# Pancake Creek Lake - Summit County



## georgio P (Jul 1, 2005)

:A little known lake.....

This is one location where PPG dumped hexavalent chromium in the 1950's and 1960's to make their famous paint and coating by-products. :goat:
Pancake Creek Lake used to be closed to the public, somebody took down the signs this Spring, you access it from the RR tracks \Ohio Erie Towpath Bike trail near Center Road just north of Clinton. 
There are usually one or two people fishing there. 
It's not a huge lake, maybe 20-30 acres in size....might be about 12 feet deep at most...not sure.
Easy if you park at the parking lot for the Towpath, walk up the road 25 yards and down the RR tracks about 100 yards, and it is up on hill to the right... 
You can easily see it if you go to MapQuest and zoom in a little north of Clinton.
Pancake Creek Lake has good populations of fish, mostly carp:B, bullheads, stranded river pike, smallmouth bass,suckers, pumpkinseed, bluegills, crappie, warmouth bass,and rock bass in good numbers.
You can take a rod and cast there from shore, nobody ever comes out since it is never patrolled, it is a neat lake with easy shore access. :G
The creek on the east side that leaves the lake is public, and there are about 15 big stranded carp just below the dam at any given time.

The PPG signs all over Barberton from Vanderhoof Road, south into Clinton along the towpath you'll see if you have biked are about no trespassing due to chromium waste ponds. 
Lake is to the south and west of those signs and the towpath.
The creek flows into the Tusc, near the Towpath, so some of those metals made it into the Tusc according to this report. 
You can see the map of the area in the EPA report below.
EPA predicts another 10 to 15 years left before fish from the Tusc might be safe to humans to eat. 
In case the link below does not work, you can paste "Biological, Sediment and Water Quality Study of the Tuscarawas River, Wolf Creek
and Hudson Run" in a search engine to read the EPA report.

http://www.epa.state.oh.us/portals/35/documents/tuscppg.pdf


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Wow. That's informative!
Never heard of it before, thanks.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

PPG sold that lake and dam to a private group of homeonwners who DO have it posted no tresspassing and have houses on the lake. The Norton police would love to get a call on you fishing there. They REALLY need the money.

Years ago in the 1970's my dad and I were ice fishing it in the middle of a heavy snowfall. PPG still owned it then. Dad worked at PPG and we were allowed to fish it but they did not allow ice fishing.
Someone called the cops and we saw a Norton cop come walking back waving at us. Dad said just turn your back and ignore him (we were sitting on buckets on the far south end). 
The cop had to walk all the way back to tell us that PPG doesn't allow ice fishing on the lake even though dad was an employee and a CAA member. 
He was not happy with us.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Where do you see the hexavalent chromium in the report you posted?
hexachlorobenzene, chlorinated aromatics and chlorinated hydrocarbons are the main culprits.

Chromium is a whole different animal.


Page 32. 



> Results for total arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, selenium, and​silver were all reported as below lab detection limits.


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## georgio P (Jul 1, 2005)

The hexavalent chromium is in the Tusc, do a search in the report, also any fish ever caught in the Ohio Erie canal has a "DO NO EAT" warning according to this report. The PCB's must have been dumped into the canal directly.

The signs for no trespassing were gone in the Spring, I didn't know somebody bought the property already and put some other ones up. 
Still there are people fishing there, maybe they have permission. I can see them when I go down by the Towpath near Center Road. 
You can only see one house very far away and an old rusty mining crane on the edge of the lake. 

By the way...........what does puff puff paddle pass mean?


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

It has been private for at least 10 years.





> By the way...........what does puff puff paddle pass mean?


creekcrawler is a smokin' kayak fisherman if that makes it any clearer.


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

Old song lyrics - 


> Now okay if god made pot, and man made piff
> Then who the **** you people trustin' up in here
> See i smoke one when i wake up, i smoke to go to sleep
> All the true **** smokers, they gotta smoke before they eat
> ...


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## WhoolyBugger (Aug 25, 2008)

:S:S:S

"And I will advertise it"


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## jackal_727 (Feb 16, 2010)

georgio P said:


> This is one location where PPG dumped hexavalent chromium in the 1950's and 1960's to make their famous paint and coating by-products.


Sounds like theres some good eaters in there. Fish fry anybody


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## esker3 (Jun 13, 2010)

Idk about this lake but i have been all around this area. Ive (allegedly) jumped fences to explore this area when I was younger only to find ponds with six inches or more of what I can only describe as marshmallow foam. Ive never fished the area myself, but I wouldnt be surprised to find wildlife with a basic knowledge of second grade math. Good luck and good eating.


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## pikeguy (Jan 28, 2009)

If you plan on fishing there, you might consider wearing something bulletproof. Like Lewzer mentioned, it IS private.


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## georgio P (Jul 1, 2005)

...and clearing that all up........................checking another lake off the list....
Would not want anyone to get in trouble just in case Johnny Law happened to be passing by.
The people there fishing, might be living neaby, and therefore entitled..

The creek that drains out of the dam area and under the Towpath though? 
There are some fish in there no doubt.........

I'd like to take my recurve bow back there and shoot some of these 20 or so monster carp that are stuck between the dam and the shallows..........


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## pikeguy (Jan 28, 2009)

Johnny law would be the least of my worries. Trust me, I have trespassed on enough property in my time, and several times have barely escaped. Nothing worse than an angry land owner. As for the creek, it should be public, and you are correct on the carp. I have not heard any stories of anything substantial coming from the creek other than small sunfish, and of course carp.


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## rmurfster (Feb 27, 2012)

Lewzer,

I'm not sure I successfully posted my message yesterday, so please forgive the duplicate.

I am currently in the process of purchasing one of the properties around Pancake Lake in Clinton and read the threads where you were talking about it.

I was interested in knowing if you have any thoughts about the water and/or fish quality of the lake or any other information about the area you would like to share.

You can email me at Richard "at" "MurphyHome" "dot" "com", or respond to this message.

Thanks!
Richard


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## LilSiman/Medina (Nov 30, 2010)

pikeguy said:


> Johnny law would be the least of my worries. Trust me, I have trespassed on enough property in my time, and several times have barely escaped. Nothing worse than an angry land owner.


Sometimes you can run faster and jump higher then you ever thought..


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Email sent to you rmurfster. Call me.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

Sorry rmurfster. I see you have only 1 message. You cannot get or send PM (private messages).


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