16 Mile, Erie County, 12/24/2015

S

Sylvaneous

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Sep 11, 2006
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Ideal water conditions. Sunny. Record high in upper 60's. Caught 1 nice fresh jack at the base of the upper falls. The 1st cascade of the upper falls has eroded. Fish can get up to the tiny pool above but cannot still get above the upper 2 falls in any great number. A guy was snagging them from this pool all morning and kept 3. A real loser. I was going to get sarcastic with him and suggest an egg on a treble but didn't want to start problems. There were some other fish boiling in my pool but had no other connections. Didn't see any other fish.

Sylvaneous.
 
Didn't want to start anything? I don't wanna sound like a you know what but, you should be ashamed that you didn't do anything about the guy. Poor outdoorsmanship from both of you.
 
Tucker733 wrote:
Didn't want to start anything? I don't wanna sound like a you know what but, you should be ashamed that you didn't do anything about the guy. Poor outdoorsmanship from both of you.
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I'd respectfully disagree.
Situations such as this are not always as clear cut in reality as they may seem on a message board. Fishermen can, and should, use discretion depending on circumstances.
 
Don't be ashamed for not confronting a total stranger in the woods and maybe getting your head blown off. Well done.
 
I hope that people that don't turn in poachers are happy with what goes on on the tribs . Couldn't you (anyone that sees snagging or over harvest) call the hot line number? I didn't say you need to even say a word to the guy. I know the officers aren't seen as much as they should be up in Erie but if one was right down the road you could have been doing a great thing for the fishery. It's disappointing 3 people just advocated doing nothing about a person breaking the law.
 
If you see someone breaking the rules don't confront them. Get back to your vehicle and discreetly call either the Walnut Creek access at 814.833.2464 or the enforcement line at 814-337-0444. You just never quite know what you're getting into with these idiots nowadays but with that being said, we need to patrol our ranks, especially up there. I know, it's frustrating not knowing how to report violators. Hopefully these two numbers will serve you well. I saw some shady things on a Sunday morning earlier this month at Trout Run and called the Walnut Creek Office. Luckily, Sherri was there and dispatched my report to one of the WCO's for investigation.
 
The PFBC should close off that tier between the falls. A lot of snagging happens there every year, mostly by the fly guys. It's a result of too many big fish in a small narrow peice of water.
BTW, it seems that every year, a few fish do make it up the east fork during high water.
A fish passage is on the PFBC wish list for 16 and 12 mile.
I haven't been up above rt 89 this year as it attracts to many people.
The day before you fished, we saw quite a few larger fish shooting up the falls at Freeport.
 
Most, if not all of us have cell phones. Take photos and/or video of law breakers and forward them to local DNR. By doing nothing, you forfeit you right to ***** about it.
 
Can I do nothing if I don't ***** about it? I opt for that.
 
I'm sure the WCO's are overworked up there. Lots of water to patrol with limited resources. +1 for a call to the WCO; I'd never confront someone on a stream over a regs violation or poor sportsmanship. Dying over fishing just isn't high on my priority list.
 
Erie could use another 6 deputy's to cover the water up here. Very rarely is anything ever done to people breaking the law.
 
It used to be that once the cold weather set in and the steelhead fishing traffic got busy, WCO's/deputies from other counties were rotated up on short term assignment to augment the existing enforcement presence. This made sense because it sent the manpower where the need actually was.

This was a while ago, like back in the 80's and 90's. I don't know if they do it any more.
 
"The strength of a culture is its ability to tolerate deviants."

-- Nietzsche

"If regulations alone, without adequate enforcement, still stops 95% of the poaching, then they have done their job well."

-PFBC
 
Erie has been terrible for me this year. I went New Year's Eve day. Thought I would try my luck again after all the rain, conditions appeared good at 20, 16 miles but saw no fish hooked or landed. I saw one fish at 20. Stopped by walnut just to look, saw one guy hook up in the pool just above the bridge. Stopped at Elk creek park near Girard, water was a little up and with that tint you want and again saw no fish hooked or landed. Maybe I was so spoiled a few years ago. No sure but definitely not my year there.
 
troutwilleatflies wrote:
The Steelhead numbers are way down the last couple years,used to be great there but not so anymore 🙁
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What is the reason? Someone must have some theories.
 
troutbert wrote:
troutwilleatflies wrote:
The Steelhead numbers are way down the last couple years,used to be great there but not so anymore 🙁
Click to expand...

What is the reason? Someone must have some theories.
Click to expand...

Lots of head scratching and guesses.Some think the abundant Walleye are eating LOTS of smolts.
 
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