larkmark
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Area between the two bridges where the two branches meet is heavily posted. Does anyone know what happened?
M
Mike
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The PFBC and sportsmen in the Muddy Ck area and elsewhere around the state need to continue to be aware of and attempt to slow “posting creep” within the stocked portions of streams through landowner courtesy contacts and perhaps stocking adjustments, such as shifting to inseason only stockings when other approaches are not successful. There was a time when WCO’s routinely contacted landowners on stocked trout stream sections as often as each winter. Some probably still do.
Muddy Creek TU has been great in the past regarding landowner relations on the main stem of Muddy Ck, but one group can’t do it all. A long segment of the South Branch was lost well over a decade ago and that was followed by an adjacent shorter segment a few years later. More recently, a posting fest erupted on the North Branch, Section O2 near Felton, resulting in a substantial but partial cut to the stocked trout numbers and loss of the inseason stocking. Now, based on the above report, the area is faced with possibly more posting creeping into the main stem.
The worst case of posting creep of which I am aware in York Co has been on the Codorus Ck special reg area over the years. It was once about 2.5 times longer than it is now. That can’t be blamed on trout stocking.
Muddy Creek TU has been great in the past regarding landowner relations on the main stem of Muddy Ck, but one group can’t do it all. A long segment of the South Branch was lost well over a decade ago and that was followed by an adjacent shorter segment a few years later. More recently, a posting fest erupted on the North Branch, Section O2 near Felton, resulting in a substantial but partial cut to the stocked trout numbers and loss of the inseason stocking. Now, based on the above report, the area is faced with possibly more posting creeping into the main stem.
The worst case of posting creep of which I am aware in York Co has been on the Codorus Ck special reg area over the years. It was once about 2.5 times longer than it is now. That can’t be blamed on trout stocking.
M
Mike
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Please note that in my second paragraph above, the purpose was two-fold. First, it was to emphasize that Muddy Ck TU has done a great job in working with landowners along the main stem of Muddy Ck to keep riparian lands open to fishing and working with the main stem alone would be enough in my view. As an example, in one case a few years ago, they were deeply involved in saving a major portion of beautiful stream from posting when a property changed hands. That Chapter is active in so many additional ways beyond landowner relations, however.
That paragraph was also designed to show how posting problems can be overwhelming and expand over time (posting creep). Examples were the North and South Branches of Muddy. The South Branch posting developed years ago and was addressed by the local WCO at the time. One property then changed hands within the past decade and remained posted even though the WCO made contact with the new landowner. Then some posting developed and other posting was discovered on the North Branch more recently. The WCO, his “stocking assistants,” and the AFM were working on those problems, not only with landowner contacts but also evaluating alternatives, such as an upstream extension. The point was to show that despite the best efforts (of even multiple groups)in a major drainage basin with miles of trout water, stocked and wild, posting and its expansion can and does occur. One cannot reasonably expect a single group of volunteers, TU or others, to deal with all of this.
In the Codorus case, as usual, there have been a variety of reasons for posting to have developed over the decades and some major ones had nothing to do with anglers. Codorus TU has been active with landowner relations when it comes to angling.
In my view, we all should have a role in helping keep riparian lands open to fishing if in no other ways other than being respectful to landowners and their properties and perhaps by picking up at times for those who aren’t. Occasionally thanking a landowner for allowing public fishing could go a long way.
That paragraph was also designed to show how posting problems can be overwhelming and expand over time (posting creep). Examples were the North and South Branches of Muddy. The South Branch posting developed years ago and was addressed by the local WCO at the time. One property then changed hands within the past decade and remained posted even though the WCO made contact with the new landowner. Then some posting developed and other posting was discovered on the North Branch more recently. The WCO, his “stocking assistants,” and the AFM were working on those problems, not only with landowner contacts but also evaluating alternatives, such as an upstream extension. The point was to show that despite the best efforts (of even multiple groups)in a major drainage basin with miles of trout water, stocked and wild, posting and its expansion can and does occur. One cannot reasonably expect a single group of volunteers, TU or others, to deal with all of this.
In the Codorus case, as usual, there have been a variety of reasons for posting to have developed over the decades and some major ones had nothing to do with anglers. Codorus TU has been active with landowner relations when it comes to angling.
In my view, we all should have a role in helping keep riparian lands open to fishing if in no other ways other than being respectful to landowners and their properties and perhaps by picking up at times for those who aren’t. Occasionally thanking a landowner for allowing public fishing could go a long way.
M
Mike
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A unique approach....
Given that I mentioned the South Branch of Muddy Ck above, I am reminded of what I believe to be, at least in my experience, a unique approach to promoting protection of wild Brown Trout from harvest. Posters have been placed at access points to the South Branch stocked trout section asking anglers to release wild Brown Trout by-catch (instead of harvesting them along with stocked browns). If I recall correctly, that was a Muddy Ck TU project. Please correct me if I am wrong. In conducting an opening day angler count throughout that stretch, at least two anglers asked me how to distinguish a stocked brown from a wild one. I explained it, but then decided to shift the requested future stockings to all Rainbow Trout to help with identification.
Given that I mentioned the South Branch of Muddy Ck above, I am reminded of what I believe to be, at least in my experience, a unique approach to promoting protection of wild Brown Trout from harvest. Posters have been placed at access points to the South Branch stocked trout section asking anglers to release wild Brown Trout by-catch (instead of harvesting them along with stocked browns). If I recall correctly, that was a Muddy Ck TU project. Please correct me if I am wrong. In conducting an opening day angler count throughout that stretch, at least two anglers asked me how to distinguish a stocked brown from a wild one. I explained it, but then decided to shift the requested future stockings to all Rainbow Trout to help with identification.
salvelinusfontinalis
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Spot on and Thanks Mike.
