pennsylvania angler 1953 - Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

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was brought maple sugar and salt; from Milton cider and whiskey and a mixture of the two which, when imbibed even in moderate quantities, produced such violent intoxication that it was called "cider royal." The Quaker City folk brought leather, iron, and commodities of a like nature. Sometimes residents along the Susquehanna River took their surplus catches of shad to distant markets without waiting for trade to come to them. A firm at Tunkhannock did quite an extensive business in shad, sending the cured ones up the river to New York State and down the river as far as Baltimore. This firm cured large quantities of shad which they bought from the fisheries in the neighborhood. They had their difficulties, for salt was extremely scarce, only that available which was brought in wagons from the cities in the way of trade, or by the same kind of vehicle from, the salt works at Onondaga, N. Y. So scarce was salt that a bushel of it would purchase 100 shad. Aside from the people who traveled to the Susquehanna River for shad, and the residents there who took them to distant places for sale, nearly every boat which plied the Susquehanna took down shad, paid for in leather, cider, whisky, cider royal, salt, iron, and other material. No deep sea fish appears to have gone up the west branch of the Susquehanna in such quantities as they did the North Branch, unless it be eels. There has come down from colonial times a record of Indians, returning from a treaty at Philadelphia, who landed their canoes and borrowed from a farmer's wife a big kettle to cook their dinner. They built a fire under the kettle, put in shad just as they were taken from the river, and cooked it with beans, cabbage, potatoes, and onions. The owners of fish houses had arrangements so that when they ran out of salt they could dry and smoke the shad, much as herring and salmon are now smoked and dried. After the Susquehanna ceased to be a spawning place for shad, the Delaware River became probably the best shad river on the Atlantic Coast. The original Dutch and German settlers along the Delaware either did not know, or did not make use of the seine for fish catching until long after the Connecticut colonists settled in the Wyoming Valley. It is possible, too, the English settlers along the Delaware did not care for shad, for it is said that while shad were very numerous they were despised and rejected by the English. This was not true of William Penn who, when he came to America, recognized the importance of the fisheries and made a stipulation with the Delaware Indians at a council held in the forest, which provided that he and his colonists could have the right to fish in the Schuylkill River. In the upper waters of the Delaware the earliest shad fisheries apparently were established around 1751, and were "day" fisheries. That is, contrary to the usual custom, no hauls were made at night. When it ceased to be a fishery is not known exactly but it was still in existence in 1815. Heavy toll was taken of shad in the upper reaches of the Delaware by people who set fish baskets one above the other until it was virtually impossible for fish to get past them, so that mature fish could not reach their spawning waters. But an even heavier toll was taken of the young shad on their way in the autumn from the upper reaches of the river to the sea. So delicate is the structure of the young shad that the loss of even a few scales means death. Into the fish baskets nearly every young shad was forced to go, and thousands upon thousands annually perished there. It is said that as many as 50,000 young dead shad were taken from one fish basket at a time, and it is estimated that as many more died of injuries suffered while jammed in the baskets. NYMPH NOTES AND NOTIONS (From page 15) pletely unprepared for a little surprise the trout had in store for me one evening. I was stationed near the head of a large pool when a sizeable hatch of tiny cream colored mayflies began to come off the water. Trout were beginning to show all over the pool— not in the usual swirling rises but in clean, porpoise-like jumps that carried them completely out of the water. Confident that a size No. 18 honey spider would match the hatch, I made my first cast to the nearest rising fish. A slow, lazy swirl appeared under the fly but tne little spider floated on as jauntily and as dry as ever. Cast after cast was met with the same indifferent response and finally I resorted to changing flies. A size smaller, perhaps—or a size larger.—Or maybe a shade lighter—or a shade darker. The dilemma continued but nothing worked. Finally, in desperation—just before dark—I went back to the original spider and caught a gullible ten incher which I returned to the water. The next evening I was back again, facing the same conditions, and still without a solution. For lack of anything better I started off with the little honey spider again, hoping that the trout would treat it more kindly thistime. The first two casts were ignored completely but the trout soon tipped their hand. The little fly had become submerged in heavy water after a long float and I was retrieving it hurriedly for the next cast when two good trout appeared from nowhere and raced after it. I couldn't stop my backcast in time to accommodate the fish but I managed to get the fly back into the water in a. split second. This time I pulled the fly under and began bringing it back in. short, fast spurts just beneath the surface. That did it! A furious fifteen inch brown nailed it before it had moved a yard, and thus began one of the busiest evening's fishing I have ever had. Until dark, almost every cast drew a rise and invariably the trout were good ones. What I had failed to recognize the evening before was the fact that the trout, even though they appeared to be rising to the duns, were interested only in the nymphs. The nymphs of these little mayflies are very fast swimmers and this accounted for the frenzied jumping of the trout. I would be the last to recommend the use of the dry fly fished wet for nymphing trout, but I can only say that in this instance it worked. A conventional nymph or wet fly might have been even better but I suppose that the little spider, with its hackles folded back along the body, resembled the nymph closely enough to be effective. Besides, the fast retrieve made it impossible for the trout to get a close look at the fly. There are several varied techniques for fishing nymphs and they all share success when applied to conditions favorable for their use. Probably the most widely used method is the upstream, natural drift cast. This closely resembles the conventional upstream dry-fly cast and is particularly effective in big water and in large, deep pools. 26 PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER
The line should be well greased to float and the leader should be as long and as fine as possible to allow the nymph to tumble freely in the current. Drag should be avoided in the first part of the drift but it can be utilized to advantage when the fly begins to swing below the angler. When the deeply drifting nymph pulls taut against the line it swings toward the surface in an arc that emulates the ascent of the natural when it emerges into the dun stage. This is often a critical point; trout sometimes follow the nymph as it drifts freely and take it when it makes its upward swing. Often the take will be delayed until the nymph reaches the surface—to the everlasting satisfaction of the angler who likes to see the fish strike. One of the fondest pictures to come to my mind is of a heavy, brashly colored, nineteen inch rainbow that rolled to the surface and took my condor quill nymph as it drifted over a sunken boulder. The deep, freely drifting nymph is very effective when the fish are lying on the bottom during periods of surface inactivity. Particular attention should be paid to underwater ledges, boulders, undercut banks, and other places of obvious cover for it is here that the larger trout will be found. This can be very exciting, albeit subtle business. The trout take the nymph confidently as it drifts to them and they seldom have to move more than a few inches to take the lure if it is travelling at proper depth. This makes it necessary for the angler to rely on his sense of sight for he will rarely feel the fish take as in downstream, taut line fishing. This is where the importance of the floating line enters in. If the end of the line stops, twitches, or moves against the current it should be treated as a take. There is no need to strike hard; a smooth tightening of the line will hook the fish without danger of leader breakage. Upstream nymph fishing is not always feasible in small, shallow streams and the downstream cast often becomes the better method because the angler has better control over his fly. This is particularly true on narrow, brush lined pools where casting space is limited to the head and tail of the pool. Here the nymph can be cast downstream on a slack line from the head of the pool, allowing it to drift naturally with the current until the desired drift is completed. Then a shuttling retrieve will bring the nymph back—swimming it through whatever "I know you like your coffee strong so I put some lye in it." pockets or cover the angler wishes to guide it. Pockets in broken water are often very productive in nymph fishing and they should be given special attention. In pocket fishing a short line is generally used and the nymph should drift deeply, allowing the current to eddy it around in the little whirlpools that are created behind rocks. In Pennsylvania we are blessed with some exceptional limestone streams— streams which in physical make-up are counterparts of the celebrated chalk streams of the British Isles. These streams are almost unbelievably rich in insect life and the trout that they harbor certainly bespeak high living. These fish are epicures, carefully choosing their fare and growing fat from the vast cuisine the limestone streams offer. Slower, more placid sections of these streams are almost invariably bordered by lush beds of watercress or other aquatic vegetation, and in this vegetation live the scuds— known locally as "cress bugs." These are little crustaceans—almost nymphlike in appearance—that abound by the thousands in the water weeds and they furnish a choice and ever-abundant food for the trout. These limestone waters are fruitful hunting grounds for the nymph fisherman and many beautiful trout have been taken by fishing the condor quill nymph very slowly along the edges of the weed beds. We use twelve to fourteen foot leaders for this fishing because the water is deep and the nymph must literally "crawl" through the outer fringes of weeds. As is inevitable in such rich waters, the limestone streams occasionally produce trout that far exced the average trout in length and weight. These legendary giants are seldom seen; even more rarely are they hooked and landed. But they are there, and once in a while a luckly angler turns up with one. No discussion of nymph fishing should overlook midge nymphs for, much as midges are cursed, the little beasts are here to stay. The occurrence of midges seems to be sporadic over the summer but it is usually late in the season when the trout really take a fancy to them. Many an otherwise rational fisherman has torn his hair out watching trout dine on these "unseeables," yet midge nymphs are often great medicine for these difficult trout, providing the artificial is small enough IF YOU WOULD CATCH MORE TROUT — KILL LESS! MAY—1953 87
Page 1 and 2: •SpS , ¥ *?%!£ 1*. ^is jp mSST
Page 3 and 4: COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HON. J
Page 5 and 6: L MAY—1953 the I. NOR'WESTER over
Page 7 and 8: There's Fish in the Old Canal Again
Page 9 and 10: CANAL WAS DRAINED in late autumn pr
Page 11 and 12: CANAL TODAY looks like this ln many
Page 13 and 14: W l fish were imprisoned to be slau
Page 15 and 16: ••^•••••m return of t
Page 17 and 18: (usually dark), with a definitely f
Page 19 and 20: k, I County. DON SHINER PHOTO beaut
Page 21 and 22: the strip lead, hence will describe
Page 23 and 24: THE Basic problem of dry fly castin
Page 25 and 26: striped bass a hook-and-line game f
Page 27: advised to accept, if offered, othe
Page 31 and 32: cade of cars containing sportsmen,
Page 33 and 34: %i Large trout have also been nette
Page 35 and 36: Ir ^M*ass the Worms Pappy!* 3 Yep

pennsylvania angler 1953 - Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

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