December 1956 Pennsylvania Fish Commission
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^- .1^1 A^i i. ^1 I^P ML Mi.A Awk *.^m m Xm LER DECEMBER 1956 PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION 1: ; +* \ ,,' "' £ ,Ji*GQa^g£ •««* - f.-j«. f/r'*'*s StfV "s>T M ^i^^^; -''frwrrf "aft • M^-"*l«ftft Holiday Greetings from the PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HON. GEORGE M. LEADER GOVERNOR PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION ANGLER R. STANLEY SMITH, President WAYNESBURO ALBERT R. HINKLE, Vice-President CLEARFIELD WALLACE DEAN MEADVILLE GERARD ADAMS HAWLEY CHARLES C. HOUSER ALLENTOWN JOHN W. GRENOBLE NEW BLOOMFIELD JOSEPH M. CRITCHFIELD CONFLUENCE DECEMBER 1956 VOL. 25, NO. 12 MAYNARD BOGART DANVILLE EXECUTIVE OFFICE WILLIAM VOIGT, JR. Executive Director DR. ALBERT S. HAZZARD Astt. Director H. R. STACKHOUSE Administrative Secretary CONTENTS JOSEPH J. MICCO Comptroller PAUL J. SAUER Asst. Comptroller 2 ST. PETER AND THE FISHERMAN—Edward Mentz • CONSERVATION EDUCATION 5 LOOKING BACKWARDS FROM TODAY—C. Robert Glover DIVISION C. ROBERT GLOVER 10 OUTDOORS WRITERS VIEWS Chief J. ALLEN BARRETT 13 KEEPER OF THE FISH—Bettye Breeser AiiUtant 15 WATER FATALITIES—W. W. Britton GORDON L. TREMBLEY Chief Aquatic Biologist THOMAS F. O'HARA 16 PENNSYLVANIA FISHES Construction Engineer ^ CYRIL G. REGAN Chief DIv. of Land and Water Acquisition 18 JUNIATA FLOAT TRIP—Francis W. Kemp DEWEY SORENSON Superintendent of Hatcheries W. W. BRITTON 29 VALLEY FORGE BOY SCOUT JAMBOREE—Paul M. Felton Chief Enforcement Officer 31 DO FISH HAVE A SENSE OF SMELL—Larry T. MacWelch REGIONAL WARDEN SUPERVISORS Northwest Region CARLYLE S. SHELDON Conneautville, Pa.; Phone 3033 Southwest Region MINTER C. JONES 341 W. Lincoln St., Somerset, Pa.; Phone S324 J. Allen Barrett, Editor North Central Region C. W. SHEARER 200 Agnew St., Mill Hall, Pa.; Phone 37S South Central Region HAROLD CORBIN The PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER is published monthly by the Pennsylvania Pish Commission, Rl 13th St., Huntingdon, Pa.; Phone 1202 South Office Building, Harrlsburg, Pa. Subscription: $1.00 per year, 10 cents per single copy. Send check or money order payable to Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. DO NOT SEND Northeast Region STAMPS. Individuals sending cash do so at their own risk. Change of address should reach RALPH O. SINGER us promptly. Furnish both old and new addresses. Entered as Second Class matter at the 45i Main St., Honesdale, Pa.; Post Office, Harrlsburg, Pa., under Act of March 3, 1873. Phone 1485 Southeast Region Neither Publisher nor Editor will assume responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or JOHN S. OGDEN Illustrations while In their possession or In transit. Permission to reprint will be given York, Pa.; Phone 47-3028 provided we receive marked copies and credit Is given material or Illustrations. Com munications pertaining to manuscripts, material or Illustrations should be addressed to the Pennsylvania Pish Commission, Harrlsburg, Pa. • J^t. mTeter ^mnil I In* •* isherman By EDWARD MENTZ It is comforting to believe that the chances The reply was a tolerant nod in the affirma of gaining Heaven are much in one's favor if, tive, so the fisherman continued. instead of being an ordinary mortal, he hap pens to be a fisherman. Angling lore has it that St. Peter was a fisherman. It follows, therefore, that he is kindly disposed to the piscatorial prevarications which flow from confirmed Wal- tonians as inevitably and as naturally as water flows to the sea. That he has a warm feeling toward the ichthyophilist and tolerant of the phobia en gendered by the avocation was revealed after the untimely demise of one mortal whose stay on earth was brightened and whose imagina tion was sharpened by matching wits with its finny creatures. The revelation took place when said erstwhile mortal timorously stood before the venerable St. Peter, seeking entry through the great portal. The Guardian observed, "So your fellow men condemned you as an exaggerator of things piscatorial?" Then he continued, "Well, let's weigh the veracity of just one of them. I would especially like to hear the experience I'm told SIOJER was close to Kingdom Come. you oft related of the trout that saved Sidger's life." The poor fisherman, encouraged by the aura "That happened on opening day several of comraderie, brightened and asked, "You years ago. Sidger Starbridge and I were astream mean the time we were fishing the Young with the rising sun to welcome it in. In short "Woman's Creek in Pennsylvania?" order we were completely occupied in our ef- PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER side the stream. After a while, I became aware of a buzzing sound. I looked around and there was Sidger totally and completely in the arms of Morpheus, but being quiet about it. Close beside him was the big trout, also quiet. But beside the trout was the source of the noise, the sight of which raised my hat right off my head. Hair standing up straight will do that, you know. "A giant diamond back rattler was coiled and buzzing like a swarm of bees. It was close enough to Sidger to wack him by only half trying. All hope of saving Sidge apparently was gone. "I started to draw my gun—Sidge and I al ways were armed on account of bears and such 0 BECOME acquainted with the small mouth creatures —but thought better of it. You see, if I moved I was sure it would trigger that snake. "As has always been my want on trying oc forts to entice the trout terrors of Young casions, I looked skyward beseeching Heaven Woman's. In succession we offered the Royal for help. I noted that even Ole Sol showed a Coachman, the Parmachene Belle, Black Gnat, perturbed mein. Call it phenomena if you will, Brown Hackle, the Silver Doctor and so on but I'm sure there was a frightful frown on his through our fly boxes until all had been wetted, fiery face. Only Sidger knew not how close he but with no results. was to kingdom come. "Sidger then resorted to other devices. It was "The very atmosphere thereabouts was sticky the floating leaf strategy that turned the trick. and tense. Then things happened fast. That big One minute the leaf was moving placidly down trout which we presumed had joined its an the stream, then in a twinkling it disappeared cestors, went into action and made a lunge for in an eruption like that of Old Faithful, stirred the reptile. He latched onto that elongated of course, by a large trout which also got Sid- creature just behind the head and started shak ger's hook. Sidger played his quarry which was ing it as a terrier belabors a rag. As it paused a member of the Salvelinus Fontialis family, to get a better hold, the snake took advantage y with all his ambidextrous skill. But his seemed of the momentary release and slithered into a losing battle, and he was slowly drawn into a a rock crevice from whence it must have come. deep hole in the stream. Only then did Sidger awaken, and when he r "Meanwhile, I moved out to a rocky ledge was told how his life was saved, he certainly was to see better. And it was slippery, too. I held an appreciative man. He did the only decent my ground until he called for help. I took one thing left to do. He picked the trout up gently step toward him and joined him in the hole and returned it to its own element. in a way that I had not planned. In any event, "The incident naturally left us shaken, but I got to him at last, and it took the combined in due course we recovered and returned to efforts of both of us to land that fighting fool our fishing. Though we did all right, none came of a trout. It weighed exactly 13 pounds. as large as the one which was given a new "Sidger explains his leaf trick this way. A lease on life for saving Sidger's. We finally hook is inserted in a fat, juicy worm, which in called it a day and waded ashore. Without turn is laid on a mullen leaf. The leaf is then realizing it, we climbed out of the creek at the set afloat in the current. When it and its cargo same spot where the trout and the rattler had are over the right spot, the line is snubbed and their set-to. We were barely out of the stream the worm drubs into the water. Even the wisest when we heard that buzzing sound again, trout spotting this natural presentation is slightly louder this time. Spinning around to fooled, with disastrous—to the trout, that is— spot its source, we beheld a scene that would results. mummify almost anyone. We were surrounded "Anyhow, after our battle with that lunker, by rattlesnakes, with the big one that visited we decided to rest a bit on the rock ledge be- us earlier apparently in charge. We only as- DECEMBER—1956 sumed that after the snake recovered its com At that St. Peter held aloft a balance scale, posure he got a mad on and notified the rest and said, "On one side are the totally truthful of his clan which then ganged up to destroy us. tales you have told. On the other are those of "This time there was no choice, we both drew apocryphal nature you as an expert recounter our guns and eventually shot our way out of have recited during your lifetime on the other that mess of snakes." side." In a reflective mood at the conclusion of the The scale started to move. First it seemed to tale, St.