Lake Augusta Drains This Week. What Northumberland's Riverfront Looks Like Until April

The fabridam at Sunbury starts deflating tomorrow, October 13, and should finish over the course of the week. Shikellamy State Park manager Ben Bender told 94.1 WQKX that this returns Lake Augusta to the Susquehanna River's normal off-season level, and that the dam is expected to go back up in late April 2027, conditions permitting.

Compare that to this year's spring schedule. Full inflation started May 1, the lake was expected to reach full pool by mid-May, and seasonal mooring ran through October 5, according to Eagle 107's April report. So the full lake lasts about five months. The river at its natural level runs from mid-October to late April, a little over six months. That makes the lake the shorter season, and the version of the Susquehanna that Northumberland lives with longest is the one coming back this week.

The off-season schedule, step by step

The handoff from lake to river happens in stages, and most of them have already happened.

The borough's notice tied its own dock removal directly to the dam. It said the October 6 removal "coincides with the dam deflation and removal of the docks at the Marina." That's the borough's Pineknotter Park and The Point at 1 Water Street, where the borough lists a public boat ramp and dock. The borough hasn't posted a separate winter schedule for the ramp, so check with the borough office before planning to launch from there.

On the Sunbury side, the marina sits at the tip of Packers Island. According to DCNR's boating page, it holds 73 seasonal slips plus a transient launch. That whole setup depends on the inflated pool, so it comes out when the pool does.

What the lower water uncovers

Once the bags drop, the river runs over a bed that the lake covered all summer. The Susquehanna Greenway's Riverside-to-Shikellamy water trail guide covers the 10.2-mile paddle that ends at the state park. It rates the route moderate, recommends a Danville gauge height of 2 to 7 feet, and warns that island banks and stones are hazards at low water, especially near Packers Island. Anyone who paddled the flat summer lake past Northumberland's waterfront should expect a different trip in late October. The stones the lake hid are back in play, and the gauge reading carries more weight than it did in July.

Fishing changes with the water too. DCNR lists bass, walleye, muskellunge, crappie, northern pike and catfish among the warmwater species in Lake Augusta and the Susquehanna. No local report has said how the fall bite shifts after deflation, so the species list is as far as the sources go.

The fish passage shows how fast the change happens

The best record of what deflation does comes from the fish passage on the Shamokin Dam side of the dam. The Bay Journal described it as a 900-foot-long, 50-foot-wide channel built to look like a natural stream around the dam, at a cost of $5.3 million, with riffles and pools meant to draw different kinds of fish.

The passage depends on high water to keep flowing. Last fall, as northcentralpa.com reported in a piece reprinted from the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper, the dam was deflated the week after Columbus Day. Bender said the passage "had stopped running around Thursday of last week." On Monday, October 20, 2025, the Riverkeeper, Susquehanna University and DCNR pulled more than 350 fish, including 33 eels, from three pools left stranded in the channel, then recorded them and released them into the river.

Matt Wilson, director of Susquehanna University's Freshwater Research Institute, told the outlet how quickly it happened:

"I think it's pretty remarkable the pools became completely disconnected on Thursday and by Monday two of the three were nearly fishless."

Of the fish caught, 296 came from the first pool, 51 from the second and 8 from the third. Riverkeeper John Zaktansky said the effort began in an earlier year because "people walking by were concerned" about fish trapped in the pools weeks after deflation. He also said the work is still building a baseline, since "there isn't exactly an owner's manual" for how the passage behaves once the water drops.

All of that is from 2025, and no 2026 rescue has been announced. What it does show is that the change takes days. With deflation starting October 13, the river around the dam will look noticeably different within a week.

Where to see the river from land

With the docks out, the river is mostly something you look at, and the best spots are on high ground or paved paths.

1. Shikellamy Overlook. DCNR lists this vista 360 feet above the confluence, with views over Sunbury, Northumberland and the surrounding area. The park is open every day of the year, sunrise to sunset. At low water, the stones and island banks the paddling guide warns about can be seen from above.
2. The Marina Section on Packers Island. It's the same park at river level, on the island where the North and West Branches meet. DCNR describes Shikellamy as a place to watch wildlife, especially migrating birds and butterflies.
3. Sunbury Riverfront Park. The Greenway's trail page describes a paved route of about a mile along the river, past the amphitheater, boat dock and fishing pier.
4. The Point at 1 Water Street. This is Northumberland's own spot at the water's edge, next to Pineknotter Park.

The borough's calendar moves onto its streets

As the river goes quiet, late October in Northumberland fills up with events in town. The town's late-summer run of gazebo nights and the Block Party 5K ran close to the water. The next few weeks are centered on Orange Street, King Street and Priestley Avenue.

• Northumberland's Fall Festival, Saturday, October 24, 4 to 6 p.m., at 175 Orange St. The 17857.org listing includes children's activities, food and drink, costumes and scarecrow decorating.
• Halloween parade, Wednesday, October 28. Participants gather at 6 p.m. at King Street Park, 1242 King St., and the parade steps off at 7 p.m. through town streets.
• Family Ghost Tours at the Joseph Priestley House, Saturday, October 31, with tours at 6:30, 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m. at 472 Priestley Ave. The house will be closed on October 24 for a members-and-volunteers event, so a festival-day visit won't work.

The Fall Festival address, 175 Orange St., is also home to the borough building and the Northumberland History Museum. These are listed schedules, not past events. The Priestley House site and the borough's notices are the places to check for changes.

Between now and late April

The borough's dock at The Point was scheduled to come out October 6, the same day marina dock removal began on Packers Island. For paddlers, the Greenway guide's 2 to 7 foot Danville gauge range is the number to check before heading out. The Shikellamy Overlook is open sunrise to sunset every day through the winter. Bender's late-April target puts reinflation about six months out. Going by this year's schedule, a full lake would follow about two weeks after inflation begins.

Homes near Northumberland's riverfront, from the historic borough to the hillside streets of Branchview, have a view that changes with the dam schedule. When we put a value on one of those homes, we look at the river in both seasons. If you'd like to know what your Northumberland home is worth right now, CENTURY 21 Mertz & Associates can give you a free home valuation grounded in more than four decades of pricing homes along this stretch of the Susquehanna.