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Monocacy Chapter of Trout Unlimited
Volume 3, Issue 2 Summer/Fall 2016
Stream Lines the Newsletter of the Monocacy Chapter of Trout Unlimited
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President’s Message
President’s Message Featured Stream: Valley Creek
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Techniques: Choice of Fly Pattern Types Dr. Ted Burger 3-4
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Chapter Programs: by Bob Signorello
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Conservation:
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Chapter Directors and Officers
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Officers Erik Broesicke - President Mike Recine - Vice Pres Dr. Ed Hart III - Treasurer Bob Signorello - Secretary
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2013 Board of Directors
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Dr. Theodore Burger M.D. Jim Coxe Todd Griffith Steve Vanya Bob Signorello CQ Williamson Ken Young Dr. Ed Hart, III Vicky Bastidas Ron Horwath Phil Burtner Mike Recine Mike Bradley Jose de Jesus Jack Schildt Norm Szymanski
Members: If you are involved with any organization long enough, you begin to notice certain patterns and undercurrents working in the background. It is often a subtle changing of the prevailing attitudes, or policies that effect the landscape we are operating in. Rarely is there a sudden or dramatic shift, but it is happening. Often times it seems as if we are coming right back to ideas and practices that were popular in years gone by. What's old is new again, you could say. The potential changing of PFBC policy in relation to wild trout is one such shift that appears to be taking place. Some years ago, it seemed that the practice of raising and stocking trout was being looked upon as getting too costly to continue at historic levels, and the PFBC even cut back numbers of stocked trout by several hundred thousand fish. Streams with wild populations were beginning to be cut from the stocking lists, and ones with moderate populations were getting reduced numbers of hatchery fish. This all seemed like a win for wild fish and their habitats. Fast forward to today, and after 10 yrs of declining license sales and a seeming lack of recruitment of younger generations to fishing, there is a feeling in the air that things might be shifting again. In my mind the PFBC is hinting that they are going to start favoring the increase of stocking in an effort to bolster license sales. An “if you stock it, they will come” policy. My guess is that this will be largely accomplished through increasing the co-op hatchery program, so any arguments about keeping or increasing jobs at the State level may be overstated. While an increase in the number of fish available seems to be a good thing, many (myself included) fear it will come at the expense of wild trout, and specifically the regulations that protect them. We have already seen the adoption of an exception to the Class A regulations that allow stocking. A proposed change to the Trophy Trout regulations in Saucon Park to allow bait fishing is another example. Here is a population of wild fish that responded positively to harvest reduction and the use of Artificial Lures Only, and there is an ongoing push to change that. The push is coming from inside and outside the PFBC, which makes it seem like an uphill battle to protect wild fish. On a positive note, a point was actually tallied on our side when the Mayor of Bethlehem sided with keeping the regulations as-is. These small wins, coupled with the dedication of our volunteers and Board members is what will help us weather the ebb and flow of changing policies and attitudes and stay the course of protecting our wild trout fisheries future generations.
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Erik Broesicke President Monocacy TU
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