WAKE UP PFBC!! Hello is anyone home?

[Stone_Fly]

An article in the latest PA outdoor news states that PFBC made a mistake in putting DH regs on 2 sections of Pine Creek, and now they want to remove them. GIVE ME A FRIGGIN BREAK. Just enforce the regs, who cares if the WCO doesn't like them, who cares if a couple insignificant special interests don't like them, they can fish some where else or just abide b the regs.
There are 75 miles of trout water on Pine Creek, anglers other then the kill it and grill it crowd deserve a break from the slaughter of fish they pay for too. It's not about whether the fish will survive until June 15, most years they will, hell there are brookies in the river nearly every year until June 15, I know I've caught them.
You say you want to do the right thing, well here's the right thing to do, make regs for our largest freestone trout stream that every one can live with, for instance protoect our brook trout, make the entire river Brook trout enhancement, that will protect the brookies that use the river, by the way that is why the original Commssion was formed and still should be the sole reason for the existance of the commssion, protection of fisheries.
One group is concerned about young anglers, well I am too, teach them conservation, make them abide by the regulations too. The group in Jersey Shore that is so concerned about kids angling in the gorge should take the lead in teaching kids conservation, they should not be teaching them to kill their limit. I got nothing against kids fishing, I like the fact that fathers take their kids fishing, but the fathers are supposed to teach conservation aren't they? I've never seen many kids fishing on Big Pine, so how many kids are we talking about?

 

[sandfly]

most of the complainers are in canoes, I fish in the upper one everyday, and the is hardly anyone on shore except fly rodders...All the rest are floating by in rafts and canoes..who is the group from jersey shore..

 

[Bamboozle]

Stone:

If the PA Outdoor News is saying the PFBC made a mistake and THEY, (meaning the PA Outdoor News) thinks the PFBC made a mistake; I wouldn't worry too much about it. I wouldn't even worry if the PA Outdoor News reported that the PFBC is re-thinking their decision.

I have read the PA Outdoor News a few times and it is definitely geared toward the "meat & eat" crowd. I wouldn't have expected anything less from them. If I was you; I would call your PFBC Region Manager and ask them directly. While it doesn't surprise me that some folks have a problem with the new regs; (it happens ALL the time); I can't believe that the PFBC didn't anticipate opposition before they decided to make the change.

Jeez; I guess 73 miles of water where you CAN harvest isn't enough.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

what a joke! this is the kind of thing that just p@sses me off.

 

[RLeeP]

Well, the piece can be read online here:


http://www.paoutdoornews.com/articles/2007/04/26/news/news3.txt

So far as I can see, there is no pro-harvest bias in the the article. On the contrary, the author is a guy with strong newspaper journalism credentials in his resume. Looks like a straight news story to me.

The right or wrong of rescinding the special regs is a more delicate and contentious subject, of course. Incidental numbers of transient brook trout aside, the only justification for the regs is social. This makes it more vulnerable to social pressure, which appears to be what is happening here, for better or worse.

Just as a matter of personal observation, I think when a stream gets into the size class of Pine Creek, it is very very difficult to say with any reasonable degree of assurance that the regs are doing anything anyway in keeping higher numbers of fish in the creek.

Just a viewpoint..

 

[cdogedoger]

i was up at slate run sunday, fished the pine. stopped in the slate run tackle shop and the guy in the fly shop said a lot of land owners are complaining about the traffic and travel along naval run road along the special regulation section in slate run. guy said he isn't sure if it will last. might be a one year deal.

john

 

[Chaz]

What I think the problem is is this whole attitude of only using regs for social reason, there is no reason on earth to even make a statement like that. But PFBC has used this as the reason they use special regs on the waters where they use SP. Regs. It's just dumb, all other states use regs for management of waters, that is what PFBC should be doing they then would get themselves in this type of situation.
What I think they can do to fix this is make the entire length from the put in point at Ansonia to take out in Blackwell DHALO, now that would be managing the water as close to what nature indicates it should be aside from C&R.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

i wish they would make the whole thing DHALO only also. at first i was a little p&ssed about the whole thing. now after reading the article i can see where the canoe people might have a problem. although, everyone knows about the regs, otherwise they wouldnt be making a stink. they should just follow the law.....we waited too long for pine to have special reg areas. maybe they should just change it to All-Tackle Trophy Trout or All Tackle C&R. this way they could fish bait.....but it would insure good fishing for most the year.

 

[Maurice]

I agree with Chaz...The notion of considering a regulation for social reasons pits angling factions against one another. DHALO as a regulation is the best of both worlds. Spinning gear can be used and harvest is allowed after the June 15 no kill period. Not very restrictive except for the exclusion of bait. Remember we are talking about stocked trout, Extending the "use" of this product and then allowing harvest as a management decision to get the best use of trout that will likely die anyway.

The whole "social reasons" mantra was a term used to describe FFO areas. It was used in the context to argue the extreme exclusionary tackle restrictions of FFO.

As was said before the percentage of water regulated is small compared to the length of open water.

The biggest rub with DHALO is usually with the bait guys who feel excluded when a few spinners or jigs will put them in the game. Again, it boils down to education and marketing. It should have been an easy sell to the local landowners but apparently it was botched on these fronts.

Also remember that the pressure on the open water should have been reduced unless these areas are drawing more anglers than were there in years past. If this is the case, I believe it is an anomoly with these regs. In the years to follow, the folks who tried it out will likely go elsewhere.

Special regulations provide variety for a diverse user base. There should be variety proportionate to the license buying public.

The management of stocked trout water on private property is a dicey proposition which likely falls back on the landowner as the ultimate decision maker. The F&BC should cater to these needs with stocked trout to provide as many oportunities as practical with the waterway without interfering with the management of wild trout.

They can't be reactive to every whim. If the local TU was able to garner enough support to install the regs, the surrounding population should give it a chance to stabilize before making a knee-jerk reaction.

Maurice

 

[Festus]

I've got my thoughts, and they ain't good, on this whole issue. They'll have to wait until after my morning turkey hunt.

 

[sandfly]

Chaz I agree also, this was in the works over 2 years ago, before i moved up here. I think its a great idea but they should have made the whole canyon protected..its a natural area...

 

[Chaz]

Maurice, On Pine Creek there is basically one landowner so that's not an issue. Pine Creek can stand more pressure then it gets, there are 15 miles of water in the Gorge alone. All they have to do is post signage at all of the launch areas above and in the Gorge and then enforce the law, that's not all that hard.

 

[Festus]

I don't like exclusion at all. Although I'm a fly fisherman and will enjoy this new stretch of water all year round, I think this stretch was a big mistake by the PFBC and the Tiadaughton Chapter of TU. There are many many folks that came to this stretch with their kids and toddlers to fish with bait. There were many handicapped and elderly folks that came to this stretch to fish with bait as well. The reason these folks came to this stretch was because it is the only accessable stretch by vehicle in the canyon area. As it is now, handicapped folks without 4WD are excluded from the canyon because of the accessability issue. TU and the PFBC was made aware of this issue and they chose to ignore it.

The TU Chapter pushed very hard for this stretch and wanted to take more than the one mile put into the program, and in the eyes of many folks around here this was a display of the greed that is so prevalent in todays society. There were plenty of other areas that the DHALO rules could have been put on, one of which was the area encompassing Brownies Hole just west of Ansonia. In fact, Paul Brown has been asking that his stretch be put into the SR program for quite a few years.

Shame on the PFBC, and shame on the Tiadaughton Chapter of Trout Unlimited. There's some dirty dealing going on, and it's gonna come around to bite 'em in the butt. The word has spread up and down the creek like wildfire and there's some mighty unhappy locals. That would worry me. I've seen camps go up in flames over lesser infractions.

I'm all for better fishing, but not at the expense of our elderly, handicapped and youth, especially when it's primarily driven by a handful folks running operations that hope to cash in on the project. Flyfisherman need to come to grips with the realization that we aren't the only show in town. The sooner the better.

Come June 15th, instead of listening to the sound of riffles and feeding fish, we'll be listening to the sounds of CP Swings whizzing by our ears and the gentle KERPLUNK of spoons hitting the water in front of us as the meat hogs enjoy another opening day on the Pine.:roll:

I don't know WTH they were thinking when they rolled this one out of storage, but I hope it gets put away never to be reopened again. Everything was just dandy the way it was......80 degree water and all. :-x

 

[Chaz]

So handicapped people are drive down to Owasse and climbing down a steep bank to the most dangerous part of the river to fish, and they are taking their kids there and their grandpops there too. It is ALO not FFO. And the entire gorge has wild trout in it, something that usually indicates that DH is a reasonable regulation. For the record I didn't think it was a good idea but why put DH on a section that doesn't hold trout into June like above the gorge. It would be a bigger waste there.
Again if PFBC didn't use regs for Social reasons they'd stay out of most of these messes and would have a lot more respect from the communitiy. But because they only use regs for social reasons they are subject to social pressures.

 

[Festus]

For the record I didn't think it was a good idea but why put DH on a section that doesn't hold trout into June like above the gorge.

Actually, there are places above the gorge that hold wild fish all summer. I know one lad that is catching fingerling brown trout regularly in one section.