Above the muddy banks, a brilliant display of fall foliage circled the lake at Speedwell Forge as blue herons flew overhead and a lone osprey snagged a fish.

But the banks are now a thick band of mud, and the stink of dead crawfish rises from under rocks and logs that, just a few days ago, were completely submerged.

"Hey, that's my fishing lure," David Bitts of Lititz, who was fishing Monday from the lake's edge, said, spying a bit of shiny metal in the mud. "I lost it here earlier this year."

Bitts was one of many people who gathered to pay respects to the dying lake, stroll its banks or fish as the water slowly ebbs.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced Friday it was drawing down the 106-acre lake in Elizabeth Township, just north of Lititz, because the 45-year-old dam containing the lake has been damaged by storms.

Dan Leonard, director of the commission's Bureau of Engineering, said last week there are cracks in the concrete spillway.

The commission estimates it will cost $6.43 million to rebuild the spillway and reinforce the embankment. Officials said the agency has no funds for the project.

Barring rain, officials expect the lake will drop about a foot per day.

On Monday, with the water level already down several feet, dozens of people were engaged in a fishing free-for-all.

The commission has lifted all fishing regulations on the lake and is urging anglers to harvest as many fish as they can.

"It's the end of an era," Bitts said, pocketing his rediscovered lure.

"I come down here all the time in the summer for fishing," he said. "I was here earlier today and I'll probably be here the rest of this week. As much as possible."

Just up from the damaged dam, Mike Heisey of Millersville was poking around some old tree stumps that had been submerged for decades.

"This place has a lot of fond memories for me," he said. "I always wanted to kayak here. I might have missed my chance."

Heisey pulled a collection of tangled lines, hooks and lures from the stumps, which had likely been the bane of many anglers over the years.

"It's interesting to see something that's been underwater for so many years," he said. "But I wish I weren't seeing it. I wish this weren't happening. But I do understand. They're doing the right thing.

"I'm just hoping — really hoping — they get the money to rebuild this."

The banks Monday were littered with junk from the lake, from the mud-caked skeletons of barbecue grills and old metal signposts to cans and bottles, a few golf balls and a shotgun shell.

Siblings Steven and Heather Rennix, of Brickerville, dressed in waders, were scanning the mud for anything worth picking up.

"I just wanted to check it out and see if I could find anything," he said.

"We had a lot of memories here as kids. Now we get to look at a giant mud puddle."

"There's got to be treasures in here," his sister added. "Or bodies."

Jennifer Spead, of Elm, was exploring the banks with sons John, 7, and Mark, 5, as part of their homeschool experience.

"I wanted to bring my boys down here to see what we can't see when the water is high," she said.

"We had our eyes open for muskrat and snake holes. We didn't see any. But we did find a lot of crawfish under the rocks, trying to wait out the dry spell. Of course, the crawfish just a few feet up were all dead. We rescued about 20 of them."

Spead said she hopes the diminished lake won't drive away the migratory birds that flock there.

"We hate it," Diane Anderson, of Penryn, said. "It's another beautiful area destroyed.

"And not knowing if or when they're going to fix it — it's depressing."

She and her husband, Doug, were thinking of buying a boat next spring to use on the lake. Now they're not sure what to think.

"We're just sick," he said. "What a waste of a beautiful resource."

Gary Zong, of Lititz, was philosophical.

"If they got to take it down, they got to take it down," he said. "Every once in a while — I don't think it hurts a bit."

The lake was drained about 15 years ago, he said, "and the fishing was better than ever" once it refilled.

But Mark Essick, of Richland, said the region keeps losing recreational lakes.

"I see them taking them out," he said. "I don't seem them putting anything back in their places."

Essick was fishing at Speedwell on Monday, but said he also likes to hike and camp there.

"There's nothing else like this around," he said.

"I pity the people who live around here," he added. "Once this lake turns back into a stream, it's going to reek."

Mike Kaufmann, chief fisheries biologist for the region, was leading a team on the water Monday in an effort to catch as many largemouth bass for relocation beyond the dam in Hammer Creek.

They were electro-fishing to stun the bass and pull them into the boats, Kaufmann said. He said they caught about 120 bass Monday and would try again today.

"They're mostly adults," he said. "Half of them at least are 15 to 19 inches long. It's pretty impressive."

They also caught some bluegills and white suckers, Kaufmann said.

Later this week, he said, they'll use trap nets to catch other species, including carp, channel catfish, sunfish and crappies.

"The bass hide in wood and fallen logs along the banks," Kaufmann said. "When the cover is exposed, the bass head for open water … and it's harder to catch them.

"In a day of trap fishing, you can get 300 fish per net," he said. "We'll have maybe eight nets out there. But you don't get many bass in the nets … and it wouldn't be right not to try and save some."

Efforts will continue until there's not enough water left to safely launch boats, Kaufmann said.

tknapp@lnpnews.com