NSYL OFFICIAL STATE PUBLICATION VOL. XVIII—NO. 10 OCTOBER, 1949 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION Division of HON. JAMES H. DUFF, Governor JL PUBLICITY and PUBLIC RELATIONS J. Allen Barrett PENNSYLVANIA FISH COMMISSION Director MILTON L. PEEK, President RADNOR PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER BERNARD S. HORNE, Vice-President South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. PITTSBURGH WILLIAM D. BURK MELROSE PARK 10 Cents a Copy—50 Cents a Year GEN. A. H. STACKPOLE DAUPHIN Subscriptions should be addressed to the Editor, PENNSYL­ VANIA ANGLER, South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. Submit PAUL F. BITTENBENDER fee either by check or money order payable to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Stamps not acceptable. Individuals sending cash WILKES-BARRE do so at their own risk. CLIFFORD J. WELSH ERIE PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER welcomes contributions and photos of catches from its readers. Proper credit will be given to con­ LOUIS S. WINNER tributors. Send manuscripts and photos direct to the Editor LOCK HAVEN PENNSYLVANIA ANGLER, South Office Building Harrisburg, Pa- EXECUTIVE OFFICE Entered as Second Class matter at the Post Office of Harris­ burg, Pa., under act of March 3, 173. C. A. FRENCH, Executive Director ELLWOOD CITY H. R. STACKHOUSE IMPORTANT! The ANGLER should be notified immediately of change in sub­ Adm. Secretary scriber's address. Send both old and new addresses to Pennsyl­ vania Fish Commission, South Office Building, Harrisburg, Pa. * Permission to reprint will be granted if proper credit is given- C. R. BULLER Chief Fish Culturist THOMAS F. O'HARA Construction Engineer Publication Office: Telegraph Press, Cameron and WILLIAM W. BRITTON Chief Fish Warden Kelker Street, Harrisburg, Pa. Executive and Editorial Offices: Commonwealth of ROBERT P. DEITER Comptroller Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Fish Commission, Harris­ •» burg, Pa. -<? CLEAN STREAMS COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA PENNSYLVANIA To make the public conscious of the necessity for CLEAN STREAMS hSH COMMISSION and to win public support for the vigorous anti-pollution campaign now being carried out in Pennsylvania, is vital if complete success is to be attained HARRISBURG, PA. in this effort. It is important that everyone, insofar as possible, be made to fully appreciate that CLEAN STREAMS are the backbone of bringing advancement to the general welfare and assurance against sliding back­ ward—CLEAN STREAMS are a safeguard against hazards to public water supplies—CLEAN STREAMS are necessary for economic growth since in­ dustry is dependent upon good water for its operation—CLEAN STREAMS provide recreation which is necessary for everyone and which today, in itself, provides business amounting to six hundred million dollars annually in Pennsylvania. In the drive to bring back CLEAN STREAMS it is most desirable that information relating to this subject be as wisely distributed The Angler as possible. Old-time alchemists sought the "elixir of life," the magic substance that meant eternal youth and unlimited wealth. (6i& *)tecte ... Good clean water in our streams is a very real and practical "elixir of life"—no human being, plant or animal can survive long without it. More­ 6 over, it really exists and is wealth in the sense of being a "material object 's Are Queer 2 which has economic utility." By N. R. Casilio Water does not give eternal youth—but clean water guards our health, and clean streams promote recreation and well-being. Water does not change other elements to gold but it helps produce things that we need far more I Trolling for Walleyes 4 than gold. By Don Shiner PENNSYLVANIA'S WATER-WEALTH 6 Yes, water is wealth—usable wealth. Pennsylvania has a generous share lna. Fish Management 6 of these "liquid assets" which nature invests for us so wisely in our farms, By Hal Harrison homes and industries. We cannot place a monetary value on the 41 inches of rain that falls upon Pennsylvania each year. But it is not difficult to realize its value. °nkin Cane Rod Building 8 By Garnet D. Gillespie Suppose, for instance, the Keystone State had to secure its daily supply of water as it obtains its other natural resources. At our present rate of demand we would have to mine, or pump, from the deep earth, 50 to 100 6 gallons of water every day for every Pennsylvanian. That's the per capita lria. Reptiles & Amphibians 10 usage for our homes, industries and municipal services combined. It would By Hal Harrison mean about two and one-half million tons of water—600 million gallons— to be produced each day. That's one of the dividends we draw from Nature's . "bank"—the water that replenishes our rivers, lakes, streams, and under­ 'niature Crustaceans II ground water supply. By Carsten Ahrens Nature does take care of the investments . but guarding that invest­ ment—seeing that our water-wealth is not wasted—is our task. The wasteful enemy is pollution, which renders water temporarily useless, or even harm­ Ten Day Adventure at the ful to our other sources of wealth. Junior Conservation Camp . 12 By Eugene Dewey NATURE MAKES INVESTMENTS Clean water is needed, in vast quantities, in the production of every e Return of Silver Bill 14 human commodity. It shares in the work on the more than 15 million acres By Jack Anderson of Pennsylvania's 171,761 farms. By its aid, seed and soil are transformed into the foods we eat, the field of grain, the orchards. The farmer might plant his corn in the most fertile soil but there would be no corn unless nature X was prepared to supply 72,000 gallons of water to every acre. • Walleye . 18 A lavish supply of water—clean water—must go into Pennsylvania's 19,100 industrial plants to keep a million and three-quarters workers busy turning out each year products valued at about 14 billion dollars. Water— '^am-Side Life 24 clean water—pouring over gigantic dams, or converted into steam and By Robert Leo Smith whipping through steam turbines, gives the power that moves the wheels of this mighty industrial empire. And clean water must go into the many processings which convert raw materials into usable food, clothing and other commodities. The steel plant needs 65,000 gallons of water to produce a ton of steel. Seven to ten gallons are needed to produce a gallon of gasoline, 650 gallons to process 100 pounds j *6e (pave* ... of hide in making leather. Pennsylvania's seventh-largest industry—amounting to 650 million dollars h,Sailboating on the Susquehanna annually recreational travel and vacationing—is dependent on the clean >er at Lake Clark near York. A streams which attract tourists, vacationists, fishermen—and nourish the wild­ I °* at the famous Lancaster County life which draws hunters into our great recreational areas. % land in the background. Nature is ready and able to meet these and the thousands of other de- (Turn to Page 19) When a wan dawn made things a bit they are found in Neshannock Cree\j more discernible we found ourselves Many fishermen who have seen theI^ at the edge of a fairly large field. The erroneously consider them immatnr stream we had followed gurgled at forms of the common eel. As a matte our right, and at the edge of the of fact, the relationship is as far apa Eels Are Queer field it disappeared under a huge pile as the poles. Neither should the co& of drift obstructing a considerable mon eel be confused with the conge1' By N. R. CASILLO length of its bed. the moray and other giant marin While we were still some distance species. In the eerie light of a flickering from the drift one of my companions Unlike salmon, shad and other fire a man hooded with what looked suddenly grabbed my arm and adromous fishes i.e., those that ascefl^ like a pillow case, removed a protest­ pointed dead ahead. "Look!" he tensely streams to spawn, eels are catadr ing foot-long eel from the hook of a whispered. mous and therefore descend streak crude pole and line outfit which he to return to their oceanic spawni^ manned and passed the wriggling Indeed, we all looked, and at one of the strangest sights that I have grounds. The American eel and ' creature to me. "There you are pal. European relative spawn in the Sar, You've been told what to do with it. ever beheld. Something moving through the grass imparted a queer gasso Sea, the former southwest ° Now go to it." The eyes back of the Bermuda, the latter southeast of w13, grotesque slits gleamed maliciously. wavelike motion to the otherwise still blades, the resulting thin fine describ­ British island; the breeding areas ° Then, while twelve other masked ing a rough semicircle with its ends both frequently overlapping. figures armed with expectantly poised terminating at the water's edge above paddles looked on, I grasped the and below the pile of driftwood. Ob­ slithery thing as well as I could as viously, whatever it was was detour- close to the head as possible and ing around the obstruction. We edged lifted it to my mouth. With bared cautiously forward so as to possibly teeth and closed eyes I bit into the discern the cause of the phenomenon. thin neck until I heard the bones crunch and felt a convulsive shudder A splash at the water's edge near pass through the reptilian body. Then, the upstream terminus of the mys­ I threw its writhing length to the terious line caused us to turn in its ground. direction. Emerging from the water we saw what we believed to be a snake. In the course of a quarter of an Almost immediately it was followed hour I repeated the ritual, for that by another.