Fishing In Preserve

[johnseward]

PIPC makes a direct simple statement that there are no fish in park but doesn't say why. Coxing Kill deomstrates that habitats are very healthy.

It is negligence at best that the state DEC doesn't throw a few trout each year onto the three extraordinarily beautiful habitats available in Minnewaska Preserve. Cost is trivial, staffing is available, and clearly results would be accessible to visitors.


I'll try not to abuse my posting privileges but wanted to make more direct statement about trout.

[gunx]

My understanding is that the ph of the sky lakes in Minnewaska is around 4, or very acidic. I don't believe many fish or plants can tolerate that level of acidity.

Lake Mohonk sits on top of shale bedrock that provides an alkaline buffer, the ph is closer to neutral at 7.

[Ken]

We (The Phillips) stocked Lake Trout (as I recall 5" or 8" hatchlings) into Awosting 35 years ago in co-operation with the DEC or whatever it was called then -- the plane flew low across the lake in the early morning and suddenly we had fish! Well, we thought we did. We then placed some flat bottom boats on the lake and took hotel guests out for fishing.

After a while, we found it strange that no one ever caught a fish. Seems the acid nature of the lake killed all of the hatchlings. No one ever bothered to check the lake water because we (like the writer) simply assumed the water was clear and fish would love it. Since the acidity could only be adjusted artificially, we chose not to even attempt to alter what nature had created.

Mohonk (original name: Dark Hole) has fish -- it also terrified me as a
child because it was the first time that I dove in a lake and could not tell which way was up! The reason, as Gunx has pointed out, is that the lakebed is in the shale layer under the conglomerate. This makes the water dark and cloudy… at least when you compare it to Minnewaska or Awosting. Bottom line: murky water, normal Ph, good fish habitat in Mohonk. Clear water, very acid (ph is 3 to 4) no fish in Minnewaska or Awosting..

By the way, the flow of sewerage into Minnewaska from the fill-section leach field at the Ranger Station, has decreased the clarity of Minnewaska – the subject of many posts on this website. If it continues, perhaps the fishing will improve.

Ken Phillips

[johnseward]

I.ve heard this previously about the acidity of Minnewaska lake, but Coxing Kill drains that lake and a few miles away, inside Mohonk Preserve Coxing currently has a population of very small trout.

I don't know where they came from or how long they've been there in Coxing. I don't see any in Peter's Kill.

It may be reasonable to assume that Peters Kill and the other brooks could support similar populations, and given their intensive recreational use (which doesn't currently include fishing) and accessibility. I think the state may be negligent in not including them in DEC stocking program.

[Bill]

fish are in the lake minnows 2-3"