PETITION for Catch and Release on the TULLY!

dshaffer

dshaffer

Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2014
Messages
37
We thank everyone who voted for C&R on the Tully. We are now requesting folks to sign a PETITION for C&R ALO as per our request to the PAFBC on Jan 21 and as amended on February 3.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/catch-release-on-the-tulpehocken-creek

 
Good luck!
 
Can I ask, why? Why do you want the Tully to be C&R? How is that a better regulation than DHALO, given the temps that are on the Tully in the summer?
 
I'd vote for Catch and Release Fly Fishing Only. What's wrong with that? No to lures. I want the fish to stay alive as long as possible and I still think treble hooks are hard on fish. Maybe some fish die from warm water....who cares? Loads find refuge and hold over.

(By the way...we'll be lucky if they keep it DHALO without the new bait proposals.)
 
i think they should try it. i think the trout will do better than folks think.
 
The trout DO do better than folks think!
 
I wonder if they try it for say 3-4 years and surveys show no appreciable difference, supporters would be willing to have it converted back? I support the change now proposed, but having never fished it, I can't say it is something that will benefit the fishery. It may just exclude some anglers and late season harvesters with no improvement for fly anglers.
 
Sasquatch,

Your position is sound regarding the regs when angler harvest is not the limiting factor for fish abundance. It turns out that the number of 15 min intervals per month that water temps exceed 68 deg F is critical to RT mortality...chronic, not acute. I suspect that a similar relationship exists for Browns. No, 68 deg is not a typographical error.


Mike
 
Any stream section that does not reach lethal limit temperatures in the average year should be considered for at least delayed harvest designation, if not C & R. Then, available waters in the region where harvest is permitted, along with population and user numbers, should be balanced, to determine whether the need for the water as a harvest-permitted stream is required.

Since the argument is often made that many anglers practice C & R even where they don't have to do so, it shouldn't p-off too many license buyers.
 
surveys shmurveys
 
foxtrapper1972 wrote:
surveys shmurveys
Click to expand...

I know. That seems to be his answer to everything. Well, guess what? Sometimes studies are wrong. Why must these sudies always dictate what is done? Studies are not always accurate.
 
Troy wrote:
foxtrapper1972 wrote:
surveys shmurveys
Click to expand...

I know. That seems to be his answer to everything. Well, guess what? Sometimes studies are wrong. Why must these sudies always dictate what is done? Studies are not always accurate.
Click to expand...

Although not always accurate or thorough. . . such studies and surveys provide the best - not perfect, but best - scientific information we have when faced with management decisions.

I'll take a study or survey done by the PFBC over individual angler anecdotes almost every time.
 
To all,

First, we have three different "independent" sources for average temperatures (USGS, Army Corp. and Western Berks Water Authority), which virtually never go above 72 degrees during the summer. These averages are over at least the past ten years. This is not to say that there are spots that get warmer, but there are sufficient refuges for a great many trout to "weather" warm water.

Second, we continue to get photos from very reliable anglers this season that are of rather large rainbows and browns (holdovers) as well as some wild brown fingerlings.

Third, we are asking for a 5 year study.

Fourth, we will "stock" rainbow fingerlings with clipped adipose fins and are asking the PAFBC if they stock the sections to please only stock browns.

Fifth, we have sourced for "warm water resistant" rainbow fingerlings for stocking. It has been reported us us that they have a 5 - 8 degree greater tolerance of warm water. Furthermore, there has been a very successful stocking of the Yough over the past 20 years with this strain.

Finally, a C &R program has NOT been tried on the Tully. We believe that it would be very successful not only from the the standpoint of survival rates, but also in the utilization rate of the Special Regulations section of the stream.

Why not give it a go?
 
The only survey that matters is the one I do with my fly rod.
 
dshaffer wrote:
To all,

First, we have three different "independent" sources for average temperatures (USGS, Army Corp. and Western Berks Water Authority), which virtually never go above 72 degrees during the summer. These averages are over at least the past ten years. This is not to say that there are spots that get warmer, but there are sufficient refuges for a great many trout to "weather" warm water.

Second, we continue to get photos from very reliable anglers this season that are of rather large rainbows and browns (holdovers) as well as some wild brown fingerlings.

Third, we are asking for a 5 year study.

Fourth, we will "stock" rainbow fingerlings with clipped adipose fins and are asking the PAFBC if they stock the sections to please only stock browns.

Fifth, we have sourced for "warm water resistant" rainbow fingerlings for stocking. It has been reported us us that they have a 5 - 8 degree greater tolerance of warm water. Furthermore, there has been a very successful stocking of the Yough over the past 20 years with this strain.

Finally, a C &R program has NOT been tried on the Tully. We believe that it would be very successful not only from the the standpoint of survival rates, but also in the utilization rate of the Special Regulations section of the stream.

Why not give it a go?
Click to expand...


I'd be willing to give it a go to see what happens...sold! I'm in. Petition signed.
 
Would you also support a closed season from the middle of July til the middle of October? Why have C&R if guys are fishing it in the dead of summer, ripping the fish out of their cold water refuses and releasing them back into 78 degree water?

I mean, I have no doubt more trout could hold over w/ C&R, but only if guys LEAVE THEM ALONE. The amount of cold water refuges is not the problem. The problem I have is that people don't stop fishing for them. Every time I drive by Paper Mill Road in the dead of summer, yahoos are standing there fishing where Cacoosing runs in, ripping those fish out of that cold water, playing them on 7x tippet, releasing them back into warm water. SO ethical. I know I'm not alone on this view, and my opinion has been shaped by years of discussion on this very forum about the Tully. The current regs are good (unless, like Foxtrapper says, the state messes w/ the DHALO regs) because people continue to fish the Tully even when they shouldn't. I'd rather have the fish die quickly from harvesting than die a slow and stressful death because guys who claim to be ethical can't be ethical enough to stop fishing for them in the dead of summer.
 
Would you also support a closed season from the middle of July til the middle of October? Why have C&R if guys are fishing it in the dead of summer, ripping the fish out of their cold water refuses and releasing them back into 78 degree water?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure the mouth of Cacoosing ever gets to 78 but I get your point. I think it would be fine to afford some type of protection.
 
dshaffer wrote:
To all,

First, we have three different "independent" sources for average temperatures (USGS, Army Corp. and Western Berks Water Authority), which virtually never go above 72 degrees during the summer. These averages are over at least the past ten years. This is not to say that there are spots that get warmer, but there are sufficient refuges for a great many trout to "weather" warm water.
Second, we continue to get photos from very reliable anglers this season that are of rather large rainbows and browns (holdovers) as well as some wild brown fingerlings.
Third, we are asking for a 5 year study.
Fourth, we will "stock" rainbow fingerlings with clipped adipose fins and are asking the PAFBC if they stock the sections to please only stock browns.
Fifth, we have sourced for "warm water resistant" rainbow fingerlings for stocking. It has been reported us us that they have a 5 - 8 degree greater tolerance of warm water. Furthermore, there has been a very successful stocking of the Yough over the past 20 years with this strain.
Finally, a C &R program has NOT been tried on the Tully. We believe that it would be very successful not only from the the standpoint of survival rates, but also in the utilization rate of the Special Regulations section of the stream.
Why not give it a go?
Click to expand...

Agree with Afishinado - this is encouraging.

I'm not a Tully regular but it is common knowledge that (some) fish can hold over in trib coldwater refugia. I'm not sure I'm on board with a wholesale change to C&R yet. . .but I'm open to being persuaded.

Perhaps a short term compromise position would be to proceed with the quality RT clipped fingerlings for a couple years, get some new population surveys/data sets. . .and then pull for C&R regs if the results show good survival(?).
 
foxtrapper1972 wrote:
Would you also support a closed season from the middle of July til the middle of October? Why have C&R if guys are fishing it in the dead of summer, ripping the fish out of their cold water refuses and releasing them back into 78 degree water?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not sure the mouth of Cacoosing ever gets to 78 but I get your point. I think it would be fine to afford some type of protection.
Click to expand...

No, I'm thinking more directly upstream of Cacoosing. But all I'm saying is, is a C&R regulation going to really help as long as behavior that is destructive to trout continues on the river? Like you say, let's afford some type of protection.

I realize too that generally, people may be ignorant on issues of water temps, the danger in pulling trout out of cold water refuges, etc. So not only would a closed season help protect the trout as they seek cold water, but it may also help in raising awareness. The Tully is not the only stream that could benefit from that.
 
i would have no problem with a closed season.

as the tully does not have floods, you could also create thermal sanctuaries - like the Housatonic in CT.

IMGP04453.jpg


they roll rocks to create a 'run' below a cool trib, then fill it with wood.

the river is year round C&R except in the thermal refuges which are closed june 15 to August 31.

in one summer survey, they counted 500 trout in ONE refuge.
 
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