Harman's North Fork Invitationial

[JackM]

I too am ambivalent. I favor open access to streams, but respect landowners who want to set aside private property for clients. I only ever was critical of SRC when they attempted to privatize public water on the Little J. That said, it is still a good thing that representatives from PAFF were fortunate to have finished in first. I still do not care for competitive FFing.

 

[Biggie]

Last Sunday I floated from Spruce Creek down the little J and through the "evil empire's" property. One big difference between "the Beav's" property and Harman's is that Harman's has no cameras and signs on their property warning you will be in trouble for stepping on their land.

 

[SBecker]

We had at least 5 or 6 boats float through Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Harman's. No one said anything.

 

[geebee]

Biggie, did you moon the cameras )

 

[Biggie]

Well, my buddy and I gave the salute as we floated by the second camera.

 

[teacreekfreak]

glad this topic came up.....i dont think the difference in cost to fish any clubwater makes a difference in the matter, still the same principle across the board, pay to play with big stocked fish!!!

clubs may not possess 'blue ribbon' water teeming with wild trout, but im sure raising and stocking behemoth sized rainbows negatively impacts other fish (other than trout!!) that may call that particular stream/river home

are these clubs catch and release??? If so, just the idea of people growing fish to extreme sizes, only to have it die in low water/warm temperature conditions is beyond wasteful. Harmans website states they stock over 6000 lbs of trout a year!!!! How much of that ends up being consumed, just asking, i really dont know.

and lastly, I live in a region of the state where wild trout streams are somewhat abundant, my opinion on this matter may be different if i lived where these resources were not more readily available lol

 

[geebee]

Ha ha, good for you.

To answer the question posed- spring ridge is very limited for the ultra wealthy, harmans is like any other day ticket water - but the price is a room, that most can afford on an average pay check maybe once a year.

they're both businesses though, and whilst neither is ideal for the locals I'm sure, harmans is still in reach of most people.

 

[MHanes]

There are a few major differences that I have not seen posted. One the Harman's have been owned by the family since 1939 I believe. Is when they started renting cabins. Its a business that is affordable and really anyone can afford the stay to fish the property. It cost less than most major hotels per night to stay at first rate accommodations.

Beaver and his deal is big buck membership fees for access I think last I looked its 10 to 20 grand to get into the club. They search out and use that money to buy more stream access and close it off to the public. The business model is totally different. Harman's is a resort that is an affordable family destination.

Again great job to Shane and Phil! its pretty sad that this got hijacked by a serious troll post.

 

[tomitrout]

The business model is totally different.

Uhmmm, no, it isn't. It's pay to play, period. Doesn't matter if the land was bought in 1939 or 2002, or what the price tag is to play. It's big, stocked, out of place trout that you have to pay to fish over, unless you're floating thru.

There really is no difference beyond the clientel that's cattered to.

 

[SBecker]

My question is this......If it is not your cup of tea, it is not your cup of tea. But why come on here and bash a sponsor of the site? Especially a sponsor that has been very generous with our members. And now because of that sponsorship, PA Fly Fish is going to be recognized all over the country and get some real good publicity. I just find that in bad taste.

 

[magi123]

As owner of Harman's, a few basic things need to be identified.
(1) Our business is a private lodging business. The property and the land is posted/private for guests, because they pay to lodge at our log cabins. It would be private with/without trout fishing steam access. It is only fair to our lodging guest(s), who pay for privacy.
(2) Our busiest months are July and August (not trout fishing months). Our biggest group of clients are on vacations/honemoons, and outdoor recreational fun. July and August as an example, 95% of our trout have died. A small spring holds about 200 trout, but eagles, otters, and other preditors are hard on these fish as they bunch up to survive.
(3) The trout fishery was created by Harman's stocking program. If we stop stocking trout, within months to 1 year no trout will be found. And this question will not longer be asked, because there will be "no trout".
(4) Harman's stocks trout to provide a fishing experience to our lodging customer's. Again, without Harman's this stream will not have trout, so we believe we have improved the fishing both at our property and up/downstream.
(5) To fly fisherman who do not fish over stocked trout, only wild trout, you should consider other properties for trout fishing, but many of those great streams are in PA. WV has streams that hold a wild population of trout but they are (1) often decimated by sportsman keeping trout (2) Preditors. (3) drought. Our local TU works very hard to keep these streams open/active to the public. We have a great relationship with WVTU and support 6 different regions and their annual event at Snowshoe, WV.
(6) Finally, Harman's is a great place for everyone, especially girlfriends, wives and kids to R&R at a log cabin along a beautiful stream in the heart of Wild and Wonderful WV.

Aside:: During the tourney the stream was running at 600cfs, today its at 9000cfs. Trout are being scattered all along the north fork river.
Todd Harman

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Congrats again gents! int:

Did they give you guys an idea when this episode will be airing?

 

[magi123]

Fly Rod Chronicles TV on the Outdoor Channel the 2014 season. Harman's episodes usually run late 2013 or early 2014.. Dates will be known by fall 2013.

 

[WES0147]

Long time follower, first time poster. Finally got the courage to post online after reading all the posts here over the year. Great wealth of knowledge here. Stayed at Harmen's before. Great place to go with friends or family. Very fair pricing. Please do not compare this to spring ridge/home water club. Not fair to Todd. They do a great job down there.

 

[steveo]

(6) Finally, Harman's is a great place for everyone, especially girlfriends, wives and kids to R&R at a log cabin along a beautiful stream in the heart of Wild and Wonderful WV.

My wife agrees 100% so who am I to disagree!

 

[geebee]

SBecker wrote:
My question is this......If it is not your cup of tea, it is not your cup of tea. But why come on here and bash a sponsor of the site? Especially a sponsor that has been very generous with our members. And now because of that sponsorship, PA Fly Fish is going to be recognized all over the country and get some real good publicity. I just find that in bad taste.

+1.

I prefer to fish for wild trout, but a place where Mrs GB can chill while I fish, yeah i'm down with that.

My wife's folks are in VA, so Harman's is definitely on my bucket list - as is a day trip to Seneca Creek which they mention on their website along with other wild c&r fisheries, which they didn't have to do and many spots wouldn't.

they seem like a good outfit to me, so they'll see my hard earned at some stage.

GB

 

[teacreekfreak]

SBecker wrote:
My question is this......If it is not your cup of tea, it is not your cup of tea. But why come on here and bash a sponsor of the site? Especially a sponsor that has been very generous with our members. And now because of that sponsorship, PA Fly Fish is going to be recognized all over the country and get some real good publicity. I just find that in bad taste.

lol a lot of other ideas gets bashed on this forum, why spare a sponsor..... havent seen any real bashing in this thread yet, just differences of opinions really, i think we're entitled to state those differences whether it pertains to a sponsor or not

and what is the importance to be recognized 'all over the country'....what good publicity does PA Fly Fish stand to gain, just asking im lost i guess

p.s. becker its baseball season, could you please change your avatar to reflect that.....you could probably find pictures of girls doing things with louisville sluggers that would make ron jeremy shake his head in disgust (probably not forum appropriate though)

 

[streamer-stripper]

haha - I got a kick out of Becker's post too. Unless I'm totally missing something all I've seen is Becker hi-jacking posts and acting like a you know what over the years on this site. Now he gets to fish in some tourney (on water that has been privatized), wins it, and is now all gung ho for PAFF and for the sponser who privatized a section of water and stocks it with raised farm fish....

 

[OldLefty]

I generally avoid discussions as the one generated here. I respect all opinions expressed as I believe we all should. I must, however, address the opinion that supports Beaver's operations and Harmon's as being the same. To this, I ask the question: While it is true that real blood and the substance used to simulate blood (in movies, the theater, etc.) are the same color, does that, in and of itself, make them the same? It would seem that more depth of thought would reveal that there are substantial differences between the two. I believe that an analysis and subsequent comparison of these two operations would take one deeper than the broad, very general surface comparison of two business models operating a fish-for-pay operation. That's like saying the street vendor's stand in Philadelphia and the finest restaurant in all of Paris, France, are all the same. Using only the broadest, most general surface comparison, they are; but, how many of us would stop our comparison there?

 

[OldLefty]

I missed something in my previous post.

Congratulations to the PAflyfish.com team!!

Dave R.