Oil Leak on the Banks of the Lackawaxen

Heres a story in the Pike County Press by Pat Camuso detailing a hydraulic fluid spill by Penn Dot at Mollies Pool. A well written piece.

New Hosting Site for LackawaxenRiver.com/The Tow Path

Good news. Less down time faster response. And Wind Powered.

Weird Fish

I like to complain. It's like scratching an itch. I doesn't solve anything but it makes me feel better. But not this time.

I haven't had a lot of time to fly fish the Lackawaxen River this spring. Just a few short outings. I've been lucky and have caught fish every outing. I caught a beautiful Brook Trout and a beautiful Brown trout. I also caught 4 or 5 Rainbows. One was a nice fish. The others. Well, the others were from a horror movie.
One fish expired when I netted it. Its just started bleeding and died. On inspection it was nearly fin-less. No dorsal fin and only one pec fin. Okay he got picked on in school. It happens right? I've caught 3 other deformed rainbows without fins or with sores. Okay the sore were probably from having been caught before or rooting for nymphs. One had no pec fins and no dorsal fin. Un fortunately I don't have any photos. From now on I'm going to kill any weird fish I catch so I can have documented evidence.

This is absurd. The state has decided that fisherman and hunters are ghouls. Bureaucratic cynicism has produced a uncaring and cruel system that raises and distributes the damaged fish that I have caught. I would like to hear from anybody else that has caught similar low grade trout this year.

Opening Day

Opening day on the Lackawaxen River was absolutely beautiful, except for the wind part. I hadn't got my license so I stopped at Bright's Shop and got my new computer license. Hideous. The heritage of the trout stamp is lost in PA forever I guess. I'm an artist and though I never would have entered the trout stamp competition it means one less opportunity for art to be part of everyday culture.

Here's a picture of Mollies. They're stacking in. Not like 20 years ago but more than the last several years. Probably a positive result of the Monster Trout Derby. I talked to one guy who had caught a big 'Bow' in the morning. It's that morning action time of year. I saw a lot of Caddis flies. The ones with the grey wing and black body. I didn't fish. Just as I was about to put on my waders on I discovered a dime sized mouse hole. Oh well. Next week.

The other shot is the dollar hole, the head of the pool.

Monster Trout Derby

This story in The News Eagle
The Business Owners of Lackawaxen Township and G. Anderson Homes are sponsoring the third annual Monster Trout Derby, open to all anglers, with approximately $2,500 in prizes being offered. There is no entry fee for the public and no pre-registration. All that an angler needs to do is catch any one of the 100 monster trout being stocked in the Lackawaxen River between Hawley and the Village of Lackawaxen.

Signs of spring

New signs along the Lackawaxen River. Remember the old signs: CAUTION RIVER LEVEL RISES RAPIDLY. To the point. Even a dash of the dangerous.

So here's a new sign from PPL. The level of the Lackawaxen river below the plant is subject to rapid elevation change.

I wonder if the lawyer that wrote that has ever gotten caught in the rapid elevation change

Fantastic! Federal Money... goes to federal agency.

Like so much of 'Federal Money' for our region heres some more being recycled to a Federal Dept. Sort of like paying yourself to research new car prices.