Streamside on Line

"This Issue of STREAMSIDE is Dedicated to the Memory of Charlie Ports"

In this issue:

Articles, news and fly tying tips are gratefully accepted. Please e-mail them to Chuck Hodgson. Thank you.

Just when everything is going good, things go bad.  The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) lost at Big Spring by having their NPDES discharge permit yanked by their sister agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PDEP).  In an apparent retaliatory move against the fly fishers that opposed the destruction of Big Spring’s premier brook trout fishery by the hatchery’s effluent discharge.  The PFBC has now proposed a change to a regulation, which will eliminate all Delayed Harvest Fly Fishing Only (DHFFO) areas and convert them to Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only (DHALO).  Currently, there are 26 DHFFO areas in Pennsylvania, totaling about 46 miles of streams.  A pittance at best given that the PFBC stocks about 5,000 miles of water and manages 54,000 miles of water within the state. 

As a fly fisher and a member of the Dame Juliana League you should be opposed to these changes.  Why?  Because French Creek, Ridley Creek, the Little Lehigh, Muddy Creek, the Bushkill and other streams with DHFFO areas you fish will be changed forever.  In fact, local landowners on the French Creek DHFFO section have told me that they will post their land if this change is implemented.  That means NO ACCESS and NO FISHING – believe it!  Landowners along other DHFFO areas may also post their lands as a result of this change.  Thus, fly fishers and spin fishers will both lose if the ten PFBC Commissioners accept this change proposal.  WE CAN’T TAKE THIS CHANCE!!!  

Peter Colangelo, Executive Director
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
P.O. Box 67000
Harrisburg, PA. 17106-7000 

Email text comments (do not attach any files) will also be accepted at: www.ra-pfbcregs@state.pa.us 

Also, please send a copy to:

Bill Sabatose, Commissioner PFBC
Keystone Road, Box 294-C
Brockport, PA. 15823-9743 

On a more positive note, Joe King and I spent a few weeks in Montana this summer fishing Rock Creek and attending the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) Annual Conclave in Livingston, MT.  I attended, Joe fished.  We were able to skirt the forest fires and Joe, God bless him, spent a day in the Park, hiking ten miles roundtrip, not seeing a bear and catching 60 . . . yesseree . . . 60 cutthroat trout in just three . . . count them . . . three hours.  The stream’s name will not be divulged as Joe has sworn me to secrecy.  He will be giving a program on our trip at our January meeting. 

The FFF Conclave was great too, although my posterior may never recover from sitting so long on hard chairs in the High School library for four days . . . the supreme sacrifice.  I was impressed with all of the good things going on in the FFF with conservation and fly fishing education.  All of our members should become FFF members.  We will have membership brochures available at our meetings.  In the meantime, you can check out the FFF website at www.fedflyfishers.org.  And last but not least, we have a lot of great programs coming this fall and winter so stay tuned.

Charles Clayton Ports December 4, 1924 – June 1, 2001

Charles (Charlie) Ports, a long-time FFF member and a friend of the Dame Juliana League, passed away suddenly on June 1, 2001, while fly fishing on his beloved Beaverkill.  Charlie was the craftsman/artisan who made the “Lefty Kreh Shadow Box” which we raffled-off last fall.  His donations of this form of art produced countless dollars for the Mid-Atlantic FFF Council.  These monies were used to nourish conservation projects, including the French Creek restoration project.  Although Charlie was not a member of our League, we all benefited from his enthusiasm and commitment to our angling heritage.  During his memorial service, the following poem written by Charlie’s daughter Kim was read:

“The Music of the Stream”

by Kim Ports

Do they whisper to him, out there in the middle of the stream, after an hour or two? 

Do they whisper to him of the secret shade under the rocks, the soothing fingers of the current?

Do they share their hiding places – the places he might tuck his little angers. 

Maybe he learns how to leave his body and swim upstream, mottled sunlight playing down on him like spring rain.

Maybe they laugh at his discrepancies, pecking with their   o-shaped mouths at his foibles, cajoling, making him take the bait and do some self-disclosure alone, where no one can hear.

Perhaps he catches them singing, calling his name, or the names of all the fish who’ve come before, who’ve spun their tales of escape – from hooks, flies, lines swallowed –

invocations of the great spirit, the one who always gets away, with the wizened eye and the beard of tattered fish swaying.

He hears their prayers like bubbles rising from the deeper pools, prayers for cool water and fat mayflies.

Or, when he’s paused, and the line floats slack as a shadow, and he holds one end empty between his fingers, and he’s not yet reaching for the new fly,

but looking out and listening, perhaps all he hears is an occasional rise, a leap above the surface, the splash against the banks, the whirl of insects, the call of a mocking bird overhead,

his own letting go.

You are invited to participate in the Mid-Atlantic Council Federation of Fly Fishers’ (MAC-FFF) 2001 Banquet on Saturday, November 10, 2001.  This year’s banquet, which includes dinner and an auction, plus the popular bucket raffles, will be held in Shepherdstown, West Virginia on the banks of the Potomac River.  The Dame Juliana League will have a table reserved and you are invited to come join us.

Please call Bob Molzahn at 610-948-8411 before November 3 to reserve your place at the table. 

The Shepherdstown area is an easy three hour drive and has a number of nearby historical attractions, quaint shops, unique restaurants, not to mention the outlet stores and biking, kayaking or fishing along and in the Potomac, so consider making it a getaway weekend. 

When: 
Saturday, November 10, 2001 

Where:
Clarion Hotel & Suites Conference Center
17 Lowe Drive
Shepherdstown, West Virginia 25443
Room Reservations 304-876-7000
Special MAC-FFF discount room rate of $79 per couple/per night.

Activities:
Reception, Cash Bar 5:00 PM
Dinner, Auction and Raffles 7:00 PM

Costs:

$30/per person
$55/per couple
$250/per table of 10/$25/person

Postscript:

Bob Molzhan will be introduced as the new MAC-FFF President at this banquet.

The Valley Creek Coalition (VCC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have signed an agreement ending VCC’s appeal of the Vanguard storm water permit.  In this agreement, DEP admits that the Valley Creek Watershed is under stress from over development and poor storm water management, and that “increased [storm water] runoff presents a serious threat to the chemical, physical and biological integrity of Valley Creek.”  DEP agrees to consider the permanent and cumulative effects on the watershed whenever the state agency issues storm water permits for construction activities in the Valley Creek Watershed.  

DEP specially agrees to require storm water infiltration to meet pre-development levels and further agrees to regulate the volume of discharges so that no harm comes to the watershed.  DEP also agrees to regulate pollutants, including temperature, for all discharges.  The agreement will go into effect immediately and apply to all new permit applications. 

This landmark agreement is the culmination of two major lawsuits filed by VCC against the DEP practice of issuing these storm water permits without considering the permanent and cumulative harm to the Valley Creek Watershed.  These lawsuits have cost VCC approximately $100,000.  VCC settled the first lawsuit against PennDot when that agency agreed to install infiltration basins to make up for water lost from new construction on the Route 202 widening project.  The current lawsuit involved Vanguard’s use of lined basins rather than the modern concept of infiltration, or putting back our lost waters.  

Inappropriate storm water handling has increased peak flows of dirty, warm water during storm events, while reducing base flows during dry periods.  Recharging storm water into the ground, which mimics natural systems, addresses these concerns and can be done in ways, which do not affect project costs of new development. 

These approaches to handling storm water have been heavily promoted by the Chester County Commissioners in their farsighted efforts to formulate new ways of dealing with development under the “Landscapes Plan”, and its more water focused “Watershed Component”, which developed much of the details, which are incorporated into this agreement. 

The Valley Creek Watershed is a 23.4 square mile watershed primarily running through East Whiteland and Tredyffrin Townships.  The last two miles travel through Valley Forge National Historical Park, and the increased volume of storm water discharges has severely eroded the banks of Valley Creek as it flows through the Park.  In addition, lack of recharged water has caused several of the Creek’s smaller tributaries to disappear.  Studies by VCC’s consultant, Cahill Associates of West Chester, proved that the increased paving over of the watershed was directly responsible for the degradation of Valley Creek. 

Most developers cooperated with VCC concerning proper storm water management, even though DEP did not require strict controls on discharges.  The few that chose to do it the old way found that VCC was willing to take them to court:  PennDot in 1998 and Vanguard in 2000.  Now, DEP has agreed to require the controls so long advocated by VCC.  Let us hope that DEP lives up to its part of this long overdue bargain, which will benefit all those who work, live and recreate in the Valley Creek Watershed. 

The Valley Forge Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the West Chester Fish, Game and Wildlife Association have been the primary organizations in the Valley Creek Coalition that have spearheaded this issue.  Other members include Green Valleys Association, Conservancy of Chester County, Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, Raymond Proffitt Foundation and the Schuylkill River Keeper. 

For further information, please contact Carl Dusinberre of Valley Forge [Chapter of] Trout Unlimited at 610-692-2930 or John Wilmer, attorney for VCC, at 610-565-2736; or contact the above individual organizations. 

Editor’s Comments – Our gratitude and appreciation goes out to Carl Dusinberre for not only providing this “landmark decision” news release, but also to thank him for the long and hard work and personal dedication that he provided in support of this VCC challenge.  Support, which helped reach a successful conclusion supporting the goals of the Valley Creek Coalition.  This conclusion will continue to demonstrate improvements to Valley Creek and the future of its watershed.  Carl is a member of the Valley Forge Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Dame Juliana League Fly Fishers.  Thanks Carl!

PFBC Harrisburg - The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) met in July for their annual summer session.  The session’s agenda, along with briefer commentaries, included a “Fisheries” agenda item for a change proposal.  This item immediately caught the attention of every fly fisher in Pennsylvania as the PFBC was proposing to remove Article 65.2, which governs Delayed Harvest Fly Fishing Only (DHFFO) waters.  Once removed, they would then be re-designated as DHALO (Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only) waters throughout the Commonwealth.  

The calls immediately went out to DJL members, other sport fishing and conservation groups.  This resulted in opposition correspondence, which helped create a decision delay.  The PFBC Commissioners voted to table their decision for one year while they sought public input.  The proposed change would then be revisited during their summer 2002 session.   

We now have less than 10 months remaining to provide the PFBC Executive Director and the ten PFBC Commissioners with convincing arguments to reject the proposed Article 56.2 change.   We need everyone’s proactive support on this issue; apathy will only work to the PFBC’s advantage.   

DJL Kimberton – Did you know that the PFBC prepared and released a document entitled “Strategies for the 21^st Century”.  This document contains the PFBC’s management plan, including their specific goals and objectives.  Notable among these are resource protection, the promotion of diversified usage of Commonwealth waters, and the PFBC’s commitment to create “partnerships with their aquatic customers”.  However, comparing the proposed Article 65.2 change against this “Strategies for the 21^st Century” produces a few inconsistencies; such as:  

Resource Protection - The PFBC conducted a “peer review” of scientific hook mortality data.  Data, which they state supports the theory that there is no significant difference between the mortality rates of trout, caught and released using artificial lures versus using artificial flies.  How can anyone with any kind of fishing experience take this position?  We’ve all seen the damage caused by sport fishers, when attempting to remove artificial lures, especially from a delicate trout.  Consider the damage caused by the removal of a fly, a single hook, versus an artificial lure with either a single treble hook or multiple treble hooks.   

The PFBC states that they want to give other anglers the same “No-Kill” opportunity currently afforded only to fly fishers in the DHFFO areas.  Misleading - fly fishers have practiced “Catch-n-Release” for a long time before the PFBC ever “afforded” them the practice of “no-kill” in DHFFO waters.  This practice is a personal choice and is not restricted to DHFFO waters.  Nor has this practice ever been limited to just fly fishers.   

Promote Diversity – The PFBC pointed out the small number (implies insignificance) of DHFFO stream miles that they plan on re-designating as DHALO.  Yes it is a small mileage number and DHFFO waters are less than 1% of the total miles of PFBC managed trout waters.  Re-designating these waters eliminates diversified usage of waters.  Personally I believe that DHFFO waters should be increased to at least 5% (240 miles vs. today’s 46 miles).  

The proposed Article 65.2 change permits the PFBC to make more-common the Commonwealth’s fishing rules and regulations.  The PFBC would then have the opportunity to eliminate pages in the rulebook.  Making rules more common also promotes the elimination of diversified usage of waters.   

Partnerships - The PFBC believes that there will not be a significant loss of fishing license revenue due to the loss of a few disgruntled fly fishermen.  So much for their strategic objective to work together being sensitive to customer’s needs and building partnerships for the future. 

Summary - This PFBC DHFFO change proposal places in “Harm’s Way” the excellent cooperation, support and trust, which the PFBC has enjoyed; with fly fishing organizations such as our Dame Juliana League.  “Be careful out there and stay upright.”       

In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing.  (Norman MacLean, “A River Runs Through It.”)

In our family, there was no clear line between carp and the garbage can.

Like many folks, I grew up in a family obsessed with fishing, but we weren’t snooty about it.  In fact, we leaned toward carp, which, unless you know how to cook them, are inedible.  We heard rumors that some people knew how to tenderize them with a pressure cooker.

So, my father, being a chemist, experimented with this technique.  A vague recollection of an explosion and flying carp pate sticks in my mind.

I survived the incident, and went on to learn quite a bit about bass and trout.

Now and then, a mom or dad (or other relative) will kind of sidle up to me and look at the ceiling or at their fingernails.  They clear their throat, and say something like: “Uh, Rich, my kid wants to go fishing . . . ”  Pause.  “And, well, to tell you the truth . . .”  This is when they make eye contact, finally.  “ . . . I don’t know the first thing about fishing.”

Maybe they fished long ago with a father or uncle, a mother or aunt.  Or maybe no adult ever took them fishing.  “So how do you go about it?” they ask.  “Do you rent a boat?  Do you get lessons?”  And so on.

The primary question, however is why?

For several years, I’ve been asking people that question while traveling around the country to research “Fly Fishing for Sharks:  An Angler’s Journey Across America,” a book about our relationship with nature – specifically, with fish.  I’ve heard countless stories about how fishing serves as glue that binds the generations – which fishing is not about catching fish.  It’s about time and memory.  And water.

Take Conway Bowman, for instance.  Conway is a thirty something former grunge rocker who, after years of separation from nature, returned to his childhood obsession: fishing.  He now fly fishes off the San Diego coast – for sharks.  His earliest memories are associated with fishing.

“I remember my father, this big man walking into the kitchen with albacore as long as his leg,” says Conway.  “I’d watch the way he cleaned the fish with authority.  I’d sit on the floor and just look at him.  He’d get me up to go fishing when it was still dark.  I remember his Ford Falcon, and his hat, and his red checkered jacket, and his fishing boots.  I still have those boots.  They’re in my closet now.”

There’s just something about fishing – something that goes way beyond the impulse to hunt, gather, or order smoked salmon.

Somewhere along the line of human history, fishing became more than a survival tool.  Much more.  Egyptian hieroglyphs portrayed fishers using short rods and lines and attired in the style of the noblemen, indicating that angling was a diversion for the wealthy.  Plutarch wrote of a fishing match between Anthony and Cleopatra – the first trophy tournament?  And in England in 1486, a nun named Dame Juliana Berners wrote the first essay on sport fishing.

So don’t let anyone tell you that fishing is just for boys.

“I almost hate to call it fishing,” says Margot Page, who lives in Vermont and calls herself a “fishermom.”  A well-known fly fisher, she’s passing the fishing tradition on to her daughter.  “I’d rather call it water treatment.  Yes, it’s about the line and these wild flashes of light you see in the stream, but it’s really the water that we go to and the water we’ve always gone to.  When you become more familiar with the creatures that inhabit water, you are drawn to see them, to connect somehow.  But it starts with the water.”

Why is fishing important to children?

Traditionally, fishing is one of the ways that children are introduced to nature – an introduction made more important each day by a growing separation of children from nature.  Perhaps I romanticize my own childhood at the expense of appreciating my children’s versions of play and adventure.  But my sons, Matthew and Jason, feel that they’ve missed out on something important.  The kind of freedom, and access to nature, that so many of us enjoyed when we were children seems a quaint artifact in an era of kid pagers, mall rats, and Nintendo bass fishing games.

Why the apparent separation of children from nature?

One reason is that parents are rightly worried about what could happen to their children in the canyons or woods or fields.  But we’re probably too worried.  Despite the occasional horrific stories about strangers who snatch or molest or murder a child, the actual rate of such offenses is not nearly as high as advertised.  Another reason is the way suburban sprawl has gradually reduced the natural habit for children and other animals.

Increasingly, society sends this message:  The future is in electronics, certainly not in agriculture or anything else related to nature.  A few years ago, a sixth-grader told me, “The reason I prefer to play indoors is that’s where all the electrical outlets are.”  As my sons assure me, there is much that is good about today’s childhood.  Still, I wonder about the messages we send to our kids.

In fact, despite the enormous growth in fishing in recent years (some 44 million Americans fish regularly), the fishing tackle industry is concerned about a drop, in some states, in the number of young people fishing.

“Every kid grows up with a mountain bike; it used to be a fishing pole,” says Sports Afield editor John Atwood.  Yes, more Americans are fishing, but the expansion isn’t keeping up with population growth.  Steve Schneider, vice president of marketing for Lowrance Electronics Inc., a company that makes electronic sport-fishing gear, explains, “We are challenged by environmental issues, other sports and the decline in the number of traditional families.”  In other words, the increase of single parents.

There’s evidence that he’s wrong about single moms; women happen to be the fastest-growing demographic group in fishing, and a lot of them are single.

More important reasons are that parents are too busy, don’t know much about fishing, or they know too much – they’re off fishing at the adult bass tournament or staying in a no-kids-allowed fly fishing lodge.  In addition, some “animal rights groups” are now targeting angling, and while they raise important moral issues about our relationship with other animals, they’re also threatening one of the most basis ways children learn about nature, and its sometimes-unpleasant complexities.

Fishing offers children a way to learn about our role as stewards of nature – about preventing pollution, about releasing fish we do not intend to eat, and eating the ones we injure.  Indeed, many anglers, and I ‘m one of them, now prefer to release their fish, to fight another day.  The fish seem to prefer it, too.  Nonetheless, taking a few fish home to clean and eat can be a valuable lesson to a child who may assume that all food is born plastic-wrapped.

“We’re genetically hunters and gathers so there’s a deep impulse in children to harvest fish and animals in a sensitive fashion,” says David Sobel, co-director of the Antioch College Center for Environmental Education.  “Fishing, when done in a respectful, spiritual fashion provides an authentic opportunity for bonding with the natural world.”

Ah, but this is all too serious.  Fishing is fun, especially for kids.  Some of us never outgrow it.  See you at the water’s edge.  Bring your kids.  And if anyone discovers a good carp recipe, one that avoids explosives, let me know. 

Editor’s Comments - Thanks go out to Richard Louv for allowing the Dame Juliana League to reprint this article, which originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune.  Richard Louv is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and may be contacted by Email at, rlouv@cts.com. He is also the author of the newly released book “Fly Fishing for Sharks: An Angler’s Journey Across American” copyrighted 2001.  Published by Simon & Schuster. 

Having just finished reading his book, I would recommend reading it.  Don’t let the book’s title turn you away, only the first chapter discusses fly fishing for sharks.  The rest of the book contains a diverse collection of Richard’s coast-to-coast journey, fishing and/or listening to the famous and infamous anglers across our country. 

Editor's Comments: Richard Louv’s, 13-year old son, Matthew Louv, has written the following “Tips”.  I would consider them as fishing rules-of-engagement between parents and their children.

1.        Fish with your kid.

2.        Let your kids go fishing, even if you don’t want to take them.

3.        Let your kids buy supplies and tackle.  That’s half the fun of fishing.

4.        If your kids are young, take them to a place where fish are easy to catch and are small.

5.        Let kids fish as long as they want.  Let them get obsessed.

6.        Let the kids go off and do their own thing.  It can get to be incredibly annoying and frustrating if there’s an adult standing over them barking orders.

7.        At least pretend to act excited when your kid catches a fish.  It can quickly ruin a day of fishing if the kid feels you don’t want to be there, and they’re just dragging you down.

8.        If you know how to fish, don’t give your kid too much unsolicited advice, although it can be helpful if the kid is young.

9.        Let your kid teach you how to fish; participate in the fishing.  This can be quality-bonding time.

10.     Remember that fishing and spending time with family is just as or more important than homework.

11.     Have fun; that’s the entire point of going fishing in the first place.  And whatever you do, DON’T LET YOUR KID THROW ROCKS IN THE WATER!