PROTECT • CONSERVE • ENHANCE , RESOURCE FIRST Celebrating a Milestone On May 29, the Fish and Boat Commission joined its many partners visory Committee, the construction of an experimental fish lift in the Susquehanna River shad restoration to dedicate the multi- at Conowingo Dam in 1972, the development in 1976 of the Van million dollar fish lifts at Holtwood and Safe Harbor dams. The Dyke Research Station-the world's first American shad hatchery- effort, the largest shad restoration program of its kind in the United the evolution of the Susquehanna River Anadromous Fish Res­ States, is a model of how public and private partnerships should toration Committee, to the historic agreements among resource work together. Even as we gathered for the ceremony, the largest agencies and the utilities in the 1980s and '90s, there have been shad run of the modern era was in full swing on the river and not scores of individuals who have brought their time and talents to showing any signs of slowing. I was honored to be among the this effort. We have witnessed decades of diligence by individual speakers that day; here are my remarks. research scientists, hatchery workers, shad collectors and fish lift operators. As we thank them today, we must also recognize this Today is a time of great pride for all of us-as well it should be- is a time to renew and strengthen those partnerships, because they for this is an event that we can truly call historic. In 1866, shortly are necessary for continued success. after the end of the Civil War, a group of concerned citizens, policy Final responsibility for managing the American shad in Penn­ makers and government officials met on the shores of the sylvania waters resides with this agency. As Executive Director Susquehanna River in Harrisburg to address public outcry over of the Fish and Boat Commission, I promise you our efforts will the diminishing fish populations in the Commonwealth's rivers continue. Many of these efforts were initiated by former Execu­ and streams. They were especially concerned with the plight of tive Directors Robert Bielo, Ralph Abele, Ed Miller and Larry anadromous fishes such as the American shad, whose once plentiful Hoffman; I am proud to continue their commitments. spawning runs had decreased to a mere trickle. That convention, The stocking of American shad from our Van Dyke facility has over a century ago, marked the beginning of the first fish resto­ been essential in creating a population that recognizes the ration efforts in Pennsylvania. Susquehanna River as its home. We will continue with stocking Now, 131 years later, I cannot help but reflect on the remark­ efforts until it is ensured that natural reproduction can sustain able similarity between that day and this one. Here we are today, shad in each natal stream. another group of citizens, policy makers and officials gathered Survival of American shad will not be diminished by harvest along the Susquehanna River, all of us drawn together in our until populations are self-sustaining. Regulations prohibiting common concern for migratory fish. Today, however, we do not harvest of migratory fishes will remain in place, and I have directed join together to lament the loss of a resource, but to celebrate a our fisheries staff to seek minimal harvest of restoration shad by milestone along the path to recovery. And we know now that the inter-jurisdictional fisheries and coastal intercept fisheries. continuation of these efforts will be far more complex than that We will continue to encourage and support fish passage at other original group could ever have conceived. blockages in die Susquehanna River basin. Chesapeake Bay Program That initial meeting led to the passage of legislation creating funding has allowed us to breach and dispose of the first block­ the Pennsylvania Fish Commission. Governor Andrew Curtin age on the Conestoga River, and we will continue to work with appointed one man, James Worrall of Harrisburg, to the task. The the Chesapeake Bay Program to do the same elsewhere. legislation gave him a little over a year to complete the task of We will continue monitoring efforts through agreements with reversing decades of decline. the members of the Susquehanna River Anadromous Fish Res­ Today, we are keenly aware that the job is too large for one person toration Cooperative, die state of Maryland, and the National Marine or even one agency or corporation. Only the collective willing­ Fisheries Service. ness to meet the shared responsibility to the environment has led We look forward with great anticipation to future celebrations to our current successes on the Susquehanna River. offish passage at York Haven Dam, the city of Harrisburg dam, The commitment of resources by the utilities is obvious. The the Fabri Dam at Sunbury and at die blockages of tributary streams. lifts we dedicate today stand as a towering reminder to that com­ As we reflect on more than a century of work and tour the mitment. We applaud the tenacity of Pennsylvania Power and Light, magnificent facility here today, it is impossible not to be impressed Baltimore Gas and Electric, and Safe Harbor Water Power Cor­ by what we, collectively, have accomplished to this point. We have poration management and that of Cianbro workers in overcom­ all lived up to the promises made in the past. This history makes ing setbacks caused by the extraordinary flooding in 1996. me even more excited for that which is still yet to come. There are many others who also deserve applause, those whose work is less tangible than steel and concrete. From the research of the 1950s, the 1969 formation of the Susquehanna Shad Ad­ Peter A. Colangelo Executive Director Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission 2 Pennsylvania Angler & Boater Fishing & Boating Memories Last A Lifetime iVmiMivania July/August 1997 Fish& Boat Commission Volume 66/Number 4 Donald N. Lacy President Reading Samuel M. Concilia Vice President North East Donald K. Anderson Meyersdale The Keystone State's Official Fishing and Boating Magazine Ross J. Huhn Saltsburg Ted R. Keir Mail 4 Athens Paul J. Mahon Northwest PA's Untapped Smallmouth Waters by Robert L. Petri 6 Clarks Green Biking and Fishing by Bob Quarteroni 9 Enoch S. "Inky" Moore,Jr. Newville Deputy Waterways Conservation Officers of the Year byJeffBridi 12 Howard E. Pflugfelder 33 Summertime Places to Catch Stocked Trout by Mark A. Nale 14 New Cumberland Leon Reed Stoneflies by Karl Blankenship 18 Honesdale Pinchot Lake Largemouths by Seth Cassell 20 William J. Sabatose Brockport SMART Angler's Notebook by Carl Richardson 22 Boating Advisory Board Hazards on the Water 23 Thaddeus Piotrowski Southeast PA's Little Big Bass by Vic Attardo 27 Chairman Bloomsburg American Shad in the Lehigh River: Results of Commission Steven M. Ketterer Efforts in 1996 by Richard Snyder and David Arnold 31 Harrisburg Summer 1997 PLAY Newsletter Special Insert G. Edwin Matheny Greensburg Writing Readers by Bob Klobuchar 33 Gary Miles Car-Top Your Canoe! by Cliffjacobson 34 North East Vincent Riggi Making Friends for French Creek by Linda Steiner 36 Clarks Summit Casting Lines with Dave Wolf. 39 Bz Officio members Cast& Caught 40 Peter A. Colangelo, Executive Director, John F. Simmons, Director, Feeding Trough Walleyes: Summertime's Hot River Pattern Bureau of Boating and Education; by Mike Bleech 42 Gary Smith, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Stanley R. Long: 50 Years a Deputy by Terry Brady 45 Currents 47 Magazine Stafi Editor—An Michaels Fishin'from the Kitchen 48 Art Director-Ted Walke Anglers Notebook 49 Circulation—Eleanor Mutch Circulation—Patti Copp The Do-Everything Ice Chest by Bob Stearns 50 vmnluuors Notes from the Streams 52 Vic Attardo Charles R. Meek Crankbait Crazy by Darl Black 54 Darl Black Robert L. Petri Karl Blankenship Mike Sajna Are Our Fishing and Boating Regulations Too Complex? by Tom Ford....57 Mike Bleech Bob Stearns Matching the Mood by Dave Wonderlich 58 Seth Cassell Linda Steiner Cliffjacobson Dave Wolf Spartan Fishing by C.J. Rapp 60 Walt Young The $19.95 Small-Boat Cover by Gary Diamond Back cover Pmnpfttwm Angler & Btunr (ISSNI09 3-0574} is published bimonthly by the Pennsylvania Fish & boat Commission, 3532 Walnut Street, Harrisburg, PA 17109. ©1997PAHsh&BoatCommission. Nothinginrhis may be reprinted without the written permission of the PA Pish & Boat This issue's cover, photographed by Art Michaels, Commission. Subscription rates: one year, $9; three years, S25; single copies are$3.00each. Periodtcatsrx>stageispaidatHarrisburg,PA POSTMASTER: shows regular contributor Mike Bleech with a - Sendaddressch.uijysnv. f^iiii^,V,i";.i.lii1;/iic~i'i;>j^T('ircuJaQon,Pcn!is)^ ania ttsh&BoatCommission,P.O.Box67000,Harrisburg,PA 17106-7000. Pot 17-inch, 2-pound brown trout he caught in the subscription andchange of address, use above address. Please allowsix weeks Allegheny River, just downriver from Kinzua for processing. Send all other correspondence to: The Editor, Pennsylvania Angier&BoatiT, P.O. Box 67000, Harrisburg, PA 17106-7000. Editorial queries Dam. Miscellaneous regulations apply from the and contributions are welcome, but must be accompanied by self-addressed, stamped envelopes. Material accepted for publication is subject to Pennsylvania dam for .75-mile-no closed season on trout with lish & Boat Commission srandardsand ruciuirements for editingand revising. Submissions arcliandled carefully, but the publisher assumes no responsibiliry a daily combined limit of three. Below this area, I for the return or safer)- of submissions in his possession or in transit. The authors' views, ideas and advice expressed in diis magazine do not necessarily though, inland-waters regulations apply. Do ^ea die opinion or oflidalrxisinonofdiePemis}^^^ ft i ts staff. The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission receives federal aid these and other regulations sound complicated? m sport fish restoration.