Wild Trout Summit- Aug 26th

[streamerguy]

Info on the summit....

"PFBC to Host Wild Trout Summit

?HARRISBURG, Pa. (July 17) – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) announced today that it will host a wild trout summit open to the public at its Centre County regional office on Saturday, Aug. 26 beginning at 9:30 a.m.
“This is the first time the agency has hosted a meeting to discuss wild trout,” said Andy Shiels, Director of the PFBC Bureau of Fisheries. “This will bring agency, academic and Trout Unlimited experts together to present and discuss the past, present and future of Pennsylvania’s wild trout resources.”
The event will be held at the PFBC’s newly renovated Centre Region Office Building, located at 595 East Rolling Ridge Drive in Bellefonte, PA 16823. This Centre County location can be easily reached via I-99 by taking the Bellefonte/Route 150 North exit.
Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. The program will start at 10:15 a.m. and conclude at 4 p.m.
Speakers will present information on the history of wild trout management in Pennsylvania, the Unassessed Wild Trout Waters Initiative, special regulations for wild trout, and how environmental permit review affects wild trout protection.
In addition, there will be presentations on the potential impacts of climate change, the PFBC’s wild trout stream habitat improvement priorities, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Wild Trout Management Plan, and Implications of Genetics on Wild Trout Management.
New information on several Penn State University trout radio-tracking studies will also be provided.
Finally, there will a panel discussion at the end of the day to bring the presenters together for a question and answer session with the attendees. A tentative agenda can be viewed on the PFBC website.
The Wild Trout Summit is open to the public, but registration is required. Attendees may register online.
“This will be an informative event and an opportunity for wild trout enthusiasts and supporters to spend a day learning about a truly unique Commonwealth aquatic resource,” added Shiels.
###

Media Contact – Eric Levis, Press Secretary
717.705.7806 or elevis@pa.gov"

http://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/fish-and-Boat-Commission-Details.aspx?newsid=149

 

[troutbert]

Does anyone know anything about this?:

"the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Wild Trout Management Plan."

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Was just logging in to post this.
Be there or be square

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Does anyone know anything about this?:

"the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Wild Trout Management Plan."

http://dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_20032150.pdf

 

[Dave_W]

Thanks for the heads-up.

Hopefully someone who attends can give us a report.

 

[OldLefty]

I believe that, when I was active at PA council level, we were aware that they had a management plan. This isn't new news.

 

[troutbert]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
Was just logging in to post this.
Be there or be square

If you look at the full agenda you see that time scheduled for questions and discussion is only 40 minutes.

How much of that 40 minutes were you planning to take for talking about largemouth bass in Hammer Creek? ;-)

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Lol none.

I want to discuss special regulation expansion on waters in pa or lack there of and brook trout restoration.

Unless you want me to mention the bass in Hammer Creek. Had the newspapers out there Monday. They got a good look at them, hopefully people remove them.

You registered Dwight? Hope you come.

 

[troutbert]

I'll probably be there. The location is about a 5 minutes drive from where I live.

 

[troutbert]

afishinado wrote:

troutbert wrote:
Does anyone know anything about this?:

"the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Wild Trout Management Plan."

http://dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_20032150.pdf

Thanks for the info. There is some info there about DCNR adding large woody debris to streams to improve habitat. I think that is fairly new for them.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I clicked the link but the section about large woody debris won't open the link for more info. Are you talking about the use of large winches to pull down trees and create crossing log jams to gather sediment behind them and hold them in place?

I was just discussing this with a local TU member here and it possible use on streams that were ravaged by storms. These streams are too far in the woods for heavy equipment. Cool stuff it's been used in WV with great success.

I'm curious to the lowered velocity used on Big Spring to favor brook trout. Is it just those fish that favor a lower velocity or all brook trout?
I ask because it would be interesting to see if lowering the velocity on mountain streams while doing habitat enhancement might produce bigger trout. Though on high gradient streams this would be tough to attain.

 

[troutbert]

That link doesn't work. But if you Google:

"Improving Stream Habitat on State Forest Land by Adding Large Woody Debris"

you will find a link to the document.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Thanks

 

[tomitrout]

They recently completed some of this in Michaux: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10154664892460814&id=112648995813

Pretty simple project really, just chainsaw a few trees so they fall just so.....a bit of grumbling from other user groups though since they dropped trees across a kinda popular hiking/biking trail and did nothing to keep the trail open.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Oddly enough I fished that stretch of creek recently and was impressed by the new habitat. Never put two and two together. Good stuff!

 

[troutbert]

In some places they pull trees down with winches so that the root wad is still intact, which makes it less likely to wash away during floods.

The effects of LWD are many, but from a trout perspective, the most obvious ones are pool formation and creating cover.

Which are things that tend to be lacking in many of our small freestone streams.

And one of the main reasons they are lacking is that the amount of LWD in the streams is far less now than it was before the forest was logged.

 

[Zak]

Please no more special reg areas. Keep what we have, it's plenty! All it does is add tons of pressure to a stream and ruins quality fishing.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Zak,

That is a valid concern but there are candidates in ATW's with wild trout that have the ability to hold fish over that a special reg area would greatly benefit the fishing not hurt it. I can only speak specifically to SEPA but can think of a few. Even the expansion in mileage would be good since most anglers are concentrated here. The fisherman want it too, at least a large majority. In turn it would alleviate pressure on other waters making the fishing better on those.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

As an example:
Tulpehocken below Myerstown. Low density wild trout, ATW, sees lots of pressure already and has ability to hold fish over. A DHALO reg would be good here.

That said I can think of LV streams that could benefit from the removal of special regs.

 

[Zak]

I certainly hear ya Sal and I am all about catch and release trout fishing. I also appreciate your civil response as I fully expected to get hammered for that comment.

What I've really noticed over the past decade is that even on streams with special regs, without exception, that the fishing is almost always better outside of the regs stretch. Now I cant say that that means there are more trout or more bigger trout but I can certrainly say that the fishing is more enjoyable with far less hassle from other fisherman. I just think that SR's add so much pressure to a stream that would otherwise be just fine if quietly left alone. For example I would look at places like Roaring Brook in Lackawanna County as a place that would probably be an even better fishery if they took the SR regs off and just let it fizzle off into an afterthought. Almost nobody would fish that place and the fishing would be much better. People read about it in a digest and just beat it up and wrong do'ers also read about it and think it's a great place to poach some trout. It's a place that should just be left alone. I do agree on places like the Tulpy, Penns, LJ, Spring and other highly publicized waterways. Those are the places that are going to get tremendous fishing pressure regardless of C&R or not so the regs help there. But the small streams like Young Womans, White Deer, Roaring, and the woefully failed brook trout enhancement program streams, just let them fade from thought and they'll be fine.

My only opposing thought to this is that if the PAFBC went and made every single Class A and wild trout stream catch and release only than you would dilute the SR areas enough that I would be all for that. Pressure wouldn't change at all on any of these streams. That's what I thought was always the issue with the BTEP. They just never had enough waters in it and they concentrated intense amounts of pressure on like 4-5 tiny streams. Was a very ill-thought out program. Camp Run in Westmoreland County used to be a wonderful little brookie stream. The first year it was added to that list is was trashed. T here was always a car parked there and the fishing was never the same. Even today, after the program is over, it's still intensely fished. It'll take time for that memory to fade. Now, make every single Class A native brook trout stream in the state catch and release and then you would see the results that you were looking for from the program. Make it 5 streams and you don't have a single shot of success......

I'm not just a fan of special regs in a lot of case. I feel they do far more harm then good on the majority of streams they're placed on.