Sunset Lake Fishing Spot

• Last Modified By: vinny60 on 09/21/09 07:25 PM
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Sunset Lake is a manmade impoundment, encompassing approximately 94 acres, that is fed by Mary Elmer Lake and many small streams and creeks. The Sunset Lake mill pond and the Sunset Lake Race Dam (an earthen embankment approximately 5000 feet long) were built in 1814 to create a hydraulic raceway. Water from the raceway was used to power two downstream businesses - a nail mill (for the manufacture of cut nails) and a gristmill. The main dam structure at Sunset Lake, as it exists today, was constructed in 1938. It is one of the three downstream outlets from Sunset Lake that empties into the Cohansey River. One of the outlets, a siphon spillway was completed in 1928 and was the first of its kind to be built in the Eastern United States. The maximum depth in Sunset Lake is 10 feet, in front of the dam, and six feet deep or less elsewhere. At least 17 species of fish have been found to inhabit Sunset Lake, including yellow perch, bluegill, carp, largemouth bass, gizzard shad, rainbow trout, pumpkinseed, American eel, and striped bass to name a few. The type of fish ladder installed at Sunset Lake is called an aluminum denil Alaska Steeppass. It is an aluminium chute containing internal baffles that modify water velocity as the water flows through the structure. At Sunset Lake, the device is installed in two sections - entrance and exit sections - inside a 150 foot long cement trough-like channel that connects the Cohansey River with the raceway and Sunset Lake. The fish ladder sections are installed at a gentle slope inside the cement trough to allow fish to swim up and over the dam to reach Sunset Lake. Migrating fish are attracted to the fish ladder by the flow of water at the entrance of the device. In addition, an out-migration device is installed in one of the troughs to help young river herring complete their natural migration out of Sunset Lake. The fish will then move downstream via the Cohansey River, to continue their journey out to the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Fish ladders benefit the Delaware Estuary by enhancing aquatic productivity of fish. Species such as river herring are a food source for largemouth bass, chain pickerel, crappie, weakfish, white and yellow perch, and other important commercial and recreational fish.