April, 1965 John M
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jgpp^gieai m&M: •M^ 1 W f Li. EsSi H ^^Bifl^B PENNSYLVANIA Piuutsijiuama Angler FISH COMMISSION Published Monthly by the DIRECTORY PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA EXECUTIVE OFFICE William W. Scranton, Governor ROBERT J. BIELO Executive Director PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION GORDON TREMBLEY Assistant Executive Director RAYMOND M. WILLIAMS, President East Bangor ROBERT M. RANKIN, Vice President Galeton EDWARD R. THARP GERARD J. ADAMS Hawley JOHN W. GRENOBLE Carli^ Assistant Executive Director JOSEPH M. CRITCHFIELD Confluence DOUGLAS MCWIIXIAMS Elysb«^ Watercraft Safety Division WALLACE C. DEAN Meadville R. STANLEY SMITH Waynesb"^ WARREN W. SINGER HOWARD R. HEINY „.._ Williamsport Assistant to Executive Director PAUL F. O'BflrEN Administrative Officer APRIL, 1965 JOHN M. SMITH VOL. 34, NO. Comptroller GEORGE W. FORREST, Editor DIVISIONS Research and Fish Management fotvbwiA KEEN BUSS Chief Propagation and Distribution 1 TRADITION-Stebbins Fox HOWARD L. FOX Superintendent 6 ENIGMATIC TROUT-N. R. Casillo Real Estate 9 PITHOLE CREEK-Steve Szalewicz GLEN SPENCER — _ Chief 10 WHEN TROUT ARE SELECTIVE-Jim Hayes Engineering EDWARD MILLER Chief 12 FOUR FAVORITE FLIES FOR THE FIRST-Michael D. Sullivan 14 TARGET TROUT 1965 Law Enforcement WILLIAM W. BRITTON Chief 16 NUTTY NATIVES-John Plowman, Jr. 1 Pathologist 18 EARLY SEASON TROUT AND THE PHANTOM WOOLY WOP* ARTHUR BRADFORD Chief Chauncy K. Lively SIM-FECTIVE NYMPHS-Ed Koch • 20 22 BOATING with Robert G. Miller REGION ONE 24 NOTES FROM THE STREAM S. CARLYLE SHELDON Warden Supervisor If* Tionesta 16353 Phone: 814-755-3567 26 THE EFFECTS OF WATER-CARRIED WASTES ON STREAM 1 27 1964 PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER CITATION RECORD FISH REGION TWO 29 SCHOOL'S OUT-Ned Smith MINTEH C. JONES Warden Supervisor Cover Art—Bob Cypher R. D. 2, Somerset, Pa Phone: 814-445-4913 POSTMASTER: All 3579 forms to be returned to Dunlap Printing Co., ** REGION THREE Cherry and Juniper Sts., Philadelphia 7, Pa. , Pf CLAIR FLEECER Warden Supervisor The PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER is published monthly by the Pennsylvania Fish Corni""5^ 351 Terrace St., Honesdale, Pa., South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. Subscription: One year-$2.00; three years-S5.00; 23 Jjfl) per single copy. Send check or money order payable to Pennsylvania Fish Commission. L»~ te»<r Phone: 717-253-3724 SEND STAMPS. Individuals sending cash do so at their own risk. Change of address should ft-, us promptly. Furnish both old and new addresses. Second Class Postage paid at Harrisburg' and at additional mailing offices. ^ REGION FOUR Neither Publisher nor Editor will assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or illu5''^' while in their possession or in transit. Permission to reprint will be given provided we ^g?' m a HAROLD CORBIN Warden Supervisor marked copies and credit is given material or illustrations. Communications pertaining to . "°rg, ' material or illustrations should be addressed to the Pennsylvania Fish Commission, Harrisb"'8' ^ R. D. 2, Annville, Pa. Phone: 717-273-2601, Ex. 86 NOTICE: Subscriptions received and processed the 10th of each month will begin u>> I. G. M. R. 19003 second month following. TRADITION By STEBBINS FOX Th fie "e question was whether trout angling was Adam The boy rated the best of tangibles and intangibles. The s vocation or avocation. Free as March winds, he oldtimer was a rock-bottom friend, and an accomplished w r _, nere he pleased. His only wedding was to the fly artist and teacher, streamside. That's how they felt about re / on'y responsibility was to make his small-town each other. Ur ]et ant yield a decent living for him alone, with some They sat at a corner table in the restaurant. "Boy," p0ver for charity. began Adam hesitantly, "how'd you like to take a quick er in °aps most men who pursue a hobby avidly have not look tomorrow at waters that are steeped in tradition, the rre So d the responsibilities of fatherhood. Yet even this temple of the dry fly in America, the country of Theodore Him 'S prone to adopt an unofficial scion and shower on Gordon and Hiram Leonard?" go i°0lnPanionship, wisdom and, to some extent, worldly Adam's mind looked far back as he continued. "The s 0f - In young Frank Hunter old Adam saw the makings old covered bridge at Roscoe, the pool where the Never- °n /Ca* great among % fishermen, and adroitly he passed sink and the Willowemoc join—that's where I learned to Wa ,° him the intangibles that bring a true angler's re- fly fish. What say we run up to Liberty then meet one S- Ca Unspoken mutual understanding proved that each of the last of that generation of angling giants?" 4 , *rom the same mold, a couple of generations apart— Searchingly he looked at his fishing partner. "Or would r n spQ ° °logical difference that leveled off to a half tea- you drive up tomorrow, and would you do so alone?" °nful more than nothing. Frank felt something very special behind the revised surface feeding. It takes pretty angling to fool good troti' in smooth limestone water. And fishing holds up—yeS' improves—in hot weather, and we all get some of th*1 ! anywhere, even in Canada. You fish in classic style, mainl)' to the rises on smooth water. As for flies, it is generally better to fish too small than too large. And you nev# : know what to expect. As Shakespeare said of Cleopatra* Time cannot wither, nor custom stale, her infinite variety' So this is my last place to follow man's primal sport." "You think it's like the chalk streams of southern Britai" we read about in such books as; River Keeper, Itch^11 Days and The Ways of a Trout With a Fly?— "Exactly. Well, not quite," Adam hesitated. "The ^ grow the same, but the hatches are different. All we nee<) is to set this up Itchen. You know, Hewitt and Lund,6 tl>* old river-keeper on the right is the famous blue-winged olive hatch of the Test and the Test, collected her eggsf°r our waters, but they never got beyond Washington airpoft' Some bureaucrat thought they might produce something question. Still, if Adam didn't care to explain, that was that'd bite people and eat foliage; so he destroyed thetf1' all right, too. "Why, that's ridiculous! Mayflies can't bite or even ea' "Sure, Mr. Beck, I'd be glad to go. It'd be wonderful and they live out of water in the fly state for only a fe* to see the famous rivers and meet your friend." days." "Fine!" Adams sounded relieved. "His name is Boyd Adam nodded. "Beware of a naive 'expert' no matfef 1 Harrison. Give him my kindest regards. Better leave early whether he's involved in fisheries or something else. TP so you can see him about noontime. He isn't well: so you pity is, that hatch doesn't ride our water." can't stay long. On your way home will you stop in Like all the rest, it had been a pleasant and meaty ta^' Allentown to say hello for me to Jimmie Leisenring?*" but Frank was concerned. Could his aging friend have "You mean the wet-fly authority?" some premonition? "Has he appointed me an odd sot. "Yes. The Poconos and the nearby Lehigh Valley were of messenger?" he wondered. At any rate, tomorrow he my second trout country. The old Dutchman and I used meet Boyd Harrison and Jimmie Leisenring. to go to the streams together. He always fished down No finer rods ever had been built than those by Harriso"' stream and I went up. You know, that isn't a bad arrange An expert angler he knew well the requirements of a ment at all for wet-fly fisherman and a dry-fly man to instrument to cast and falsecast, and to protect fine leader team together: no complications, no interference, and an and handle hooked fished. To keep back-casts high thef interesting comparison." must be backbone, plenty of it; yet to prevent leaoe "You said, 'second trout country.'" breakage there must be a sensitive, shock-absorbing **! "Sure. One day I went from Roscoe to Easton to see The trick is the combination of high quality cane, VeX j Samuel Phillipe.3 You know he built the first complete design, and fine workmanship. The finished beauty n10 six-strip split-bamboo rod. On that same trip I met Jimmie feel light but powerful, neither clubby nor like a bug^' Leisenring. He fished some over in Jersey, the Musconet- whip. cong and the Pequest and some Pocono streams, as well as waters around Allentown. He was always talking about the greatness of limestone water, and we fished the Little Lehigh and its tributary, the Jordan, together. "'Fishing pressure was getting rough around Roscoe; so I moved to Stroudsburg. The Brodhead is a great stream; so's the Paradise branch. Jimmie and I would meet at the Light House at Henryville. That was a great Mecca for anglers."' For a moment Adam was silent, trapped in the grandeur of those years." "Why did you leave there?" "No limestone, Boy. Jimmie got me interested in lime stone water and its great potential. He'd say, 'Adam, listen to Chimmy. If you got ter haff der werry best, den One day there showed up a lot of Chinese cane ir i try Pennsylwania chalk vater.' He knew where it was, all the province of Tonkin' a piece like none Harrison "' right. So did Theodore Gordon,6 who fished both Spring seen before. Through a quirk of Nature a seed—and ba * j Creek and Big Spring.