Fisherman's trails

jeremymcon

jeremymcon

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Occasionally when I fish I visit places that have trails that I can see most fisherman use. They also often have cutouts on the brush where people access the water. My question is: when is it OK to make a new clearing along the bank of a stream? Or is it ever Ok?
 
Its not. So push your way through and move on with your day.
 
It's never ok. Most trails are due to simply traffic, rather than cutting. And that's fine. Well, no, it's not good either, but better than making NEW trails, so there's aside from not fishing at all there's not much you can do about it.

But you should stick to existing trails where possible. Intentionally cutting new ones with clippers or something is over the line.
 
That's why we need to shoot all those pesky deer and make them into tasty jerky :)
 
I guess i would have to say if you own the property then it's "legal" but from the heart it's not O.K.
 
What about if there are no trails ?

I saw this the other day - on the EB of the brandywine there was one section of maybe 1/2 a mile and at regular intervals you could see evidence of one or two anglers pushing through the brush.

It made me think that one or even two well spaced trails would have resulted in less damage no ?

Kind of like creating a crossing on the sand dunes, it's better for 12" to be totally trampled rather than a criss-cross patchwork of trails.

I thought I'd maybe write to the State Parks division.
 
geebee wrote:
What about if there are no trails ?

I saw this the other day - on the EB of the brandywine there was one section of maybe 1/2 a mile and at regular intervals you could see evidence of one or two anglers pushing through the brush.

It made me think that one or even two well spaced trails would have resulted in less damage no ?

Kind of like creating a crossing on the sand dunes, it's better for 12" to be totally trampled rather than a criss-cross patchwork of trails.

I thought I'd maybe write to the State Parks division.

I'd say if there are no trails then there isn't enough traffic to worry about.
 
When you all visit Spring Creek, take a look at the mowed trails on the PFBC lands from Route 550 upstream to the "cottage stretch" below the Paradise. There are also some mowed trails in the canyon, from the pistol range downstream a ways.

In many places these trails are very near the bank. Or even right up to the water's edge. And some of these mowed trails are 15 feet wide.

Both Spring Creek TU and Clearwater Conservancy have asked that this situation be fixed. And these requests have been made for years. To no avail.

PFBC people, from the local level right up to the very top, know about this situation.

Any suggestions?
 
troutbert wrote:
When you all visit Spring Creek, take a look at the mowed trails on the PFBC lands from Route 550 upstream to the "cottage stretch" below the Paradise. There are also some mowed trails in the canyon, from the pistol range downstream a ways.

In many places these trails are very near the bank. Or even right up to the water's edge. And some of these mowed trails are 15 feet wide.

Both Spring Creek TU and Clearwater Conservancy have asked that this situation be fixed. And these requests have been made for years. To no avail.

PFBC people, from the local level right up to the very top, know about this situation.

Any suggestions?

Who does the mowing? Been a while since I was in those stretches. I can't picture the mowed area you are describing. Is it possible that non-fishermen use the area and the mowing is more for them?
 
franklin wrote:
troutbert wrote:
When you all visit Spring Creek, take a look at the mowed trails on the PFBC lands from Route 550 upstream to the "cottage stretch" below the Paradise. There are also some mowed trails in the canyon, from the pistol range downstream a ways.

In many places these trails are very near the bank. Or even right up to the water's edge. And some of these mowed trails are 15 feet wide.

Both Spring Creek TU and Clearwater Conservancy have asked that this situation be fixed. And these requests have been made for years. To no avail.

PFBC people, from the local level right up to the very top, know about this situation.

Any suggestions?

Who does the mowing?

It's PFBC property, and the mowing is done by PFBC crews.
 
Troutbert, these trails do not confront me. I think you would be hard-pressed to claim any of them do harm to the stream.
 
yeah, I just don't see where a mowed grass path that follows the stream is any more damaging then any of us tramping through the water and yanking the fish out of the creek.
 
It's never okay, trails usually aren't cut by anglers, but landowners do it and in some cases anglers do. What is seen on most streams is just a path worn out by anglers, which is bad enough, it causes erosion and loss of habitat. Plus you don't know the landowner, they may object to having trails on their property.
 
Yinz guys are crazy. Who cares if there is a mowed path near the stream? It ain't harming anything. I wish someone would trim that bramble patch down at Muddy. Nothing worse than blazing through and getting a rose thorn in your nose and another in your eyelid pulling in opposite direction.

Clipping thorn bushes to get through without tearing your waders or drawing blood is of no consequence to conservation. Even mowing a strip to maincure a path and make it a nice access is even OK in my book...as long as there are reasonable shrubs and trees between the water and the path. An entry point is also not a big deal to the stream. The amount of erosion amounts to spit in a bucket.

Don't you have bigger fish to fry?

I do not condone mowing up to the bank or removing trees along the bank though...Thats when I get my panites in a wad. Dang it!
 
All true above, Mo............IF YOU OWN THE PROPERTY (or have permission from the landowner). It's not right to cut paths or trim bushes or branches on someone's property, or even on public property.
 
Regarding mowed paths, I'm pretty sure this is a no-no on certain streams. Isn't there a protected buffer of 200ft or so if the stream is classified/regulated as a "Scenic Waterway." It's been an issue on the Letort in a couple places if I recall...

But clipping a handful of harrasing, hat grabbing, wader tearing eyeball gouging branches along the hidden deer path you follow to the stream or breaking trail thru the brush to reach the water if there is no other option....not really an issue in my book. If I didn't bushwack to gain access, I'd just be fishing the same water as everbody else.
 
When i lived in Newville right on Big Spring , it was in a mobile home right at the beginning of the Heritage section , Nealy rd , they us3ed to have the area in the ditch well groomed when the hatchery was running when it stopped so did the mowing which was ok with me. When i left J-town in 79 Franklin was like Dantes Inferno now there are trees where there were open hearth furnaces. Never underestimate thee power of nature but once , like a GOOD wo9man a little gentleness goes a long way.
 
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