LAKE CHILLISQUAQUE
Difficult to pronounce, but not to fish, Lake Chillisquaque has plenty of shallow water that heats up quickly in spring. Located in Montour County in the Susquehanna River Valley, the lake is also known as Montour Lake, after the surrounding Pennsylvania Power and Light park known as Montour Preserve.

The 165-acre impoundment was developed to provide a backup reservoir of cooling water for the nearby Montour coal-fired plant. Now the lake survives as a haven for waterfowl and as a recreational fishery.

The most reliable spring bass fishing takes place on the southeastern end of the lake in the back bay of Heron Cove and adjacent Jellyfish Cove. The coves’ shallow shorelines are lined with the cattails and grassbeds that spawning bass prefer.

The entire Heron Cove area of the lake has shallow shorelines where the dropoff is consistently some distance from the bank. These spots warm up soonest in spring. Bass tend to chase bait onto the bank shallows.

Most of Heron Cove is only 10 feet deep. On Lake Chillisquaque, it’s not until you get between the fishing pier and the distant boat ramp that you can find 20-foot depths.

The area in front of the boat ramp has a wide, shallow area that drops down to 20 feet. In front of the dam, you’ll find the lake’s deepest zone in the 40-foot range.

These depths are important because after spawning, many bass retreat to the mid-range dropoffs before again returning to the shallows for sporadic summer feeding.

There is one boating access on Lake Chilisquaque -- the Heron Cove Boat Access Area, on the east side of the lake.

Only electric motors are permitted in the Montour Preserve.

To reach the lake from I-80, take Route 54 west. At Washingtonville, turn right towards Strawberry Ridge. At the first intersection, turn left onto PPL Road to the intersection with Preserve Road. The area is well marked.

For more information, contact the Preserve in Danville at (570) 437-3131.

LAKE ONTELAUNEE
Wade-fishing along the shoreline is the name of the game at Lake Ontelaunee. It’s not because the lake’s bass population won’t visit deeper water, but the lake’s owners do not allow boat access.

The restriction by the city of Reading prevents anglers from working the deeper dropoffs in some sections of the lake, but because this 1,082-acre impoundment is consistently shallow, wading anglers can work it.

In fact, in many areas of Lake Ontelaunee, a wader can trudge out 50 to 100 yards before the water reaches his waistline.

Lake Ontelaunee has limestone substrata. There are limestone outcroppings around considerable portions of the shoreline and even a major submerged outcropping in the center of the lake, yet everything else is rather mucky.

In spring, Lake Ontelaunee’s largemouths come in shallow where they can find extensive grassbeds and emerging lily pads. Points are prominent in many areas of the lake. Wading anglers walk out as far as they can on the elevated humps, then cast to the deeper water to the front and sides. Lipless crankbaits are a prime attractor for bass in this structure.

The lake has an overabundant population of white perch, so your lures should emulate their naturally silver sides.

Lake Ontelaunee lies eight miles north of the center of Reading. Take Route 61 north to Route 73 and turn right. Open roads surround much of the shoreline, and there are pleasantly wooded buffer zones between the roads and the shoreline.