Simple but encouraging article

Don

Well-known member
Case in point: the Susky and Delaware were excellent streams throughout history for oodles of migratory species and not merely the Bass and Smallies we think of.
 

A-5

Moderator
T

Of course. That is sooo easy to see. Those lakes are uniquely endowed to be Great Lakes for fish. They are deep, well fed, well drained in an area with much rain. PA has little of that. Nock is a sewer, Raystown is over used, Wallenpaupack is poorly filled and drained and way over used. There are more examples but no need. There success had nothing to do with management. It had all to do with their potential. Your argument is correct but misplaced. I don't want trophy waters. They are usually the result of very expensive human input. As a kid I remember fishing all the little creeks and streams and I had a blast. Pre-Nock Tohickon was a pickerel paradise and there were carp over two feet long. Same with the Neshaminy. I lived on the Deep Run and Branch Creeks and we could always find Bass and big green sunfish. Non-Trophy lakes and streams that become trophy streams are the result of higher costs to the consumer and restrictions of more and more of our freedoms. Try reading the fishing rules and how they are put together. Its all about you not being able to fully understand the rules. It keeps officials in a position of unelected power over you. I would like to see stream stocking stop and the folks that fish for them become proud of our native species (re-education). In our parks I'd like to see the trash emptied and all the Carry in-Carry out signage removed. Fire pits should be cleaned out, picnic tables repaired and bathrooms cleaned and replaced with flush toilets. Lighting needs to be studied. Some of the places I fish there is no lights at all. Most of the places I go there is never a ranger seen while other places you cant show up without being approached by enforcement officers. Keep Screaming and vote.
Misplaced? I never said trophy you did and I believe I said better and better managed was my point. Trophy? Trophy is in the eye of the beholder. I fully support TC for just wanting to fish I support your plated dinners. I support lupo huge fly for musky. But it doesn’t take away that PA is a dumpster. Also. Nock is what it is and has huuuuuuuge fish in it which is really weird but I digress. This all boils down to us in this world will catch fish, we will all support each other but one we don’t have a voice at all of where our money goes and who makes the decisions in the commission. Wars have been started for less. Bottom line we are prisoners in our own little fishing world
 

Don

Well-known member
This sounds wonderful but I fear, like most naturalist groups, they pull at your heartstring for your money and the use the money to lobby and perform suspect research programs. The end result is even more loss of freedom.
I don’t know but I see a slippery slope.
It all looks good though.
 

truecrimson

Well-known member
There are these guys but they are all about keeping native fish in aquariums. I used to pal around with them a lot. I don't remember much as far as conservation efforts, but a lot of them are biologists and many worked for various state agencies across the country. They were about as happy with their fish departments as A-5 is with ours ;)


And let me just repeat that a lot of our favorite fish are NOT Native.
 
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Solitario Lupo

Moderator
That’s funny as who the hell knows what’s native or not lol. So many invasive fish pollute our waters. Plus what is native in some waters are not native in all waters through out PA.
I thought blues where invasive but they said native so do I go along with them.

 
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truecrimson

Well-known member
Now it is time for me to piss everyone off.

Last year Jeff Little and I were discussing snakeheads and he rearranged my thoughts on invasive species. We were talking about one of his videos where he took a friend fishing for Snakeheads in MD. They caught a lot of bass and a few snakeheads. In a waterway that has been invaded a long time. He pointed out to me that based on the line you always hear about invasive, there should be no bass there. Yet he and his companion encountered far more bass than snakeheads.

Then I was observing the spotted lantern fly panic, with people killing them all over the place. I was at a hospital surrounded by large fields and it occurred to me that you could kill all the lantern flies on the concrete and a hundred times more lantern flies were out in the fields making babies. We are never going to win that battle.

Lantern Flies, and Snakeheads, and Largemouth bass are here to stay.

An invasive species that can survive in the place it is introduced cannot be eradicated. You can't unring the bell. You can't get the genie back in the bottle. Local flora and fauna have to either adapt or die. That's evolution. Species have been out competing each other for billions of years. And the LMB are doing it just fine in all the snakehead territory.

So I stopped worrying about invasives. I started laughing at people stepping on lantern flies. And I'll be as happy as a clam if I catch a snakehead.
 

Don

Well-known member
Now it is time for me to piss everyone off.

Last year Jeff Little and I were discussing snakeheads and he rearranged my thoughts on invasive species. We were talking about one of his videos where he took a friend fishing for Snakeheads in MD. They caught a lot of bass and a few snakeheads. In a waterway that has been invaded a long time. He pointed out to me that based on the line you always hear about invasive, there should be no bass there. Yet he and his companion encountered far more bass than snakeheads.

Then I was observing the spotted lantern fly panic, with people killing them all over the place. I was at a hospital surrounded by large fields and it occurred to me that you could kill all the lantern flies on the concrete and a hundred times more lantern flies were out in the fields making babies. We are never going to win that battle.

Lantern Flies, and Snakeheads, and Largemouth bass are here to stay.

An invasive species that can survive in the place it is introduced cannot be eradicated. You can't unring the bell. You can't get the genie back in the bottle. Local flora and fauna have to either adapt or die. That's evolution. Species have been out competing each other for billions of years. And the LMB are doing it just fine in all the snakehead territory.

So I stopped worrying about invasives. I started laughing at people stepping on lantern flies. And I'll be as happy as a clam if I catch a snakehead.
Pretty much sums it up.

Everybody got it out of their system?

We done chewed nails and spit rust as my Mother used to say.
 

Don M

Well-known member
They look like some sort of barracuda.
Back in the late 70 -early - 80's, my buddy and I rented a boat at Nockamixon, and anchored just of the dock. We were waiting for the women to unload the car👀.As I was dropping the anchor a torpedo coming at us, the Musky hit and went under the boat.
 

Don

Well-known member
I had that happen at Peace Valley in the 70’s. Scary cause it happened so fast.
 
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HenryDavid

Well-known member
You guys will hate me for this but it’s absolutely true. NY absolutely blows PA out of the water when it comes to fishing. They may not manage their state well but their outdoor program is second to none.

NY blows actually the entire nation out of the water with Smallmouth. Like pros calling it Disney of bass fishing. Meanwhile we have the Delaware,Lehigh,Susky and Pittsburgh rivers and blah we do absolutely nothing with them


Walleye can’t shake a stick to PA. NY lakes produce walley way more than PA does.


Panfish lol. NY is king.


Notice I didn’t mention salmon or steelhead. NY is king. No question there it’s like no wonder NY has better salmon and steelhead because you know we have three major rivers that flow to the ocean and steelhead and salmon could not survive the salt water
What rivers would be comparable to the Susquehanna with smallmouth? I've always wanted to fish the New River in West Virginia but never considered New York rivers.
 

A-5

Moderator
What rivers would be comparable to the Susquehanna with smallmouth? I've always wanted to fish the New River in West Virginia but never considered New York rivers.
HD MelvinP goes up and hammers 5lbers. They spawn in the rivers may or June. I’ve hit them once. Salmon river lower quarter
 
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