m&M: - Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

More documents

Recommendations

Info

By JOHN PLOWMAN, JR. Photos by the Writer w HEN I surveyed the picture-book setting before me I knew it would be impossible to use flies in such a stream. I put away my favorite drys, selected an attractive garden worm for the initial cast. I eased through the brush until I was about three feet from where the water seemed fairly deep. My first, second and third casts ended in either thick watercress plants, or caught among the high grass along the bank. The fourth cast cleared all obstacles and plopped into the current. It began bouncing along the bottom until a fish zipped out from under the grassy banks, snatched the bait, and disappeared with same! At first I couldn't comprehend what happened. These were new trout tactics to me. Then I realized I was wasting time, and raised the rod tip far enough to set the hook firmly. Immediately the line went taut and whatever was hooked was straining the line to the limit. Instead of taking off for the open spaces of the stream, the fish worked its way deeper into the thick mat of watercress. It was trying to ensnare the line around the plants and gain freedom. I slipped into the water and began to feel around under the plants for the beauty. It took me a while to separate fish from plant . . . "Is it animal or vegetable?" 16 This outstanding trout, wearing the most vivid colo* 5 I've ever seen, slipped through my hands and into 9 open stream. So I played him there for a while. Finally he tired, and I brought him to net. Once safely on tb* shore I took a moment to examine the catch. He was a fat brown with belly of golden yellow, sio e streaked with pink and blue-green. His flanks we* 8 speckled with brilliant spots outlined in yellow. The 8 markings covered his back also. To top off all % colorama, every fin but the dorsal was colored a brig 11 red-orange. In my opinion here was a true native trout in evefsense of the word! Reluctantly I took it with me a ° headed upstream in search of another. The creek i& vealed its topography to me as I went along. Not m" f than five feet wide at the greatest width and I did 11 find a pool deeper than three! The high, dense grass covered the banks and in m a °' places it reached down into the water. Under the 8 plants were perfect hiding places for wild trout—esp e cially these nutty natives! I hadn't traveled more th* thirty feet when another fish scooted upstream a0 . darted under the bank. A muddy cloud traced his trtfl and it started almost under the bank where I was stan 0 ing. "So that's it!" I realized. I'm practically walking ° them. After that bit of experience, added to by a few more w stream, it became evident this stream and the fish i n would have to be studied if I wanted results. For the n e several weeks I made frequent trips to the area, with «§ end result being a complete education in the crazy P. terribly ingenious customs of native trout. i Like many other waters in the Cumberland Valley Pennsylvania and Maryland, this stream carries a M 1 * 1 , stone heritage. Its springs and feeders apparently oiW nate in limestone rock strata, and flow over and un ,, the light blue material. This stream is rich in minef^ and fish food plus a history of trout-conscious fisherru 6 trodding its banks. Sure—it has a name, . . . Cedar B u Other nearby waters with the same characteristics a more famous. Namely Big Springs, Green Springs Cre e ' LeTort Spring Run and Limestone Spring, to name °^' a few. They all harbor trout, mostly native stock. These streams have much the same make-up. W ate cress and duckweed grow in profusion at its Among these plants live a myriad of insect life. SuC c , lent sowbugs, grass shrimp, nymphs and larvae are f° u i there. Also in the stream are plenty of minnows 2° crayfish, all of which are regarded as the main course a trout's diet. The law of the wild in the stream is c ° stantly practiced. Marauding trout eat their own sp avV ' also minnows, crustaceans and insects. These r> atl trout lead a perfect existence. They have sufficient co^ ' food and the room to move around in addition to be' left alone by the majority of anglers. t Many fishermen don't have the patience and inte r to go snooping along Cedar Run or other small stre a trying to deceive the very intelligent fish. I've been t r trated so many times I can't even remember. .. These elusive natives have all sorts of tricks up tJ1 fins! They travel and move about great lengths of stre a it PENNSYLVANIA ANGL t*
j. e y must have a set of eyes that make hawks jealous, h Se ems you're spotted before you even get to the creek. a V ® r y time I go to Cedar Run I find fish in new locations ^"sh sported last week are nowhere to be seen. a lack of deep pools and really substantial J Cedar Run natives have made good use of er > these „ , at Protection that does exist. The plant life thrives so f> '' m the streambed and along the bank that there s no 0j n g individual stems and roots. This massive thicket ts extraordinary concealment. „r n some parts of the creek the vegetation on each bank {* Ws toward itself, and results in channeling the curv l deeper to where it actually flows under the plants. ° ut wait there for food . . . and they are invisible. str Ve mastered this situation pretty well. By casting upt^ arn the bait drifts with the natural flow down under a]j Plants and into the mouth of a waiting battler. Usuci Sometimes boards and debris get jammed in these 1Q nn els and the fish's protection is greatly increased. As tifti aS tn ' s condition prevails predators will have a tough - getting trout for supper. \ h ' s exquisite trout stream is not without problems, pa ev er. From its birth to the mouth, its waters flow (,„ houses, farms, a sewage treatment plant and, of C rse ' plenty of undesirable matter enters the creek, humans are forever dumping their wastes s6e es Pite all these hazards, the trout in Cedar Run tf0 to achieve natural reproduction. I always spook .>, °f two and three inches when I fish the stream. e wariness of native trout affords me wonderful ex- >s 4 When I come home empty-handed. I've done well t,Ql 8 Cedar Run, and then run into streaks of luck when a strike came forth. But, I always see them. o0i.° an 't complain too much. I've been real lucky in n 8 the rascals frequently. My biggest so far has been ^ lr—1965 BEAUTIFUL NATIVE TROUT of Cedar Run in beautiful Cumberland Valley often reach the 12-inch mark, heavy fish for their size in a stream rich with abundant food. WATERCRESS & DUCKWEED provide homes for myriad aquatic creatures. Trout can lull away the hours eating and sleeping under the cool shade of the cress until some smart angler comes along. a 16-inch Brownie. He took the line through the plants for 15 minutes before I could net him. On the average, most of the trout in Cedar Run are from 9 inches to 12 inches long. Needless to say, to fish for and catch a native trout is a real challenge! 17
Page 1 and 2: •M^ 1 Li. H ^^Bifl^B W f EsSi jgp
Page 3 and 4: Th fie " e question was whether tro
Page 5 and 6: w as the piece he'd been looking an
Page 7 and 8: "Perhaps you can't realize it," exp
Page 9 and 10: w^i^ $m / * #V ^ith an effort I man
Page 11 and 12: PITHOLE CREEK JERHAPS no trout stre
Page 13 and 14: There are times, of course, when tr
Page 15 and 16: I HE fly fishermen has the wonderfu
Page 17: IIA TROUT SEASON April 17,1965 ^ L
Page 21 and 22: Select three peacock sword fibres a
Page 23 and 24: Wi 1 '*• "V "tkrSa^ ar^ tad. V)ki
Page 25 and 26: SUSQUEHANNA YACHT CLUB headquarters
Page 27 and 28: li0ni SERV ATIONIST OF THE YEAR awa
Page 29 and 30: 1964 PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER CITATION R
Page 31 and 32: sjy ^ something about the flash of

m&M: - Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?