May 26, 2015 3 min read

Dead bluegills and crappies floating on the surface of the lake at Cross Creek County Park weren’t very appetizing to those who chose to cast a line over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, but a Washington County official attributed the occurrence to “post-spawn stress.”

Jeff Donahue, Washington County superintendent of recreation, said Tuesday spawning takes its toll on the lake’s fish population every year, but some years are worse than others.

“There’s a window every year. The Fish and Boat Commission is aware of it,” Donahue said. “We call them every year, and we get that same answer. It’s always around Memorial Day, and we always get a few calls about it. We don’t take them lightly or ignore them.”

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s “Fish-for-Free” day Sunday coincided, unfortunately, with the fish die-off at Cross Creek.

Jim Moore of Houston visited Cross Creek Lake May 16 and everything was fine. He recalled seeing fish spawning close to shore. But when he and a neighbor and the neighbor’s children went angling Sunday, they encountered many finned creatures that were belly-up. Others swimming just below the surface had a dark tinge, which Moore described as sickly looking. His boat cruised all over the lake, and he said the die-off seemed to be throughout.

“That’s a big recreation area for the county,” Moore said. “You hate to see something happen. This is the first time I noticed them being sick out there. Everybody was talking about it.”

Moore, who has been fishing at Cross Creek for about 15 years, said he never saw anything like this before. During the summer, he heads to Cross Creek about three times a month.

John Poister, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection in Pittsburgh, said his agency received no inquiries or referrals about the situation in Cross Creek Lake except a call Tuesday morning from the Observer-Reporter. In a followup conversation Tuesday afternoon, he said an inspector would be sent to the lake “just to take a look.”

For the past decade, natural gas – a multimillion-dollar revenue producer for the county – has been extracted from beneath Cross Creek County Park.

Fish and Boat Commission Press Secretary Eric Levis said via email its regional biologists were working the night shift so they could sample a local lake. “In general, though, we do see fish kills as a result of post-spawn stress. So if this is what the park ranger determined, it’s likely we would agree with that assessment.”