NORTH EAST (TNS) — Some 15 years ago, Pennsylvania anglers were outraged about a growing trend, the privatization of once-public fishing waters.
A once-public stream section that was abruptly closed has been reopened to provide access for Erie County steelhead anglers. A recently acquired easement on Twentymile Creek, south of the Route 5 bridge and 1 mile west of the New York line, includes riparian land that had been leased to a private fishing club.
“This is a fantastic acquisition for the anglers of Pennsylvania,” said Mark Haffley, a PFBC fisheries biologist. “The addition of 8,960 linear feet of public access opens up most of Twentymile Creek from Lake Erie to Route 20, giving anglers access to incredible numbers of fish throughout the stream, and greatly enhances our eastside steelhead fishery.”
Nearby parking and access to the easement area are available at the recently improved North East Township Community Conservation Park, near the Route 5 bridge.
The easement extends 35 feet from the top of the bank on the designated stream section. Areas immediately adjacent to private residences remain closed to public access. Fish and Boat advises anglers to obey signs guiding them to access areas and directing them away from restricted areas and to carry out all trash including lunch waste, discarded line and live bait containers.
Twentymile Creek receives annual stockings of juvenile steelhead and adult trout from PFBC hatcheries. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation stocks brown trout throughout the stream’s upper beats, giving the waters a year-round trout fishery.
Once a popular destination for anglers, the Route 5 section’s 10-year closing has been controversial. Due to its uncomfortable history, anglers’ use of manners and fishing etiquette will be more important than ever if the waters are to remain open to the public.
Around 2007, a property owner on Twentymile Creek was growing frustrated by steelhead anglers who ignored signage and walked through her yard to access the creek. It hit the fan, almost literally, when the owner saw a fisherman crouched to relieve himself in her grape garden. “No Trespassing” signs sprouted almost immediately.
To the dismay of anglers, access to the stream section was soon leased to an exclusive Huntington County fishing club that had recently tried to claim part of the Little Juniata River as private property. In a landmark decision, Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that the Little J was “navigable,” legally defined as having been used in the past for public commerce. The river, therefore, was to remain open to the public for posterity, but anglers who were banned from the Twentymile stream section watched club members catching steelhead paid for by Pennsylvania angler dollars.
On Friday, Fish and Boat announced the Twentymile easement, which provides limited access on private property that remains in the possession of the owner who was justifiably grossed out some 15 years ago. Including nearly 9,000 linear feet, the acquisition is the state’s largest public fishing easement, funded by anglers through the purchase of special Lake Erie fishing permits and combination trout- Lake Erie fishing permits.
Act 159 of 2004 specifies that the proceeds from the sale of these permits must be used to provide public fishing access or protect or improve fish habitat on or at Lake Erie, Presque Isle Bay and their tributaries, including waters that flow into those tributaries. The funds may also be used for other projects that support public fishing on or at Lake Erie, Presque Isle Bay, and their tributaries.
Funds generated through this program are deposited into a PFBC Lake Erie restricted account, where they may be used now and into the future only for their legislatively intended purposes. To date, the Lake Erie restricted account has funded the acquisition of 147,994 linear feet of public fishing easements.
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