Troutnut Forum

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Photography

> For "Those Pennsylvania Boys" and GONZO et al.

There is a long list of places in the Midwest that I would dearly love to visit and fish, and the Au Sable is certainly very high on that list. I feel a connection to that area by way of some Chippewa heritage, and I have the same respect for folks like George Griffith, Art Neumann, George Mason, and others that you do for Vince, Charlie, and Chauncy.

As much as we like to tease one another from time to time, the exchange between Easterners and Midwesterners has been one of the great things about Troutnut from the beginning. And both groups tolerate the Westerners because so many of their homewaters are also on our lists. :)

Thanks Tony!

This link is to May 2000 issue of the Angler's of the Au Sables "Riverwatch" #34...Read Ed McGlinn's obit and some pics of Chauncey in this issue.

Fun factoid: Most of us learned about Black Bart & his gang holding up stagecoaches either in school or watching old westerns, but what is interesting is that many robbed were actually wealthy sportsmen up from the city on their way to the Sacramento or McCloud sporting camps. Good thing he wasn't interested in their fly tackle!:)

We still have our tackle! The McCloud or bust!" :)

Looking Back
The news that the Michigan Court of appeals
had upheld No-Kill regulations on
the Holy Water came as a timely Christmas
present. I’m sure the collective
sighs of relief issued by our members
swept through the cedars and aspen in
Au Sable country like a spring breeze.
Hopefully, the bitterness engendered on
both sides of the issue will fade and all
parties will join hands to help our river
reach its great potential.
When the raucous cries of opposition to
No-Kill began to echo across Crawford
County in 1986 it occurred to me that
they had a strangely familiar ring. Thirty
years ago I had listened to the same
sad songs in Pennsylvania, where I was
a resident.
The concept of No-Kill, or Catch-and-
Release (or Fish-For-Fun, as it was
originally known) was the brainchild of
Dr. Al Hazzard, who was well-known
to many Michigan anglers. In 1952 he
suggested that excellent trout fishing
could be maintained in suitable streams
– even those in close proximity to large
metropolitan areas – by making it illegal
for fisherman to kill trout. It was a bold
concept which challenged the angler to
strip himself of all motivation except for
pure sport.
In 1954 two streams in Great Smoky
Mountains National Park became the
first to be managed under Fish-For-Fun,
No-Kill regulations. Public acceptance
was tentative at first but it soon gained
momentum and within a year or so the
new philosophy had many enthusiastic
adherents. In 1958, shortly after
Dr. Hazzard left Michigan and joined
the Pennsylvania Fish Commission,
he set aside the Left Branch of Young
Woman’s Creek and its tributaries as the
pioneer Fish-For-Fun project in Pennsylvania.
Located in a thinly-populated
country in the mountains, the fourteen
miles of specially-regulated water contained
within state forest land and immune
from owner conflict along its
banks. Under the No-Kill, Flies-Only
order the stream developed an impressive
wild trout population within a few
years and fishing was superb. Even
some of the old-timers admitted that
there were more and larger trout than in
the “good old days,” when only brook
trout swam in the pools.
For nearly five years Young Woman’s
Creek offered magnificent wild trout
fishing in a wilderness setting. It received
nationwide acclaim and other
states began to formulate similar management
schemes. But resentment was
building up in a few anglers from nearby
villages and with a politically-motivated
decision the project was abruptly
terminated. The No-Kill regulations
were removed and soon the Flies-Only
restrictions were eliminated. As expected,
hordes of fishermen moved in for the
kill and it wasn’t long before unrelenting
pressure brought about the demise
of the stream as a wild trout fishery.
An alarmed coterie of fly fishermen
girded forces and confronted the fish
commission with petitions bearing
thousands of names, seeking reinstatement
or No-Kill regulations on the Left
Branch. The pleas fell on deaf ears and
the commission insisted that it would
not consider such management in areas
where there was local opposition. The
deed was done and Young Woman’s
Creek was a dead issue. Dr. Hazzard retired
soon afterwards and it was a general
consensus he took early retirement
out of frustration with an impossible political
climate at the agency level.
But a seed had been sown and anglers
in other areas of the state began to clamor
for No-Kill projects on their local
streams. The commission acquiesced
and within a few years there were eight
No-Kill projects scattered throughout
Pennsylvania. Each project had been
requested by local anglers and general
acceptance was enthusiastic. However,
none of these were managed with a
view towards maintaining a pure wild
trout fishery as was Young Woman’s
Creek. Biological considerations were
disregarded in the selection of streams
and it became evident that several projects
were unsuitable (because of water
temperature problems, inadequate food
supplies, etc.) and eventually had to be
abandoned. Since the remaining projects
were short stretches of streams
(generally 1.5 miles or less), periodic
plantings of hatchery trout were made
to offset migration out of the regulated
water.
Meanwhile, conservation groups in
Pennsylvania became impatient with
the commission’s apparent lack of concern
for a wild trout program and confrontations
became more frequent and
an unlikely ally – runaway inflation.
Faced with wildly escalating expenses
in the 1970’s, the state found itself no
longer able to afford the expensive and
wasteful hatchery programs that had
been the hallmark of its fisheries endeavors.
For the first time in the commission’s
history it sent out survey
teams to evaluate the population in its
trout streams. Three years later the survey
was completed and the state was
obliged to publish its findings. Lo and
behold! There were indeed streams
in the state with substantial wild trout
populations, a fact long known by many
fishermen and independent biologists.
Known as Operation Future, a complete
re-structuring of the state’s coldwater
fisheries program got under way. No-
Kill regulations were assigned to protect
the best wild trout populations and at
long last, biology became the determiner
of management policy. Pennsylvania
has several high-quality spring creeks
and although most are less than five
miles long from source to mouth, they
generally carry good wild trout populations.
It is mainly on these streams
where No-Kill projects now are found
and their popularity attests to the quality
of their fishing. Pennsylvania still maintains
an extensive stocking program
on several other streams but when
knowledgeable fly fishers seek the best
fishing in the state they invariably head
for the No-Kill, wild trout streams. As
they say, that’s where it’s at!
- Chauncy Lively,
RIVERWATCH Winter 1989