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WJEN8BRUXU /-' rt. MH I Xepstme State's mm mm •# I M®$mim... _rJ * LAND USE ETHIC f~^ onservation, in the final analysis, is the highest form of national thrift in pre- ^-^ venting waste and despoilment while preserving and renewing the quality and usefulness of all of our resources. Many of us were appalled at the defeat of the Land Use Bill in the U.S. Congress this past spring, and our hopes for similar protection in Pennsylvania waver when we see the difficulty in enacting even the most preliminary of such land use legislation in the form of flood plain management. A recently passed amendment to the Sewage Facilities Act has crippling provisions that encourage overexpansion. True conservation is ultimately something in the mind and expresses an idea for men who cherish their past and believe in the future. In our continuing search for abundance, and beauty and order, we can manifest both our love for the land and our sense of responsibility toward future generations. Most of us find it difficult to conceive a land use ethic for tomorrow. The farm- based American of a century ago, with undeveloped conservation insights, has been replaced by the asphalt American of today who is shortsighted in other ways. Perhaps our sense of stewardship is uncertain because too many of us lack roots in the soil and the respect for our resources that goes with such roots. Too many of us mistake creature comforts for the good life. Our economic standard of living has become the envy of the world, and yet our environmental standards have steadily declined. I think that Aldo Leopold expressed it best in, A Sand County Almanac, " . we abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong we may begin to use it with love and respect." Ralph W. Abele, Executive Director Pennsylvania Angler Pennsylvania's Official Fishing & Boating Magazine Published Monthly by the PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA Milton J. Shapp, Governor MEMBERS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION Sam Guaglianone, President Johnsonburg William O. Hill, V. Pres Erie Gerard J. Adams Hawley Howard R. Heiny Williamsport William Cox Elysburg Calvin J. Kern Whitehall Clarence Dietz Bedford Frank E. Masland, Jr Carlisle James J. Stumpf Laughlintown Ralph W. Abele, Executive Director Volume 43 - No. 9 September, 1974 CONTENTS Coho & Chinook Salmon Fishing, by Sam Hossler 8 Something for Everyone, by George E. Dolnack, Jr 14 Wissahickon Creek, by John Munoz 16 Bobber Technique, by Fredric Doyle 20 FRONT COVER: An acrobatic coho salmon displaying one of the species' traits. Photo: Jim Bashline BACK COVER: Bob Anderson, an Erie coho regular, with his 10Vi pounder! Photo: Jerry Wunz MONTHLY COLUMNS FISHING OUTLOOK 2 NOTES FROM THE STREAMS . .24 LEAKY BOOTS 4 FLY TYING 26 TAKING A CLOSER LOOK 6 KEYSTONE CAMPING 28 THE CAPTAIN SPEAKING 22 ANGLER'S NOTEBOOK 29 CO-OP NEWS 23 ASHORE & AFLOAT 30 FISH TALES 32 James F. Yoder, Editor POSTMASTER : All 3579 forms to be returned to the office of The Pennsylvania Fish Commission, Post Office Box 1673, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. ''120 The Pennsylvania Angler, Copyright 1974, all rights reserved, is published monthly by the Pennsylvania Fish Commission, 3532 Walnut ^treet, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Second Class postage paid at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Subscription rates: One year - $3.00; three years - $7.50; r* cents per single copy. Send check or money order payable to the Pennsylvania Fish Commission. Individuals sending cash do so at their own risk. u° not send stamps. Changes of address should reach us promptly giving both old and new addresses, including both zipcodes. Subscriptions received and processed by the end of the month will begin with the second month following. The Pennsylvania Fish Commission will not assume resPonsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, or illustrations while in their possession or in transit. Communications pertaining to the ?lagazine should be addressed to: The Editor, Pennsylvania Angler, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, P. O. Box 1673, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Unsolicited material, manuscripts, or photos will not be returned unless accompanied by an envelope with sufficient postage attached for its return. Fishing Not even a honeymoon can interrupt salmon fishing! Outlook by Stan Paulakovich he Chinese calendar may say, this is "The Year of the Tiger," but according to our calendar, this is T"The Year of The CHINOOK!" Back in 1971, our first known chinook salmon was taken from Lake Erie's Walnut Creek. A fish that had wandered down from Michigan's waters, it was an omen of things to come. The fall of 1972 saw some of our original plantings return to our tributary streams. These were all immature males, "jack salmon," the term used for these precocious males. They averaged 23 inches and weighed 4- to 5-pounds. In 1973 the first adult chinook made their way back to the streams from which they were stocked. These were from the brood year of 1969, when only 35,000 finger- lings were planted. Accompanying them were many pre cocious males from the 1970 brood year. The four year old chinooks averaged over 30 inches and weighed up to 18 pounds. Now comes 1974, and scheduled to return, are the adults from an original planting of more than a quarter of a million fingerlings! Those that come in now, should be equal in size to those of last fall, but there should be just about 10 times as many! In addition, those chinooks that did not spawn in their bass, sheepshead, and 9 species of minnows comprised fourth year of life, may return for their final performance our take. The number or variety wasn't that startling, the this year. By now, they should be in the 25-pound class. size range of the fish was. They ran from tiny one-inch How would you like to have a 25 pounder rolling fiercely fry, to -adult fish. A good representation of every year and thrashing, trying to throw the hooks at the end of class of every species was also found. No wonder a fellow your line? boils when someone says "Lake Erie is dead"\ In this, their last year, the chinook have been feeding As summer begins to wane, Lake Erie begins to cool heavily and the abundance of food fishes in Lake Erie is off. As it nears the 55 degree mark, the salmon slowly fantastic. Several years ago, while on coho patrol, Capt. make their way toward our shores and their date with' Howard Wilson, skipper of the Commission's research destiny. Because of the swelling mass of eggs or milt vessel the Perca, treated me to a demonstration of drag within them, they feed lightly or not at all. They will netting that was eye-opening. strike in anger, fear, curiosity, or from instinct. Aboard were Biologist Jack Miller and mate Dan If last year can be used as an indicator, the chinook Wilson. We had just completed water quality samplings will be offshore around the second or third week in Sep' at the top, middle and bottom in the area known as the tember. Their smaller cousins, the coho, will arrive about "Nine-Mile Trench." Heading back to shore, the nets the third or fourth week of the month. Peak periods for were rigged and the planing devices on the nets were set each, will be that two week span after the time of their ar to trawl at 9 fathoms or 54 feet. The nets were set out and rival. the ten-minute drag began. How are you supposed to catch these giants? I don t Metal tubs were set on the deck near the stern of the know! Only one thing is certain: they are hard to hook Perca and the nets were hauled in and emptied. Thou and even harder to hold. Their strike is savage and their sands of fish cascaded into the tubs; perch, smelt, white initial run is like the takeoff of a jet plane! They have PENNSYLVANIA ANGLE*1 • especially when you know there are more chinook out there like Clifford Norman's 33-3/4"-17.7 pounder! en ]in known to mash treble hooks flat, snap rods and and near the mouths of Trout Run, Godfrey Run, and lir, es like matchsticks, and even straighten out the con- Crooked Creek. Elk and Walnut are larger streams and a necctint g rings on the hooks! Thinking chinook? Think portion of these two are open to shoreline fishing. HEAVY! Trolling several hundred yards offshore with spoons, Contrary to what you may think, the mouths of wobblers, lures, and spinners is best the first few hours of nooks are fairly hard. It takes some muscle in your daylight and the last few hours in the evening. Slowly a t, to set the hooks in behind the barb. There's no doubt drifting with salmon egg clusters on treble hooks seemed you can land a salmon on 6- or 8-pound test line, but to work well for the chinook. It's also a great way to pick u will lose more than you land. Start with something up some of the lake run rainbows for which Lake Erie is Und 12 pound test. The technology of today has made becoming noted. vi L S'ze l'ne mucn smaller in diameter and fairly in- We tried fly fishing with large wet flies and streamers s'ble to the fish. last year, fishing to the rises of porpoising salmon. es 0 t lures last year were wobblers in fluorescent Whatever the reason for this surface action, it produced an Ce ge or blue.