Apr 6, 2003 By Rod Schoener 3 min read

Herald-Standard Fayette County Waterway’s Conservation Officer Scott Opfer wants to clear up the confusion over the boundaries of the Special Regulation Area on Meadow Run.

Opfer noted that the special regulation area is from the Route 381 Bridge going into Ohiopyle to Laurel Run, a distance of 1.7 miles. It is set aside for delayed harvest fishing with artificial lures only.

“The section of stream from the bridge at Ohiopyle to the Youghiogheny River – about 100 yards – is not part of the special regulation section,” Opfer said. “It’s approved trout water, which means you can’t fish there this time of year. Guys who fish the river walk by and decide to fish Meadow Run. Technically, they are in violation.

“That’s always been a problem. Up near the Ohiopyle State Park office, there is another bridge that crosses Meadow Run. A lot of people think that is the upper boundary of the special regulation area.

“It’s not. It’s Laurel Run, which is further down stream.

“We always get a bunch of guys fishing at that bridge by the park office who think they are in the special regs section. It’s an enforcement nightmare.”

Opfer noted that the fishermen are wrong, but a lot of them don’t know they’re wrong.

He said, “A lot of them don’t know they’re wrong, and we don’t want to write them up, so what we area going to try and do this year is to change the boundaries, so the special regs area is from the mouth of the river all the way up to that bridge at the park office. That way you have two definite points to go by because nobody knows where that Laurel Run is.”

The Fish Commission biologists have been asked to look at the area and possibly change the boundaries.

Opfer said, “It’s not a done deal yet, but hopefully, next year the special regs area will be from the mouth at the river up to that bridge by the state park office.”

A change in the boundaries would also make it easier to stock.

“That place is hard to stock, too,” Opfer said. “Fish are only supposed to be in the bucket a maximum of two minutes. We load eight buckets in the park’s ATV and take them down there. By the time we get them down there, the fish in the first bucket have probably already been in there 10 minutes. So this way we’ll be able to stock right off the bridge at the park office.”

Opfer said that getting enough people to carry the buckets on stocking days has never been a problem, but traffic control is, at times, like on Dunbar Creek, where they get a lot of cars on that windy road.

“Dunbar Creek is really the only bad place,” he said. “Everything else is pretty remote, and traffic is not a problem.

“There is always a lot of guys around. I rarely ever carry a bucket because everyone else wants to do it.”

Rod Schoener is the Herald-Standard outdoors writer.