gibsygoldtop
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- Jun 8, 2011
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I mostly see them when I floating in the boat and the water is calm and you can the bottom. They disappear quick!!
Hellbender proposed Endangered
- Thread starter Jmac
- Start date
CRB
Well-known member
Seen them on oil
Solitariolupo
Active member
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- Jan 3, 2017
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Caught a couple been awhile ago. Can’t stand touching them slimy and they bite.
Back-in-the-day I used to pick hellgrammites and stone cats under the rocks in the Susky, and every once in a while I would stick my hand under the rock and yow!!! We called them "water dogs".
wildtrout2
Well-known member
Hellgrammites will remind you to handle with care! 🙂 I wasn't aware that Hellbenders will bite.
Duriensbane
Member
while im not 100% sure, i could have sworn that a guy pulled one out of Conococheague creek when i was young (sometime between '90 and '92) near black gap road in the cabins area. It is a fleeting memory but I think it was one.
On an unnamed Pocono blue line, I had to reach to put my rod on top and scramble up the side of a small waterfall maybe 6' tall. Half way up the easy but wet climb, I had one come out of a mossy wet crack in the stone, about 2' from my face! Yikes!
lycoflyfisher
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Doesnt sound like a hellbender, they typically are in the water and in medium to larger streams rather than small blue liners with significant waterfalls.
wildtrout2
Well-known member
I guess that explains why I've yet to see one.
You were not there. I can't explain my experience any clearer. It happened the way I described. I'm sorry you can't visualize it from my description.
tomgamber
Well-known member
I've caught a few. Kinzua spillway is only place I've caught 2.
TroutHunter814
New member
I’ve only ever caught two, and that was over 20 years ago. Honestly haven’t seen, or caught one since. The water quality in that Indiana county stream has degraded somewhat over the years with a lot of siltation which isn’t favorable.
Don’t know if they’re still there.?
Don’t know if they’re still there.?
nymphingmaniac
Well-known member
I don't think anyone answered the question. Mostly replies about hellbenders. My guess is it's unclear. Stocking, I can't see how that would run against protecting them. However, it might be the case that access to areas of reproduction will be restricted to fishing and things like stream improvement projects complicated or blocked.
Endangered status proposed for eastern hellbenders
The eastern hellbender, a salamander recently named Pennsylvania’s state amphibian, is now on its way to becoming a federally endangered species. The long-awaited designation could help fund conservation efforts inwww.bayjournal.com
What does this mean for trout stocking with likely coming federal involvement in managing hellbenders in PA wilds? Can the feds mandate PFBC(or others) not stock over this newly to be declared endangered species?
tomgamber
Well-known member
ok, I'll go...I don't think the federal government give a crap about stocked fish. I think the current administration has been very clear about not caring about any endangered species. So nothing will change.
I grew up on the outlet of Lake LeBoeuf (LeBoeuf Creek on the maps, but the Outlet to us..) about 3/4 of a mile below the lake. We'd night fish for bullheads with crawlers, usually in March and April. The bullheads would quit on us around midnight and we'd start catching mud puppies. That's one of the ways we knew it was time to go home.
We'd also catch quite a few stocked trout as Lake LeBoeuf had 3 stocked tribs back then; LeBoeuf Creek (aka the Inlet), Boyds Run (aka Trout Run) and Shaws Run. Where we were bullhead fishing on the Outlet was at the least a mile and half by water from the nearest stocking point. Interesting stuff..
By and large, the contention in the OP of this thread that stocking (particularly without specifics as to frequency or numbers) is incompatible with hellbender populations is a scare tactic, IMO, employed to forward a specific fisheries management agenda. There are an abundance of reasons to oppose stocking over wild trout without having to resort to these highly questionable assertions about the damage stocked trout are doing to hellbenders. These sorts of shell games are one of the tactics that erodes support for the Endangered Species Act and similar designations.
sixfootfenwick
Well-known member
Meh, there might be something more to it than that, though I get what you are saying.
Notes off a soiled cuff: Federal protection of hellbenders could impact trout stocking in part of Pennsylvania - Outdoor News
A research group at the University of Pittsburgh reportedly will publish a study this spring showing that stocked trout eat baby hellbenders.
www.outdoornews.com
I'm sure the name in the article will make some cringe.
If so, this might be more palatable.
I'm not saying they are but I'm not going to dismiss the notion based on messenger alone.
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