Dorey Park Lake - Fishing Opportunities
This 5-acre lake was added to the Department's Urban Fishing Program ten years ago. This program provides annual stocking of channel catfish and, in the winter, catchable-size trout to enhance fishing opportunities in small urban lakes such as this. To fish Dorey Park Lake, anglers must possess a trout license in addition to a fishing license between November 1 and April 30. A trout license is not required from May 1 through October 31 or for juveniles under age 16.
Periodically, there have been problems with fish kills in this lake, which was built in old borrow pits used to build I-64. These problems were attributed to low pH, and have been solved by applications of lime. Historically, populations of fish in this lake were dominated by largemouth bass and bluegill.
Dorey Park Lake was sampled using electrofishing on 4 June, 2005. The results were atrocious. The game fish populations, which have been sub-par for many years, appear to have taken a severe turn for the worse since the last sampling in 1996. Not a single largemouth bass was collected. Goldfish from 6-8-inches, golden shiners, and bluehead chubs made up the bulk of the fish collection. Some bluegill and pumpkinseed sunfish were collected, but all were 3 inches long or less. Thousands of even smaller sunfish were observed, but they were so small that they passed through the half-inch mesh of our dip nets. Only one channel catfish was collected, and it had several skin lesions.
Assuming that water quality issues are not the underlying problem here, the best management option for this lake is to drain it and restock it with appropriate numbers of game fish. Then, it should continue to be included in the Department's Urban Fishing Program so that channel catfish and trout will be stocked to enhance fishing opportunities.
