Help fly fishing Lackawanna river

[Mwheaps32]

Just love your writing Maxima "a young man's fantasy and an old man's memory" that quote was great

 

[larkmark]

While night time mousing is gaining in popularity on some streams it seems that the Lackawanna Browns prefer deer hair rats. It takes a lot of deer hair and a big rod! I usually fish them on 40 lb test so I can get them unsnagged from hidden shopping carts and stolen bicycles.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

maxima12 wrote:Sooner or later the right group of fishermen will come up with a plan. You know, the kind of plan that will change the Lackawanna for ever!Maxima12

While I appreciate your optimism, the implication that all this river needs is the "right" advocates and plan minimises the challenge facing those of us who live in this area and care for the river. These are some of the things that need to change in order for the Lack to conform more closely to our ideal:

1. Culture: The "old guard" residents of NEPA tend to have a "throw it over the bank" mentality. The artifacts in the river come from somewhere. I've seen kids throwing a basketball backboard and hoop over a bridge. There are entire banks of used tires. There is a section in scranton with over a hundred yards of tarp in the trees. Add shopping carts, bicycles, bird houses, drink bottles, etc.

There is a lack of regard for the wild brown trout population in this river. We've seen guys with limits of 18+ inch trout on stringers. Why? To eat them? Blech! THis is a polluted river with raw sewage runoff (see below). I've heard stories of guys using such trout to fertilize their gardens. Late Fall about 10 years ago I found a a gutted trout below a bridge in town. It measures 26" from jaw to tail stump. It was so fat I could not touch my fingers around it even though it was gutted. What a waste!

2. Infrastructure: The river flows from Archbald to Old Forge through an urban corridor. Look at the spike and drop in the river level HERE to see how rain does not percolate well into the soil, but runs directly into the river, flushing salt, dirt, debris into the river with each decent rain event.

The runoff from more substantial rains causes raw sewage to be flushed (pun intended) into the river. There are signs stating this at each cement sewer access along the river. Because the river level drops quickly, much of this sewage settles to the river bottom. My waders stink after fishing the Lack.

3. Mining: Although most active mining stopped in the 60's, There is still the Bore Hole. In Old Forge there is a bore hole that I'm told is the largest point source of pollution in the Chesapeake watershed! Check out Google Satellite over Old Forge, PA.
There is more water under this area that all the water in Wallenpaupack. Mining tapped into that aquifer. When the mine pumps were shut off in the 60s, that water began to come up in peoples' lawns. The bore hole was drilled to relieve that pressure.

So, to what "right group of fishermen" are your referring? Sadly, the challenge is far greater than that.

 

[afishinado]

Good summary above by Fly-Swatter ^.

People do care about and care for the Lack > LRCA

Here is a very informative video telling the sad history of the Lackawanna River.

Ironically enough, the flow being diverted into the deep coal mines is the very thing that cools the River allowing wild brown trout to thrive there.

Give this video a look to learn about the Lack >

 

[lonekimono]

Well Maxima. That is great that you got to check out the lackawanna river. Maybe next time you could catch some of those browns. Maybe I can try a big old susquehanna river rat there lol. Also i sent my address to you. Thanks for checking it out.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

afishinado: "Ironically enough, the flow being diverted into the deep coal mines is the very thing that cools the River allowing wild brown trout to thrive there."

True enough! I describe the Lack as a weird, modern, man made trout stream. The Jermyn outfall provides the bulk of cold, infertile water (not unlike a spring creek). The Archbald and Dickson City sewage treatment plants provide much of the fertility. The combination of these artifacts created this odd wild trout stream.

Hatches are sparse, mainly caddis, BWOs, sulphurs, stoneflies, and tricos in some sections. There are not enough of these to make 30" trout. I believe the size comes from eating crayfish, leaches and small fishes (incl. trout). That's why olive and brown wooly buggers work well.

One must be willfully myopic to ignore the human detritus along and in the Lack. As long as you know what to expect, It's not a bad place to fish.

 

[larkmark]

Consider the fact that some places got decent fishing not because of some trout group or other but because of nature just doing it's thing (against all odds). And respect that fact and leave well enough alone.

 

[maxima12]

Lark, a singing bird! I see some thought in your statement! Nature "what a beautiful, wonderous, Mother she is! She touches me and caresses me daily! But, without a doubt, wonderful mother has some helpers. Someone like Mother you can touch, smell, feel!

The writing is on the wall for all to see! The beautiful children of Mother, old and young!

The beautiful people surrounding this river.

Would like to think, Pride and Honor are a part too!

The scent of success! Smell it! It's in the air!

Time? The rusted spike in our mind will disappear and a golden statue will be erected in behalf to all! Call it a token of what will be accomplished! The Anchor will be lifted by a huge steel hand and replaced with flags of all regions!

Lark, hope to see your flag. I saw it everywhere in my mind!

Maxima12

 

[troutbert]

Fly-Swatter wrote:
afishinado: "Ironically enough, the flow being diverted into the deep coal mines is the very thing that cools the River allowing wild brown trout to thrive there."

True enough! I describe the Lack as a weird, modern, man made trout stream. The Jermyn outfall provides the bulk of cold, infertile water (not unlike a spring creek). The Archbald and Dickson City sewage treatment plants provide much of the fertility. The combination of these artifacts created this odd wild trout stream.

Hatches are sparse, mainly caddis, BWOs, sulphurs, stoneflies, and tricos in some sections. There are not enough of these to make 30" trout. I believe the size comes from eating crayfish, leaches and small fishes (incl. trout). That's why olive and brown wooly buggers work well.

One must be willfully myopic to ignore the human detritus along and in the Lack. As long as you know what to expect, It's not a bad place to fish.

The junk and trash along the stream can be dealt with.

There used to be loads of trash along Spring Creek, too. Now there isn't very much. The annual cleanup has made a huge difference.

Penns Creek and the Little Juniata are also far less trash strewn than in the past, because of the annual cleanups.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

tourbert: Certainly, cleanup days are good. We've done these. One anecdote: when My son was 8, he and I worked with Greg and Adam from A&G, and a few other anglers on a stream cleanup behind Giant in Dickson City. I think the stream section was less than a mile. Bernie McGurl rented a 40 foot dumpster. We filled the dumpster in a few hours. I filled my pickup with recycling I took to Lackawanna Co. Recycling Center.

The drive back there was like driving through a landfill with all the discarded things like beds and pretty much anything you can imagine. It was bad.

The scope of cleaning up that river is enormous. I would not be at all surprised if there were 50 tons of trash in and along the river. And, it just keep piling up.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but the task is daunting.

 

[troutbert]

Fly-Swatter wrote:
tourbert: Certainly, cleanup days are good. We've done these. One anecdote: when My son was 8, he and I worked with Greg and Adam from A&G, and a few other anglers on a stream cleanup behind Giant in Dickson City. I think the stream section was less than a mile. Bernie McGurl rented a 40 foot dumpster. We filled the dumpster in a few hours. I filled my pickup with recycling I took to Lackawanna Co. Recycling Center.

The drive back there was like driving through a landfill with all the discarded things like beds and pretty much anything you can imagine. It was bad.

The scope of cleaning up that river is enormous. I would not be at all surprised if there were 50 tons of trash in and along the river. And, it just keep piling up.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but the task is daunting.

It is daunting. I've fished quite a bit of the Lackawanna, so I've seen all the trash.

But there was also massive amounts of trash along Spring Creek. And Penns Creek. And the Little Juniata.

As recently as the 1990s. And all of those streams have much less trash now than in the past.

On Spring Creek, Trout Unlimited did a cleanup every year for many years, and got a lot done, but we didn't have big numbers of people.

At some point, Clearwater Conservancy took over organizing the annual cleanup. They have full time office staff, and they really ramped it up into a large event.

Here's some info about the cleanup from Clearwater Conservancy:

"More than 500 volunteers participated in 2016, collecting nearly 83 tons of trash."

With 500 people, you can get a lot done!

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Wow! That's really impressive.

 

[maxima12]

Glad the old man has you thinking! Impressive, you bet,

What would have happened if Theodore Gorden said."i quit". Or the Dame said,"this life ain't for me baby"!

 

[maxima12]

Reminds me of a song. Time! Tick, toc, tick, toc, tick, tock--ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Time has come!