In little more than a month, plenty of fishermen are going to treat North Park Lake like it's William Hung. Yesterday's news, that is. The lake is a hotbed of angling activity from mid-April to about the end of May, when so many fisherman are hot after its stocked trout. Once that fever passes, though, fishing pressure at North Park Lake drops like a heavy sinker. That's a mistake. Some of the lake's best fishing starts after trout season ends. "When it comes time for bass season, guys start thinking about places like Lake Arthur, Shenango and Pymatuning because they want to take their boats out," said Dwight Yingling, owner of North Park Sport Shop. "But this is an excellent bass lake. There's tons of largemouth bass in there, even though it's not known as a bass lake." Just a few weeks ago, an angler pulled an eight-pounder from the lake, Yingling added. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recognizes how good the lake's bass fishing is, said Rick Lorson, the agency's biologist for the southwestern corner of the state. Things could be even better, though, he said. That's why, when Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioners meet Monday and Tuesday in Harrisburg, they'll consider a proposal to put North Park Lake in the "Big Bass" program. That would raise the minimum size on bass from 12 to 15 inches and lower the creel limit from six to four fish. "Ultimately, we want to increase the size structure of fish over 12 inches, and particularly over 15 inches," Lorson said. "We already have a pretty good size structure and density of largemouth bass in there. However, we want to try and increase that." Having more and bigger bass in the lake might have a side benefit, too. The lake's abundant gizzard shad -- which provide good forage -- also compete with its bluegills and crappies. Efforts to control their numbers with walleyes and tiger muskies largely failed, but the hope now is that stocking channel catfish and boosting the lake's bass population will do the job and help the panfish, Lorson said. "You can catch good numbers of panfish, which is a plus, but the sizes just aren't there," Lorson said. "We'd like to change that is we can." There's one thing any lake needs to offer a good fishery -- water. North Park Lake may or may not have any of that as soon as next year. Built in 1937, North Park Lake originally covered 65 acres and reached depths of about 30 feet. Today, seven decades of sediment later, the lake covers about 55 acres and reaches a maximum depth of 11 feet. Perhaps as soon as 2008, the Allegheny County Parks Department plans to address that by dredging the lake. The portion of the lake that's become a wetlands won't be disturbed, but the 55 acres that remain will get much of their original depth back, said Kevin Evanto, director of communications for the county. That might mean having to drain the lake, however. The county is not going to specify by contract whether the lake has to be drained or not, said Andy Baechle, director of county parks. It will leave that decision up to the contractor that ultimately does the project. Either way, the $11-12 million dollar project could take as long as two years to complete. When it is done, the lake will be home to some new, man-made fish habitat and a new boat launch.

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