Don't Muck Up My Trout Stream

Flexibility. That’s what they’re calling it these days in the General Assembly. Giving someone the option to muck up and contaminate a stream or making it possible to pollute a stream to the point where it is a health hazard to fish, so long as someone else can return it to drinking water, somewhere downstream, at their expense, is passed off as watershed planning by Dahlonega, GA Senator Steve Gooch. Some plan.

Planning. Senate Bill 299’s title sounds positive and proactive - Natural Resources; provide flexibility for establishing watershed protection standards. What it does is lower the protection of streams and rivers by making the most effective measures planners are now required to use optional in the future. Consideration of stream buffers, land development densities and land use activities all become optional considerations with Sen. Gooch’s plan. Some plan.

Antidegradation. Big word. Big impact. The bill puts into law a process that conflicts with federal clean water standards. Antidegradation rules allow for changes in a stream’s and surrounding lands’ activities if the existing uses – fishing; recreation; drinking water; reproduction of fish, wildlife and shellfish; wild river; scenic river and coastal fishing, of the stream are maintained. In the case of streams where fish and wildlife reproduce, water quality can be lowered only if there is an important social or economic reason. With important national resources - national parks and wild and scenic areas such as the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area and Chattooga River, water quality is to be maintained and protected. With Sen. Gooch’s plan, streams can be polluted if the water can be resuscitated back to drinking water standards. Some plan.

Rights. Some say that stream buffers are government seizure of private property by denying property owners use of their land. Buffer laws limit use of land but do not take it away from property owners. They protect a public resource - water, by limiting roads, buildings, clearing vegetation, altering stream banks, installing septic tanks… within 50’ of a trout stream, 25’ of a warm water stream and 150’, for a radius of 7 miles upstream, of a drinking water source. 25 to 150 feet! Variances are issued in cases where property owners need to invade a buffer area for a good reason. If streams get polluted, are unable to be used for fishing and recreation, and become more expense to treat to drinking water standards, then downstream property values decline, Georgians can’t use streams for fishing and recreation, and local governments and taxpayers pay more for drinking water. Sen. Gooch’s plan would make consideration of downstream property owners’ and citizens’ rights optional when developing a watershed protection plan. Some plan.

Your Plan. Senate Bill 299 is likely to have a hearing at 1 pm on Tuesday, February 4th at the Capitol. Before noon on Tuesday, call or email your State Senator; Sen. Steve Gooch; and Senate Natural Resources Chairman – Sen. Ross Tolleson. You can leave a voicemail over the weekend. If you can, come to the Senate Natural Resources Committee hearing on Tuesday. Tell them “Don’t Muck Up My Trout Stream” and to “VOTE NO on Senate Bill 299”. Now that’s a plan.

Find your State Senator   Click Here for Project Vote Smart
Sen. Steve Gooch             404-656-9221     steve.gooch@senate.ga.gov
Sen. Ross Tolleson           404-656-0081     ross.tolleson@sentae.ga.gov

Track Senate Bill 299
General Assembly Hearing Schedule
GA TU email to Senate Natural Resources HB 299.pdf
GA SB 299.pdf

GA Trout Unlimited Advocacy Fact Sheet
Cold Clean Fishable Water 12-08-2013.pdf

Kevin F. McGrath
Advocacy Chairman, Georgia Council of Trout Unlimited

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

You've got to watch this.  If you're a fly angler, I guarantee you won't be able to take your eyes off it.

 

Damsels in Distress from Sharptail Media on Vimeo.

A NEW TWIST ON DREDGING TACTICS

Landon Williams developed a new leader formula while fishing Amicolola Creek DH:

After church Sunday, I slipped off to the Amicalola to enjoy the warm day. I was greeted by 9 anglers on the water at 1 PM spread along the entire reach of the Highway 53 stretch. I walked around for a bit and talked to a few folks who reported getting skunked or only catching/ hooking one or two. I stuck waders on and was on the water by 1:45. There was a group of three guys working the long fast run 200 yards up from the canoe launch who mentioned getting skunked as I was gearing up. So, I decided that's where I was going to start. 

I tried my standard Euro-nymphing rig first there and caught a couple of fish out of the shallow pockets in the sun towards the tailout. However, I found it very difficult to get down in the heart of the fast deep water up at the head of the pool with the Euro set up, even with my dredge rig of the long 6x leader. So I decided to try something that popped into my mind. It is, in a sense, very much like Dredger's long 8 lb. leader with an indicator but maybe a bit more extreme and modeled more after my 6x euro leader. I put my reel with a floating line on and got a new 7 ft. leader (I don't think it makes a difference what) and chopped it back to the part of the tapered leader where it is about 15 lb. test. Next, I added 4 ft. of 10 lb. test mono, which is what I applied the football indicator to so it would slide up and down. 

From this stretch I made a "jam stop" of 5 overhand knots on top of each other to make a big thick part of leader. This serves two purposes, to keep the indicator from sliding all the way down. I've had it slide down before on leaders, even through knot sections. Also it allows you to easily set up the next part of the leader. I got a long 12-14 ft. section of 5x flourocarbon and made a clinch knot and slid it up over the jam stop and seated it down. At the other end, I surgeon knotted a 3 ft. section of 6x flourocarbon Trouthunter tippet. From there I did the traditional 2 fly rig with an unweighted leech and peach egg. I also put 2-3 split shot 12 inches above the first fly and kept it in place with an overhand knot between the shot and the fly. 

How did  this setup work there? Wonderfully! I hooked 19 fish in 2 hours out of that long run, all scrappy and hungry rainbows.  I've fished that run a good bit and even with Dredger's 8 lb. leader setup, it has seemed that I've had to use 4-6 split shot to get down there. Even then I felt like I could never get down deep enough in the heart of that run without making the leader ridiculously long and painful to cast. Yesterday was the first time I've ever felt like I fished that spot thoroughly well. This is a very extreme and specialized setup for limited spots but it sure worked well yesterday and maybe could on a couple spots on the Chattooga and the Toccoa DH.