remember even small rain events turned it into a torrent of evil looking water, I can't imagine what it looked like after Irene.
The lake pictured is Prospertown Lake in Jackson, NJ
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