About Legends Outdoors
Fishing guide and owner Joe Pacholec has been around fishing his entire life and around Lake Wallenpaupack most of his life. Fishing is much more than a hobby to Joe, it is a way of life… Joe was fortunate enough to have a fishing pole placed in his hands at a very young age and he knew early on that his love of Lake Wallenpaupack, all water and the outdoors would stay with him forever. Joe stepped away from fishing for a brief period of time while he pitched in the Minor Leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball organization. Joes’ love of fishing and competitive spirit lead him in the direction of competitive bass fishing and with the help and support of loved ones as well as key sponsor Liquid Net / Liquid Fence he has been fortunate enough to take tournament fishing to its highest level locally and regionally. Countless taxing hours were spent figuring out techniques and bites in order to take his fishing to the level it is at. It is these very traits that allow Joe to offer the best professional fishing guide services on Lake Wallenpaupack and surrounding waters.
In 1990 Joe had an opportunity, thanks to Lake Wallenpaupack fishing guide LEGEND Bill Albright, to pass on his love of fishing to others. Bill Albright, owner of Bill’s Fishing Guide Service, took Joe under his wing and taught him the ropes about being a professional fishing guide on Lake Wallenpaupack. Joe had an instant bond with Bill Albright and a relation, still very close today, began. Joe’s love of fishing and endless knowledge about Lake Wallenpaupack shows through in every fishing guide trip and every single fish caught. Joe once said, “I fish because I love it, I go to the Pack because I love it… I want to pass this on to others as much as possible.”
2011 marked another milestone in that Joe Pacholec started Legends Outdoors, his own fishing guide service based on Lake Wallenpaupack. Joe will be taking the same fervor and dedication that has driven him for years to better serve his fishing guide clients and spread the good word about fishing Lake Wallenpaupack and all the beautiful surrounding waterways we are so fortunate to have here in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Please feel free to visit the rest of our site; we hope you find it interesting… We also hope to see you on the water; call Joe at 570-702-5553 or email joe@guidelegends.com to book your fishing guide trip now.
History of Lake Wallenpaupack
Lake Wallenpaupack History – Provided by PPL
PPL’s Lake Wallenpaupack and hydroelectric power plant were completed in 1926 in a vast stream basin in northeastern Pennsylvania. Now a major tourism and outdoor recreation destination,the 5,700-acre Lake Wallenpaupack fills what was once a bowl-shaped valley. Sixty feet at its maximum depth, it is one of the largest man-made lakes in Pennsylvania. Through the middle of it flowed the Wallenpaupack Creek, called “the stream of swift and slow water” by Native Americans who lived in the Pocono Mountains generations before European colonists arrived in Pennsylvania.
Engineers recognized the waterpower potential of the damming of the Wallenpaupack Creek in the early 1900s. After PPL decided to construct a dam across the Wallenpaupack Creek, it purchased roughly 12,000 acres – at about $20 per acre — from about 100 landowners. Farms, houses and other structures were either razed Batching plant at boat access at Mangan Cove. The plant was used to supply sand and gravel to make concrete. The bridge in the background spans the Wallenpaupack Creek in this 1922 picture showing the corps of surveyors and engineers who were to design Pennsylvania’s largest man-made lake. or moved, clearing the valley for it to be filled with water. Crews began work in 1924 and in two years finished the 1,280-foot-long concrete dam, the powerhouse and the 3.5- mile flow line that carries the lake water to the plant. The pipeline, originally made of Douglas fir shipped from Washington state, was one of the world’s largest at the time; it was replaced with a steel pipeline 14 feet in diameter in the late 1950s. It’s big enough for a truck to drive through it. Completed with a work force of 2,700, the entire hydroelectric project cost about $1 million.
Electrical output at the Wallenpaupack hydroelectric station, operated from PPL headquarters in Allentown, Pa., makes up only a small part of PPL’s generation portfolio. Its 44,000-kilowatt capacity, created by water-powered turbines, is important when extra power is needed during times of peak demand When the hydroelectric project started up in 1926, PPL’s systemwide generating capacity was about 225 megawatts. In 2000, PPL’s generating capacity was about 12,000 megawatts, and its goal is to own and operate 20,000 megawatts of generating capacity by the middle of the first decade of the 21st century. PPL operates the Lake Wallenpaupack hydroelectric station under a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license. Every 30 to 50 years power companies that use dams to produce energy need to renew their FERC licenses.
Mules and steam engines provided much of the brawn needed to build the Wallenpaupack dam, as seen in this view of the earthen north embankment of the dam. Under that license, PPL owns most of the 52 miles of lake shoreline up to 1,200 feet above sea level and controls how that fragile land is used through a comprehensive shoreline management policy. Four plots of company owned land – at Ledgedale, Ironwood Point, Wilsonville and Caffrey – are set aside around the lake for camping and recreation. These areas, on the border of Pike and Wayne counties, are enjoyed by tens of thousands of tourists every year. Over the years, an entire community has grown up around PPL’s Lake Wallenpaupack. The lake continues to be a special area for residents and a memorable destination for countless tourists, outdoor enthusiasts and anglers.
Pennsylvania Fishing Licenses
For online fishing license visit:
Pennsylvania Fish
& Boat Commission
