Selling food and beverages to those fishing around Creekside Junction Park on April 5 were (above, from left) Ed and Sarah Rhinard, and Faye, Ava and Kyle Ziegler. Andy Steffy of Tunkhannock (below) tries his luck on opening day of trout season on the North Fork of Mehoopany Creek at Forkston. He has fished the creek for a number of years and brought along fellow angler Bob Seidel (not pictured) who usually frequents Lake Oxbow and Tunkhannock Creek.
Story and photos By Rick Hiduk
(originally published in the Rocket-Courier)
Members of the Community Center of Mehoopany (CCM) stepped up on the first day of trout season to greet those casting their lines into Mehoopany Creek at Creek Junction Park in Forkston Township. After nearly a decade of anglers purchasing hot dogs, soup, baked goods and beverages from the Mehoopany Creek Watershed Association (MCWA), several of the same people involved with that group decided to continue the tradition and opened the concession stand in the park to visitors on April 5.
“Most of us were part of both,” said CCM president Kyle Ziegler, who was also the last president of the MCWA, which disbanded in March 2023. The He and others present on Saturday said the former organization had simply “aged out” without enough new members to replace those who stepped down from the board, like founding figure Rusty Bennett.
“We already take care of the park,” Ziegler said of the CCM, which has been in existence for decades. They also coordinate rentals of the pavilion with the Creek Junction Recreation Board. They had hoped to open up the concession stand for anglers last year but the weather was horrible, he related.
“So we handed out cookies along the creek,” said Sarah Rhinard, secretary of the CCM, who added that it might take a few years to regain awareness and draw guests deeper into the park than the roadside tent that was staffed by the MCWA. “The concession stand is much more convenient for us,” Rhinard said of having electricity and a sturdy roof over their heads. Ziegler suggested that some additional signage might be needed to get people to drive to the parking lot along the North Fork.
They want people to also know what they are doing to improve the park, which was rebuilt after disastrous flooding in 2011. In addition to conducting litter pickups, Yoga in the Park, and a chicken barbecue and vendor event in September, the CCM has acquired a grant to put in more walkways for recreationists. Regular updates on happenings there can be found on the Creekside Junction Park, Forkston Pa. Facebook page.
While not a total washout, scattered showers on April 5 cut down on the number of people who showed up to fish, which leaves plenty of trout to be caught on nicer days. According to the PA Fish & Boat Commission website, North Branch Mehoopany Creek at Forkston Corner (Route 87) was stocked with brook, brown and golden trout on March 19.
Ken Gross of Ellicot City, MD (left) and Scott Ritchlin of Frenchtown, NJ got in some fishing in Mehoopany Creek between rain showers on Saturday but had not had any luck as of mid morning. Gross has a cabin nearby and has been fishing at Forkston Corners since 1972.