All i can say

  • Thread starter salvelinusfontinalis
  • Start date
salvelinusfontinalis

salvelinusfontinalis

Active member
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
7,284
All i can say after watching the new TU on the rise on my dvr is.......

im freaking going to AR!
 
Sal - That is and has been for several years, my dream trip. I know John Wilson (the guide on that show) - he's GOT to be one of the best guides in the country. I've seen him in action here in PA, and he flat out WORKS for his money. He figured out the Little J better than the person I thought knew the river best. He and Loren Williams are the only guides I'd ever hire for a fishing trip.

Next time you see Joe Humphreys, ask him what he thinks about John Wilson and the White River. Joe had a new world record brown trout on, but lost it before John could net it. The memory of that fish still haunts him a couple years later. John says he's seen several fish that would break the world record, but landing them on the lighter tippets necessary to get them to take in the daytime is all but impossible. The trick is to fish them at night with really heavy gear, but that makes finding them the hard part. It's just a matter of time before John, or most likely one of his clients sets the record. And it could be YOU. ;-)

http://www.flyfishingarkansas.com/
 
Why would anyone want to go there???

Arent there rivers and fish like that in PA?
 
LehighRegular wrote:
Why would anyone want to go there???

Arent there rivers and fish like that in PA?
Click to expand...

In a word - no.

Those rivers have been "created" and are the perfect habitat to grow those monster fish. There is no other place in the country quite as good.

On the bright side, if the Lehigh River releases from Francis Walter dam were done just right, you'd see the same thing right here in PA. I really feel that as good as the Lehigh is right now, it has the potential to be as good or better than those Arkansas rivers.
 
`` Joe had a new world record brown trout on, but lost it before John could net it.''okay
 
John was about 10 ft away from the fish, in the lighting for the cameras. John knows how to do a rough estimate on fish size. He said it was easily bigger than the current world record.

Joe said that fish fought harder than the biggest salmon he'd ever caught. Given the reputations of those two individuals, I'm not going to doubt them.
 
When Frank Smethurst is flabbergasted at the size of fish he catches, then I know it's a big fish. That last fish was a hog!!!
 
Hey Albatross,

Didn't we watch joe lose that fish at your place last november?
 
Those rivers have been "created" and are the perfect habitat to grow those monster fish. There is no other place in the country quite as good.

On the bright side, if the Lehigh River releases from Francis Walter dam were done just right, you'd see the same thing right here in PA. I really feel that as good as the Lehigh is right now, it has the potential to be as good or better than those Arkansas rivers
Click to expand...

The potential is here in PA too... Lehigh is just one of at least a handful.
 
I can think of 3 here in PA that could (and are, in some respects) be monster fish producers. Lehigh, Delaware, and the Allegheny. While I'd agree the potential for these rivers is more than is currently realized, I'm not sure they could be on the same scale as the Arkansas rivers. There's quite a few honest to goodness world records swimming around down there as we speak, of several species. Hard to compete with that.
 
>>On the bright side, if the Lehigh River releases from Francis Walter dam were done just right, you'd see the same thing right here in PA. I really feel that as good as the Lehigh is right now, it has the potential to be as good or better than those Arkansas rivers.>>

I have to say I have my doubts about that. The alkalinity (and hence forage base) difference between the Lehigh system and the Ozark tailwaters is pretty significant as I recall, as a result of both prevailing geology and (in the case of the White) agricultural discharge.

I don't know for certain one way or the other, but I'd be willing to bet that growth rates would be much higher in the Ozark streams.
 
I'm really not trying to be contrary or a pain in the transmission, but I hope I never see the Allegheny converted into "all it could be" as a trout fishery.

What the dam did to the river was bad enough already, IMO...
 
Don't hear too much about the North Platte in WY but the river with it's two tailwaters- Miracle Mile and Grey Reef areas has produced many huge trout. It is on my short list of big trips.
 
RLeeP

Alkalinity in the Lehigh is an issue. However, with a higher pool level natural biological activity in the reservoir should raise the alkalinity a bit.

As for forage base, there are tremendous amounts of insect life in the river, baitfish are extremely abundant and there are already very large wild trout or fingerling grown ups (20"+) in the river...just not too many of them.

I have no doubt that forage base will be a limiting factor with the Lehigh. Its already very good to excellent with only room for improvement.

Other potentials:

Raystown branch/Raystown
Pohopeco Creek/Beltzville
Lackwaxen/Wallenpaupak
Youghiheny

There might be others too.
 
JayL wrote
Hey Albatross,

Didn't we watch joe lose that fish at your place last november?
Click to expand...

Yes we did. I think it was on Flyfishing The World, and Joe was on a quest for a 20 pound brown.

Arkansas is definitely on my short list of places to go and fish for trout.
 
Lehigh,

Frequent 20 inchers with a few in the 30's, compared to what they have in the Ozarks, well its still a world apart. For comparison:

PA State Record Brown Trout: 19 lbs, 10 oz.

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/staterecord/trout_brown/00record_browntrout.htm

State Record steelhead trout. 20 lbs, 3 oz.

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/staterecord/trout_steelhead/trout_steel2001.jpg

Both of the previous fish were taken in Walnut Creek, a trib of Lake Erie. Obviously, the lake has a pretty impressive food base. Both numbers are bigger than any rainbow or brookie, so its pretty safe to say the biggest trout in the state reside in Lake Erie.

Now, to Arkansas. They have produced the last 3 world record brown trout. WORLD record, that means it beats the sea run browns in Alaska, the monsters in New Zealand, etc. They're not even competing against those places, they're competing only against themselves. The current record stands at over 40 lbs. We have to more than double our state record brown to match that. And they put out 30+ pounders EVERY year, which still beats everywhere else in the world.

So, yes I think we could do better with some of our big trout fisheries. As RLeeP brings up, it might not always be in our best interest. But we couldn't compete with Arkansas in the size game.
 
Your right that we cant compete with the size of their wild brown trout. That is true. I say i want to go to Ak and i do, but i love what we have here.

In pa there are 4,449 km of wild trout water that is managed as wild trout water. That doesnt include those that have wild trout and are stocked. I cant even attempt to fish all those km in my lifetime unless i was rich and never had to work. I can explore and go to multiple streams i never fished before in a week and have a good time in nature. We cant compete with the size of wild fish but we have a wide variety of streams. Freestone, tailwaters, limestone influenced freestones, limestoners and classic limestone spring creeks. With such variety in geology, stream sizes, hatches, fish and places, it has made me a better angler. It has made it interesting. I love PA trout fishing. Heres to many more years of it :pint:

Take that AK! :lol:
 
I don't know squat about eastern giant trout, but it seems that most western pigs were raised on a steady diet of mysis shrimp. Is there an eastern equivalent of that species?
 
Sal, I think AK is the abbreviation for Alaska. You want AR for Arkansas.
 
lol your right
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top