Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - 16

French Creek
State Park
by Bob Frye
photos by the author
W
e were still launching our kayaks and already
debating what to do for dinner. Not that we were
in a rush to be finished. French Creek State Park,
Berks and Chester counties, offers fine and varied fishing. We
planned to enjoy as much of it as we could over a week.
But, to fish at French Creek-at 7,730 acres, the largest
block of contiguous forest between Washington, D.C. and
New York City-is to know temptation.
French Creek is a busy place, especially on weekends.
A diverse crowd, coming from the local countryside and
more urban centers, gathers to fish and boat, swim in the
park's pool, hike footpaths, play disc golf, and explore
mountain biking and horseback riding trails. Some walk to
adjoining Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, a 1770s
iron-making village with a visitor center, exhibits, and
pick-your-own apple orchard.
Many visitors also picnic. Their lunches, typically
representing multiple cultures, give the park an
international aroma.
But, having rented one of the park's modern cabins-
there are also cottages, yurts and a large campground-we
could make our own dinner later, so we went fishing. The
park's two lakes awaited-68-acre Hopewell Lake and
22-acre Scotts Run Lake.
16
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater
fishandboat.com
Hopewell Lake holds nice numbers of Largemouth
Bass, managed with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission's Big Bass Program, limiting harvest to four
fish a day, 15 inches or longer. There are plentiful Black
Crappies, Bluegills, White Crappies, and even small
numbers of Yellow Perch. Enough of these fish all reach
quality size to keep fishing interesting.
The lake also holds good numbers of Chain Pickerel
and the occasional Muskellunge or Northern Pike.
Fish swim in, around, and through Hopewell Lake's vast
lily pads. They extend far out from shore, making weedless
presentations cast from a boat a must in spots.
You can launch unpowered boats like canoes, kayaks,
and cartoppers on the lake, along with boats with electric
motors. There is a popular boat concession for those
without their own watercraft, too.

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - 3
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - September/October 2022 - Cover4
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