June 01, 2006
Keystone Conservation Efforts
With 56 chapters and 13,000 members, the Pennsylvania Council represents one of top TU states in the nation. Pennsylvanians are so involved in TU because their state offers a lot of great salmonid angling. I visited a few of the many successful TU efforts in the state and, of course, I found a little time to conduct hook-and-line sampling…
A PA brown trout
Stony Creek
Every week for almost 20 years, members of the Doc Fritchey TU chapter have maintained diversion wells in the Stony Creek watershed. Creek water is diverted into the wells, which contain crushed limestone. The hydraulic pressure pulverizes the stone into fine particles and sweeps the pH basic sand downstream. To keep the program operating, volunteers must shovel large quantities of gravel into the remotely located wells. These TUers donate a lot of time as well as their back muscles!
Their work has been rewarded with noted improvements in the watershed, which suffers from acidic coal mine drainage. The liming program has increased the pH and Stony now supports wild and stocked trout. About 18 miles of the creek flows through a roadless area, offering a wilderness experience to anglers who enjoy walking and biking.
Bob Pennell, an active member of the Fritchey chapter, and I tried our luck at the downstream boundary of the roadless area. Bob’s favorite PA fly, the green weenie, tempted a few of the stream’s brown trout. The green weenie is a simple beadhead inch worm tied with bright green chenille. While the “match the hatch” crowd wouldn’t be caught dead with this unnaturally gaudy fly in their box, there is no denying its effectiveness in certain situations.
Regardless of whether you prefer #10 florescent worms or #26 tricos, a trout stream is a great place to spend a day. Thanks to the Doc Fritchey Chapter, Stony Creek fits the bill once again.
Coldwater Heritage Partnership
The top trout fisheries in Pennsylvania are designated as “class A” water. This classification is based on the combined mass of wild trout per unit area and water quality. Of course, these rivers are particularly popular with anglers, the state’s natural resources agencies, and conservationists. To help protect the “class A” trout fisheries and other coldwater streams with exceptional environmental value, the Coldwater Heritage Partnership (CHP) was forged in 2003.
CHP is a cooperative effort between the PA council of Trout Unlimited, the PA Fish and Boat Commission, the Western PA Watershed Protection Program, and the state’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. CHP assists local conservation groups (including TU chapters) with holistic watershed assessment and strategic planning to provide a foundation for future conservation efforts.
In four years, CHP has assisted with 35 conservation plans for watersheds across the state. According to Deb Nardone, the CHP’s Coldwater Resources Specialist, the program is so successful because it empowers local conservation groups with the technical and financial resources necessary to undertake large-scale projects. A CHP conservation plan focuses on definitive goals for watershed protection and restoration. Furthermore, it provides the conservation group with information that can be used to court funding from non-profits, government agencies, and local businesses for project implementation.
Where is the program headed in the future? Deb says CHP will not only continue to assist with assessment, but also help implement the conservation plans that have already been completed. Also, she hopes that other states will benefit from similar programs down the road. To find out more about the Coldwater Heritage Partnership, visit http://www.coldwaterheritage.org/.
Wild Trout
Stocking fish on top of wild trout populations is a sensitive issue in Pennsylvania. In the early 1980s, TU worked with the Fish and Boat Commission to create a new set of management guidelines called Operation Future. Operation Future aims to identify and maintain wild trout fisheries, particularly in the “class A” water.
It is illegal to stock fish in the state’s 450 reaches of “class A” water; however, many of the wild trout fisheries that are not considered “class A” are “supplemented” with hatchery trout. Why is the state spending a lot of money to stock on top of wild fish?
The PA TU folks call it “social stocking.” The Pennsylvania Boat and Fish Commission depends heavily on license revenue. According to PA TU, the higher-ups in the Commission believe that the more trout you stock, the more licenses you sell. I talked with Tom Shervinskie, a biologist with Fish and Boat, who dismissed this idea and insisted that the management of PA’s trout fisheries is scientifically sound, with the interests of the resource and the public in mind.
The Fish and Boat Commission motto is, “Resource First,” but Bob Pennell and other TUers believe that the resource is sometimes taking second (or even third) to financial and social pressures. I respect the opinions of the state biologists and I hope management policies reflect their recommendations. I also appreciate the watch-dog position that PA TU has assumed. I am glad that there are concerned conservationists paying attention to the activities of the Commission to ensure the state’s valuable wild trout resources receive adequate protection.
Penns Creek
Penns Creek is a premier wild trout fishery in north-central Pennsylvania. I’m sure many of you have fished this stream and the rest of you have heard of it. I visited Penns with local guide Dave Rothrock. In addition to operating his fly fishing service called Salmo-Trutta Enterprises, Dave serves on PA TU’s Trout Management Committee. He is very knowledgeable about all of the trout waters in central PA and he is one of the best anglers I’ve ever met. Only an electroshocking unit can bring up more trout than Dave and his nymphing setup.
You don’t visit Penns Creek in late spring to fish subsurface. Hendricksons, march browns, gray foxes, sulfurs, and green drakes, just to name a few, make this creek a world-renowned dry fly fishery. May is the peak month and the river was crowded with anglers looking for the drakes.
I did see a few of these large, prehistoric mayflies, but the fish never keyed in on them. Still, I watched many hopeful anglers lob flies the size of small birds to rising fish, without a strike. There seemed to be as many green drakes attached to fly lines as there were naturals.
The trout were taking sulfurs, but they were quite picky. Long, fine tippets and down-and-across presentations were mandatory. I caught most of my fish by “skitching” my fly an inch or so while it was still a few feet upstream of the strike zone and then letting the fly dead drift over the trout. I have found this technique useful in the past as well. I think that a little motion when the fly is just entering the trout’s view helps your artificial stand out from the crowd.
It is illegal to fish the catch and release section of Penns at night, so the evening dry fly window ends quickly. It was probably good that I got to bed. The next day, I had a long drive to the night fishing capital of the world.
See the photos HERE
Note: Immediately after the theft, I was limited to one photo memory card, so I only have a few shots for this article.
Posted by ladelfio at 10:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 31, 2006
Robbed
When I make a seemingly perfect drift over a trout without a rise, I often joke that “I’ve been robbed.” Unfortunately, the fish weren’t the only thieves on the Little Juniata River last week…
Ken Undercoffer, the president of the Pennsylvania Council, and I met for an evening on the Little Juniata, a premier brown trout fishery. By eastern standards, the Little J is not very small. While the river is big enough to support a lot of nice trout, it is still wadeable in most spots. The fish grow fat on some of the best hatches in the country, making this river a great destination for the dry fly fiend.
As the shadows spread over the river, Ken and I started to see a few noses poking out of the water. The fish were rising sporadically to sulfur duns, demanding patience from the angler. Why these fish decide to take your twentieth presentation over your first, I don’t know, but persistence can pay off for wily browns, assuming you don’t spook them with your efforts.
Throughout my time in PA, I used a realistic hackle-winged comparadun-style imitation to match both the sulfur dun and the spinner. This fly has treated me well for the better part of a decade, so I included a photo of it in the gallery. I caught my best trout with a down and across presentation into the slack water on the far bank. These fish are fat and colorful and a lot of fun.
Towards dark, the sulfur spinners were laying eggs in the faster riffles and the trout were worked into a frenzy. I finally put down the rod after hooking countless fish, including one rainbow, an escapee from one of the ritzy angling clubs on the river.
Ken and I walked back to our cars after dark, content with a fine evening of dry fly fishing. A dark colored sedan with two occupants was idling in the lot when we arrived. Basking in the glow of a successful day on the water, I just figured they were other anglers who were leaving the water. I intentionally went out of my way to walk around a large boulder, so it would be easier for them to pull out and leave. As soon as I approached my truck, they did just that. As they left, I even waved goodbye.
It seems that we interrupted these two as they were cleaning out the back of my truck. I noticed right away that the chintzy locks on my rear topper window had been bent and popped open. Further inspection revealed that they had taken my compound bow, TU’s laptop in my personal Pelican case, and an empty Pelican case that normally holds my camera and waterproof camera housing. Given all the stuff (including the value of the truck in fly rods) that they left behind, we suspect that they were just getting started, so it is a good thing that we returned to the cars when we did.
Unfortunately, this is part of travel and fishing in our day and age. There are a million “what ifs” that I have been asking myself about the situation, which of course doesn’t help any. The old expression “live and learn” is tough to swallow while you still feel the sting of loss, but I’m sure I’ll laugh about all this someday.
Also, in the end it’s just stuff. I have my health, one of the best jobs in the world, wonderful family and friends, and a great life overall. The thieves didn’t take any of these things from me. I don’t believe that I am the actual victim. They are the ones who have reduced themselves to a horrible lifestyle that I’m sure goes far beyond the theft of my possessions.
To see photos of nice Little J browns and the robbery scene, click HERE.
Posted by ladelfio at 01:22 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 30, 2006
Classic Waters
Falling Springs Branch and the LeTort are world-renowned fisheries that are entrenched in angling literature. On these grassy banks, anglers such as Vince Marinaro and Charlie Fox spent countless hours observing cagey trout and published works that revolutionized technical fly fishing. These streams still demand a high degree of proficiency and frustrate many visitors. As a result, catching a nice brown on a dry fly is particularly rewarding. Local TU chapters are working hard to protect these wonderful fisheries and to restore lesser known spring creeks nearby…
The bucolic Beaver Creek, MD
Beaver Creek
As a teenager living in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., I had to drive about two hours to reach a high quality limestone stream. I made the trip at least once a week to get my tough trout fix. I fished Falling Springs Branch the most, and became personally acquainted with a few of the 20+ inch brown trout. Future Maryland spring creek addicts might not have to drive so far, thanks to the Mid-Atlantic Council of TU and the Beaver Creek Watershed Association (BCWA).
The few limestone streams in Maryland are on private property and most of them are hammered by cattle, agriculture, and development. Beaver Creek is no exception, but restoration work has made a world of difference. The BCWA, lead by Doug Hutzell, has done a great job securing access with landowners, re-vegetating the banks, and constructing habitat improvement structures, mainly U-shaped rock weirs that pushed out sediment, creating pools. TU members have provided invaluable volunteer hours and financial support towards this project.
I spent a few hours with Guy Turenne, the chair of the Mid-Atlantic Council, on Beaver Creek. A mere two years ago, the first round of habitat improvements were constructed and catch and release regulations were implemented. Guy hopes that this is will be a big first step towards making Beaver a wild trout fishery. There is some natural reproduction in the creek, in addition fingerlings and brood stock trout are deposited by the state. The chalky water and aquatic weed beds give Beaver that distinctive limestone creek flavor. Scuds, cressbugs, and leeches coat every rock, providing ample forage.
Thanks to the hard work of the BCWA and local TU chapters, I think Beaver Creek has the potential to be Maryland’s Falling Springs in the future. While the trout here are not pushovers, they are more forgiving than their brethren to the north. Novice spring creek anglers will find Beaver to be a great classroom where they can prepare for fly fishing graduate school in south-central Pennsylvania.
Falling Springs Branch
First time visitors are always surprised by Falling Springs Branch's diminutive size. While the channel is narrow, thick cress beds, large woody debris, and deep undercuts create 3-dimensional habitat. Large brown trout, including a few that seem to be as long as the channel is wide, lurk in the undercuts and weeds. Smaller browns and rainbows lie near the cress beds, waiting for sowbugs, baetis nymphs, and terrestrials to pass by. As it gets dark in May and June, the fish may start rising regularly to sulfurs.
In hope of the evening rise, I met two active Falling Springs Chapter TUers, Rod Cross and Terry Ward for supper and a quick tour of the recent TU work before we donned our waders. Rod just passed the torch as chapter president and he has done a ton for the chapter during the last decade. Terry is a longtime southern PA angler who helped found both the Falling Springs chapter and the Cumberland Valley Chapter (which counts the Yellow Breeches and the LeTort as home waters). Both men live a stone’s throw from Falling Springs and fish it regularly.
In the six years since I last fished this stream, the chapter has done a lot of work on the lower end of the “fly fishing only” water. Half a decade ago, this stretch offered homogenous habitat with little cover and a lot of silt. The chapter used funding through the state’s Growing Greener Fund, to hire Ecotone, an environmental contractor, to implement miles of habitat improvements.
Falling Springs has been subject to many disturbances over the years including dairy cows, agricultural runoff, and suburban development. During the stream’s rural past, the banks were trampled, and sedimentation filled the channel, resulting in flat, straight, and shallow “dead” water. By digging meanders, constructing lunker structures (man-made wooden undercuts), and adding some well-placed rock weirs, Ecotone has made miles of the creek look more fishy. Hopefully the trout will respond positively to the new habitat.
During my visit, the same contractor was finishing work on three reaches, throughout the course of the creek. It was interesting to see how fast these guys work. With a well trained crew and heavy machinery, they are in-and-out in a couple days (see the photos HERE).
While this restoration work is a great way to mitigate the disturbances of the past, future threats still need to be addressed. Falling Springs Branch is becoming a residential stream. Homes already line the creek and the development of additional residences poses a threat to the stream. Fertilizer and pesticides from lawns are probably responsible for the loss of big hatches on Falling Springs. While the angler will still see the sulfurs, olives, and tricos that Marinaro wrote about, the hatches have become sparse and sporadic.
Although the bluegrass isn’t the best for the fishing, the streamside residents are great to anglers, allowing access to their land and even maintaining parking places on their property. The Guilford township is also quite progressive, ensuring public access to the riparian corridor through the town’s planning laws. The township also gave Falling Springs TU an office in a restored 19th century farm home, free of charge!
Rod and I strung our rods at the top of the Greenway section, the original TU project on the creek. The Greenway is a restored riparian corridor that offers classic spring creek water and highly technical fish. It also symbolizes what Falling Springs TU is all about. Hopefully, the current projects on the creek will turn out as well as this one did.
While the sulfurs never really got going, Rod and I caught a wild brown a piece on dry flies before it got too dark to see. One fish on Falling Springs is all it takes to log it as a great day in my book.
Spring Creek
The following afternoon, I visited Spring Creek with Bob Pennell, the 2nd Vice-President of the Pennsylvania Council and the former president of the Doc Fritchey Chapter. There are a lot of streams named “Spring Creek” in Pennsylvania, so I need to tell you that this one flows through downtown Harrisburg. When the state first electroshocked this urban creek, they were “shocked” themselves to find some large wild brown trout.
After the trout were discovered, the Pennsylvania Council and the Fritchey chapter received a grant from the Growing Greener Fund to implement stream improvements, including rock weirs similar in design to those in Beaver Creek (see the photos HERE). The hope is to turn this fishery into a fine urban resource.
Bob and I fished between a Subaru dealership and the local prison. The large browns weren’t in feeding mode under the hot afternoon sun, but I was able to do a little free-lance work for Chubs Unlimited. Spring Creek has strong chubs, so the browns must be well fed!
The well-known and the unknown spring creeks in this part of the country are great coldwater resources. I was glad to see a few of the many projects Maryland and Pennsylvania TUers have implemented to protect these streams.
Click HERE for the photos, if you haven't already.
Posted by ladelfio at 12:28 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 25, 2006
Luckiest Guy in America Robbed on the Little J
At 9:15pm on May 24, Luca's pickup was broken into while parked at an angler access on the Little Juniata River. Among other things, Luca's laptop was stolen, so blog entries will be sporadic for the next couple days.
While details about the robbery have not yet been released, Luca reports that the sulfur hatch was "on" that night and despite the unfortunate turn of events, "the fishing was worth it."
The Pennsylvania State Police were unavailable for comment.
Stay tuned for the full story of the robbery and a fishing report for central PA.
In the meantime, if you live in Altoona, Tyrone, or State College, please frequent pawn shops in search of two black Pelican (high-impact and waterproof) cases, a laptop covered in TU stickers, and a lefthanded PSE hunting bow. The recovery of these items will be rewarded with a lifetime supply of x-caddis and "Got Milt" t-shirts.
Posted by ladelfio at 01:55 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
