Newly Posted Section of Elk Creek

PatrickC

PatrickC

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Fished lower Elk Creek this morning. As you might have guessed, it was pretty awesome today.

Apparently the section of the creek between Rt 5 and the Tubes is now posted. There was a gentleman on the creek asking everyone to leave. I was already above that section at the time. A couple of guys walking above the tubes told me about the guy asking folks to leave.

When I went up to my truck for some lunch, a young man pulled up behind in a red/burgundy truck and asked me if I was headed out or just going down to the creek.

I told him I had fished all morning and was trying to decide if I wanted to go back down or move to another location. He goes on to say, "Well, just so you know, Rt 5 to the tubes is now posted." I said, "Really? Since when?" He says, "Since this season. My buddy and I have a lease on it and we are not allowing anyone to fish."

I asked him, "Can a guy get permission to fish?" He says, "Well, we're planning on selling day passes to the section."

Hmmmm....not interested! Don't get me wrong, it's a nice section, but I wouldn't pay to fish it.

Anyway, an FYI. Not really sure how to confirm the truth of this. And, as of this morning, there are no "Posted" signs. The supposed other person sharing the lease with him did come up and did say he kicked everyone out. The strange this was, the kid (and they were kids, mid-20s I'd guess) that told me it was posted had been fishing all morning, but he was fishing up at Boro Park. Now, that did not make a bit of sense to me (esp knowing my buddy and I had hooked 12 fish in the posted section earlier in the morning). If you had that section to yourself, why would you go and fish Boro Park? Oh well, do with this info what you will :-/
 
I would contact PFBC, they will have their finger on whether it is true. It would not surprise me in the least that a couple locals are trying to scare folks away from their beat.
 
no signs? then it's not posted. signed signs means it's posted. Barbed wire means it's REALLY posted!
sounds fishy to me. not hard to get 10 bucks worth of signs at the hardware if the property really is off limits.
 
I agree with JackM and bikerfish, somethings not right....
 
Sent a message to PFBC. We'll see if they have anything to say about it.
 
Sounds like a great way to get a section of creek in prime water conditions all to yourself to me. I'll be sure to have that trick in my back pocket next time I'm up! lol


See any browns in Elk?
 
sounds like a scam to me. scare people off. buy a few signs and charge people to get back on...

show me your lease fella ;o)
 
send it to the" fishing hole" was not posted last sunday
 
Call the PFBC NW Law Enforcement Office, that will be the quickest way to get answers (814) 337-0444
 
allan_s wrote:
Call the PFBC NW Law Enforcement Office, that will be the quickest way to get answers (814) 337-0444

Thanks Allan. I just called. The officer that is over that area is out today, but I was able to talk to another officer. He took all the information and said he was not aware of that section being posted. He agreed that it sounds strange, but he would share the information with the other officer and that he would give me a call in a day or 2. He seemed pleased that I called him with the info so it could be checked on.

Anyway, I have to think they would know who the actual land owners are because they obviously try to negotiate easements. So, hopefully its as simple as a phone call on their part to verify this. I agree is sounds strange, but it needs to be verified if true and stopped if not true.
 
You did the right thing. I would have left, unless I was the bigger man, in which case I would have asked for verification of his claims. I'm glad you called PFBC. They are vitally interested in this fishery, and have been working on landowner relationships for years, as have some local groups. Any new posting of access, legitimate or not, should come to their attention.

If this group is unauthorized, they only need 3 days of uncertainty to enjoy a stretch of land to themselves. I would bet they wish they had waited for a better rain event and larger run.
 
bikerfish wrote:
no signs? then it's not posted. signed signs means it's posted. Barbed wire means it's REALLY posted!
sounds fishy to me. not hard to get 10 bucks worth of signs at the hardware if the property really is off limits.

Just to clarify, posted signs do not have to be signed in order to be valid.

I've heard numerous reasons why people think certain signs are not valid, like not signed, not the right height, not the right spacing. Cannot be attached directly to a tree, etc, etc,

All false assumptions. If you see a posted sign, then it is posted.

Not sure how to handle it of someone "claiming" to be the land owner asked me to vacate even if there no signs. I personally would vacate without asking for proof of ownership, and then MAYBE investigate who actually does own it. In most counties that info is available online.
 
I fished north of the section in question this morning. Ran into 3 guys that said they were asked to leave while they were fishing through. Dude at Elk Ck Sports also said he was aware that it was reportedly posted but he didn't confirm that it was legal or just a scam. He said the nursery owns the land south of the Conrail tubes but everything north of there was owned by individuals. Best to just wait to hear from the PFBC.

btw the fishing sucked.
 
The fishing didn't suck yesterday ;-) But I'm guessing she's low and clear this morning. They were fresh and hot yesterday. The section above the tubes was not exceptional yesterday either. Between my buddy and I, we had landed about 12 chromers by 8:30 yesterday morning in the "posted" section. It was fast and furious.
 
Dave, "All false assumptions. If you see a posted sign, then it is posted."

Well, it is posted, but who is to say by anyone in authority?

For the Steelhead Jam, why not buy a few dozen POSTED signs and tak them on trees where you intend to fish? If a stretch of stream was formerly open to public access and suddenly was restricted, wouldn't you think the landowner would do something more than sending out a few 20-somethings to verbally inform people of this significant change.

My money is on hoax, and I hope there is some means to punish the offenders.
 
PatrickC wrote:
The fishing didn't suck yesterday ;-)...we had landed about 12 chromers by 8:30 yesterday morning...

Sorry for your terrible luck.
 
PatrickC wrote:
The fishing didn't suck yesterday ;-) But I'm guessing she's low and clear this morning. They were fresh and hot yesterday. The section above the tubes was not exceptional yesterday either. Between my buddy and I, we had landed about 12 chromers by 8:30 yesterday morning in the "posted" section. It was fast and furious.

Yup. You hit it just right. I picked the wrong day. I would've bet a paycheck that it would've taken 48 hours to run off and I would've ended up broke.
 
I can confirm the posting. Whether it's legit or not, who knows.

We were run off by folks who said they have a lease from the property owner. They claimed the reason the landowner posted the land was because he was tired of all the people walking through his yard. If this is the case, I don't blame the guy for posting it. There are other ways to access the area than to walk past his windows, and I can understand how that would get old, but there are other ways of dealing with that kind of situation if that was the only issue. Adding the lease into play makes me think the owner had other motives in hanging the yellow signs.

The guys claimed they "hated having to kick people off," which I found funny. As if someone had a gun to their head when they set the lease up and agreed to enforce it? Interestingly, they also seemed relatively ignorant to the who's and what's of the issues that leasing is causing within the fishery. I really hope these guys understand what they are playing part to, and made it a point to tell them that in as nice a way as possible. I'm sure the steam shooting out of my ears was a bit hard to hide...

To my knowledge, this is the first lease on a truly high traffic/easy access area of the creek. I wished them luck with enforcing the posting on such a busy area, and told them to be prepared for people who aren't as accepting of this as we were (not a threat, but this is a very real possibility). Their "exclusive" piece of water may not be worth it if someone less diplomatic takes exception to being kicked out.

Last we saw, there were three signs posted. Two on a debris pile near the busted blocks between Rt. 5 and Conrail (which look like they won't survive the next high water event), and one about 10' up in a tree on river left on the downstream side of the Conrail tubes.

I can't confirm how true this is, but there was also talk that the section downstream is going to be posted soon, and also that Uncle John's may be going up for sale soon too. Which leads to me wondering what PFBC's breaking point is regarding the amount of posted land and the feasibility of keeping this sideshow going? I highly doubt any hard percentage has been assigned to this, but the way things are going as of late, they may have to start kicking that around.

On a lighter note, by early October standards, fishing was hot and heavy until about 11 when the water dropped/cleared and the sun got high enough to stop the fish from moving.
 
Public Steelhead Easements

For those curious what can be posted and what can't, take a look at this link. The PFBC has all the land easements marked on this interactive map. I am not too familiar with that section of Elk Creek, but it would seem possible that it is posted as it is one of the very few sections that don't have an easement signed.

Those guys who are responsible for getting people off that land are putting their lives in jeopardy. You couldn't pay me to kick people off Elk Creek once the big crowds are there. I don't think they know what they signed up for.
 
I can assure you that excessive posting will result in the smolts being planted elsewhere. Still, I have my doubts about the legitimacy of this. A smart landowner would use his/her name, address and phone number on any signs, would notify PFBC and would post on fisherie to declare his/her assertion of rights.
 
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