Spawning Gravel in Letort

[Dave_W]

Back in the 1960s and 70s, Charlie Fox was keenly interested in the problem of where and how trout spawned in spring creeks, his beloved Letort in particular. Since such limestoners often lacked good areas with gravel, Fox started importing truck loads of stones into Letort in its upper reaches and down by his house. Over the years, Fox and the volunteers from Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited (CVTU) have added improvements and carefully watched over these essentially man made spawning areas. Earlier today, CVTU volunteers conducted our annual rake and maintenance of these gravel areas. This is done in September before trout start moving up into these sections. The purpose is to clear accumulated sediment and generally stir up the rocks and break 'em out of embedded stream bottom thus making them easier for redd building browns to manipulate during the spawn. Invasive weeds were also pulled to keep the channel flows clear. Not only do trout spawn here, but large numbers of white suckers some years as well.

 

[ryansheehan]

Invasive weeds were pulled while pepples and trout were imported, we fly fisherman are a funny bunch :-D Thanks for looking out, now will the trout be any easier to catch in that stream???

 

[Chaz]

The biggest problem in spring creeks is they move slowly and deposit a lot of fines. More riffle and pool sequences would be an improvement, but you won't get that in a spring creek. But there are as I remember some places that naturally have gravel and riffles.
I have fished Willow Creek in Berks County a number of times and until I went there in the fall and saw where the trout spawned I was always puzzled as to where that would be. It because obvious when I saw a couple dozen spawning beds in the tails of pools and in riffles. I've got to get over to Willow Cr. in about a month and see if there are spawning trout.
Be aware there are 2 species of watercress, one native one invasive. I'm not sure how you'd get rid of the non-native invasive one.

 

[salmonoid]

ryansheehan wrote:
Invasive weeds were pulled while pepples and trout were imported, we fly fisherman are a funny bunch :-D Thanks for looking out, now will the trout be any easier to catch in that stream???

Don't be going and trying to be all logically consistent now... But I noted the irony in the concepts too.

Since Fox was so keenly interested in where the fish spawned back in the day, where did they spawn before humankind improved the stream? The fish obviously figured something out without our help, but did his augmentation of the spawning habitat significantly improve the spawning capabilities of the stream residents?

 

[LetortAngler]

At one time, the Letort had a sparkling clean gravel stream-beds, with shores lined with watercress, perfect water then suited for Brookies. Fast forward to the mid 1900s. Bad farming practices along with a long list of other contributing factors, including the invasive weed "elodea" caused the siltation problems that we see in the other limestoners of CV.
Before the first man made redds were put in, it was not by choice but by necessity, the trout used the extreme headwaters and tribs to spawn since it was the only place where clean gravel could be found. What Fox accomplished was creating spawning beds further downstream from the headwaters, where in the first year around the early 1960s, many tons of gravel and larger stone was put in place and used by many spawners. The stone also helped with the hatches that also suffered from the profuse weeds and silt.
That spring, little par-marked trout were recorded "strung out along the banks" in a section just a few weeks prior, was nothing but silt.
I have no doubt that the man made spawning beds had a positive impact for the Letort, and continue to do so today.

 

[afishinado]

LetortAngler wrote:
At one time, the Letort had a sparkling clean gravel stream-beds, with shores lined with watercress, perfect water then suited for Brookies. Fast forward to the mid 1900s. Bad farming practices along with a long list of other contributing factors, including the invasive weed "elodea" caused the siltation problems that we see in the other limestoners of CV.
Before the first man made redds were put in, it was not by choice but by necessity, the trout used the extreme headwaters and tribs to spawn since it was the only place where clean gravel could be found. What Fox accomplished was creating spawning beds further downstream from the headwaters, where in the first year around the early 1960s, many tons of gravel and larger stone was put in place and used by many spawners. The stone also helped with the hatches that also suffered from the profuse weeds and silt.
That spring, little par-marked trout were recorded "strung out along the banks" in a section just a few weeks prior, was nothing but silt.
I have no doubt that the man made spawning beds had a positive impact for the Letort, and continue to do so today.

^+1...when we eff things up...it's up to us to try to fix it as best we can.

 

[SteveG]

Couple things... when CVTU pulls weeds here, it's mostly that thick aquatic grass, and done so to keep some channels open. As far as where the fish spawn, I can't speak for historically, since that stream's problems have been ever changing, but there's a lot of spawning much further down from the ff area. But, outside of the first mile of that stream doesn't matter I guess.

 

[Dave_W]

SteveG wrote:
....but there's a lot of spawning much further down from the ff area. But, outside of the first mile of that stream doesn't matter I guess.

Yes, we're aware of the spawning and population dynamics downstream. CVTU has worked on those sections as well and - speaking just for myself - I'd like to see more focus on lower Letort.

In the meantime, budget, permit cycle, and volunteer muscle has limitations and we're working on things we can get done. Right now, the upper Letort has some priority matters to attend to.

(Just a quick note for readers unfamiliar with Letort: Letort flows north and this photo is near the headwaters - in other words the "upper" Letort south of Carlisle in the famous fly fishing section. The spawning rocks program began in the fly fishing section in the late 50s. At that time, lower Letort - the section north of town - was polluted. Lower Letort today holds an excellent wild trout population.)

 

[SteveG]

Hopefully I didn't come off as bashing our chapter. I should clarify, that most of the historical info I've read, all pertains to the upper.

Dave, do you know what year the streamed was changed? I never knew about that until Jerry was talking about it back in the spring hen we were removing grass. I only saw mention of it n the book, but no details or date.

 

[tomitrout]

Steve, Letort was rerouted at the quarry and then also later at the 81 overpass...I'm gonna guess the quarry reroute occurred in the late-'50's-mid '60's just on a hunch of mention in Vince's and Charlie's books along with old pictures in said books from before the reroutes. Without digging into the bookshelf, I think there are even picture captions mentioning the changes...something like, "this bend no longer exists...'. The 81 overpass reroute would've been early-mid '70's when the highway went in, totally wiping out one of Charlie and Vince's prime stretches where the little hut used to be.

And of course, if you go down below town you can also find a bunch of the old stone walls similar to the structure thru the War College, that are now collapsing as the stream reclaims itself. Just another experiment of trying to control nature...

I absolutely love the stream, but when you take a step back, we've sure been futzing with it for a long, long time, 200+ years of abuse ain't gonna get fixed overnight.

 

[tomitrout]

Of all the various sections of the Letort, the Quarry Meadow is the one that has changed the most. Up through World War II, the quarry there was owned by the Sours family, so the meadow was appropriately named Sours Meadow. At one time the water dropped downstream for fifty yards from the upper quarry bridge and made an abrupt left turn, creating one of the deeper holes on the stream. The stream then swung westward to the base of a very steep bank, followed it for a while, swung under a couple of overhanging willows, then continued on its merry way to the lower end of the meadow at the Reading Railroad Bridge. Because this entire meadow was an open boggy area, it was probably the fly fisher's favorite because only a dropped backcast could foul up the casting stroke. Two of the legendary monsters of the Letort came from this meadow: a 10-pound fish caught by Rodney Glass in the 1940s and a 10-pound 8-ounce brown caught by Terry Ward one bright June day on a black Shenk Sculpin. This was another of my favorite meadows for a number of years. Over one half of this watercourse was changed when the present quarry owners obtained a permit to straighten the stream channel, fill in a portion of the meadow, and ad the lower quarry bridge to ease access to an expanded quarry operation, From a fishing standpoint this was a trade-off because the quarry owners added ver thirty tons of river gravel to the new channel and created additional spawning area that is used heavily every fall by amorous brown trout.

-Ed Shenk, Fly Rod Trouting

Sounds like late '40's early '50's for when the quarry meadow was altered. Ed also describes the Thorntree Meadow where the hut used to sit, which is now the 81 overpass.

Great book btw, grab a copy if you ever have a chance.