Tully DH: harvest by poachers vs legal harvest...your estimate

[Mike]

Copied from comment # 11 in the Tulpehocken fishing report: THE WORST PREDATORS ON THE STREAM ARE THE POACHERS. I HAVE WITNESSED QUITE A BIT AND HAVE RECEIVED NUMEROUS COMMENTS FROM FELLOW FISHERMEN. IT IS GETTING OUR OF HAND AND THE SPECIAL REGS.

My question goes to the extent of the problem in the DH Area on a relative basis. I hear a lot about poaching, but in the past decade or more have heard little about legal harvest, perhaps because there is not much occurring anymore. It would be interesting to learn here from experienced or frequent Tully anglers what their take is on the relative number of trout being harvested by poachers vs the number being legally harvested in RECENT years. For instance, is it 50% legal vs 50% illegal? What is your best estimate based on what you see when fishing?

 

[AndyP]

Mike -in all honesty I have never seen a fisherman keep a trout while fishing the Tully. Never saw someone come back to the parking area with a stringer or a creel, never saw one kept on the stream. I'm interested to see your results. I'm sure it happens but when you raised this question I found it odd that I have no memory of anyone keeping a fish.

 

[Chaz]

Aren't there other species that anglers could be targeting at the dam? Like SMB and walleyes.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Maybe the reason the PAFBC doesn't care about poaching and does not respond when it is reported is because they think we are wasting them by releasing them?

 

[timmyt]

Easy there, Mike is a good guy and looking to help as always. Hes the best ally you could have in this fight

 

[PennKev]

I can't speak for the Tully specifically, but the only fish I've seen kept in DHALO areas have been poached.

And that's coming from 18 years of frequenting such areas.

I'm sure some are kept illegally, but I've only seen trout being kept either via illegal means or outside of the harvest period.

Kev

 

[dc410]

I have fished the DHALO area on the Tully for the past 20+ years. A few years back I remember seeing a spin fishermen creel a few trout in the section near the Water Co. Those fish were honestly the only ones that I ever saw harvested legally since I have been fishing there. I noticed the water temp peaked out at 65 degrees mid day today. It won't be long until that temperature is consistently over 70 degrees. Any anglers targeting trout after the water warms to that point should be harvesting those fish although in my experience most are not. I usually target Smallies or carp at that time of year and generally lay off the trout until the fall season arrives.

 

[FLY_Mike]

I have personally never seen people poaching on the Tully but I am sure it happens. I also fish French Creek in Chester County and the poaching in the DHFFO area is an epidemic. Last time I told someone spincasting in this area he told me that he paid his license fee like I did and to mind my own business.

 

[Chaz]

It's kind of weird that the temperature was highest around noon, was there cloud cover? Usually on a warm day the temperatures on streams peak in the early evening.

 

[Mike]

AndyP, dc410, and FLY_Mike, as Tulpehocken anglers I appreciated your sincere responses. PennKev, I also appreciated yours despite the fact that you don't fish the Tully. Your observation elsewhere matched those of the Tully anglers who responded. Despite hundreds of views of the OP and such strong opinions frequently expressed about this stream, the relative silence now is very interesting.

Chaz, anglers are allowed to fish in the dam's immediate tail-race with any legal technique. The special reg area starts at the first deflector downstream from the dam, providing about 100 yds or so (my guesstimate) of immediate tail-race fishing with bait, etc before the DH regs begin.

This part of the regulation was established to allow anglers full access to the portion of the stream that harbors the vast majority of the walleye, muskies, catfish, and stripers that escape from the lake. They also sometimes catch trout that move up from the DH Area; that is, trout that escape the jaws of the substantial warmwater/coolwater fish population. I assume that the anglers who are claiming that there is poaching in that general area on a recurring basis are aware of the limits, but I can't be certain. Harvesting trout above the first deflector is legal at this time of the year.

 

[Midge22]

Mike,
i have spent a lot of time on that stream this winter and spring. partially due to being laid off at the time. I have not witnessed any poaching. but i have found quite a bit of bait containers etc. mostly from the overpass area, paper mill, and roughly 200-300 yards below the dam (well below the DH line). i didn't see them keep any fish, or see them fishing at all actually, but they were breaking the law none the less.

ps yes i did pick up as much of their garbage as i could carry

 

[dshaffer]

I am a native to Readimg amd have fished the Tully since the early
Eighties. This year in particular the poaching has exploded. There are times I do not see the poachers, but I clean up their mess, i.e. styrofoam cups for worms and cans of corn. i have also tecieved numerous, no many, complaints a out the ecessive poaching.

All you have to do is pay attention to your surroundings and you will see the extent of the poaching.

I am talking strictly about bait fishning folks. Since the put and take season starts soon, we will see just how many folks go over their limit.

Regarding the water temperature, I think all will agrre that this has been a different kind of year. With the exception of a couple of T-storms, there has been very little rain, yet the Tully has remained in good condition. My guess is that other "creeks" are no fairing this mini-drought as well. The forecast for the next few days is looking up and my guess is we will see some higher flows and lower temps for a period of time.

In the meantime enjoy the prolific hatches and put back your catch carefully.

 

[FCP]

The fishery staff often claims that majority of the fly fishermen release their catch and only a small number of fly fishermen keep their trout. Also, they believe that the legal harvest on the Tully DHALO does not have any significant impact on the trout population.

On July one a few years ago I spoke to a fly fisherman coming off the stream at the Paper Mill with a net bag containing 5 trout. I told him he did very well and he stated that since the harvest period started in June he and his buddy had fished at the Paper Mill five other times and each time they took home their limit. The total was 35 trout. That is only two weeks. How many trout were in this area when the harvest period started? Some years back a fly fishermen who just retired spent a couple days each week after June 15 taking trout at the gauging station above the water company. He was a fixture at the gauging station. He took home 3 trout every time he fish so He told me. By mid July I noticed that the quality of the fishing at the gauging station had seriously declined. The catch rate was way down. I have to believe that the harvest of all those trout had something to do with the fishing degrading. There does not have to be large numbers of fishermen harvesting trout to have a significant negative impact on the number of trout in the stream. It does not have to be an army and they can easily go unnoticed. I see fishermen harvesting trout on the Tully especially the larger fish.

Another way to look at it is that if there is only a small number of fishermen keeping their catch, it is only a small number that could potential be disappointed if the Tully became catch and release. After all we are only talking about 4 miles of Catch and Release in the Tully tailwater. You can harvest trout in the stilling basin and the 3 miles below the Red Bridge. Also, there is about another 12 miles of open water on the Tulpehocken above Blue Marsh Lake that is available for harvesting trout. There are many more miles available on the other streams and lakes that are stocked with trout for harvest in Berks County. But there is only 4 miles of special regs for trout and no Catch and release water in the county. In fact there is very few miles of special regulation trout water in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Why not catch and release on the Tully tailwater. It will not have any significant impacted on the miles of water available for harvesting trout in Berks county and Southeastern Penna. I may also help this water return to the excellent year around trout fishery it was years ago.

 

[outsider]

I really don't know how to quantify this. I live 10 minutes from the Tully, and since the introduction of the special regs. have witnessed it time and time again. Drove past the "road to nowhere" bridge late this afternoon, and there was (still is) a plastic bait container sitting under the bridge where people park. Left it as evidence for you, color blue with perforated lid.

 

[Maurice]

Maybe you ought to pick up all the bait containers and drop them off at the regional PF&BC law enforcement office to prove the point. Or mail them to the office with a note. Maybe that will get the WCO out there.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

Good one Maurice!

I called and reported poaching on that creek twice. Immediate response from PFBC phone person was they were very overloaded with work...
(I just love hearing excuses when I make a report of a violation)

The park rangers can't do anything about poaching. They told me the pFBC guys spend all their time on the lake "because that's where the money is" < THEIR WORDS.

I picked up ALL the litter up at the upper end of reg area. MANY bait containers...old and recent. Torn down special regs signs left on the ground for weeks. I threw them out too.

PFBC does not patrol it or care...

IMHO

 

[outsider]

Maurice wrote:
Maybe you ought to pick up all the bait containers and drop them off at the regional PF&BC law enforcement office to prove the point. Or mail them to the office with a note. Maybe that will get the WCO out there.

Drove past the 222 bridge around noon today and the bait container was gone. There is a trash can under the bridge.

On another note, a friend and I fished the Tully this morning and had a great time. There are tons of trout in the DH area, and they are fat and healthy, full of fight. Caught a few 16" class rainbows.

You just have to find them. We caught all our fish in a 25 yard stretch. I am disappointed that some of the best water that I fished in the past was seemingly void of fish, including my favorite run.

 

[dshaffer]

Hey! Outsider,

Did you notice whether any of those fish had clipped adipose fins? If they did, they were fingerlings stocked by TCO and TU.

If you do catch any rainbows in the Tully with clipped adipose fins, please take a photo and send it to me at: dshaffer2200@hotmail.com

Thnak you!

 

[outsider]

I caught 2 fish with clipped fins. I am aware of the fingerling stockings. FYI, I was one of the handful of guys that formed the Berks County Chapter of TU (now known as the Tulpehocken Chapter).

 

[dshaffer]

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

The two you caught were two year hold overs. Fins were not clipped last fall. They should have been great fighters.

I hope Mike reads this cause of the 1,500 fish that were clipped two years ago there are still some surviving, no thriving, in a section that most of us hope will become a catch and release spec. regs. section.