The Angler's NotebookFishing tips, tricks, strategies and tactics

A recently released biologist report from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission indicates an increase in the number and range of fish present in the Monongahela River.

The report is based on a study done at the Braddock, Maxwell and Grays Landing locks and dams in 2010.

In the recent past, the Monongahela River was wrecked by industrial waste and pollution. The trend toward improvement began in the 1970′s and has continued until the day.

Perhaps most remarkable has been the continuing appearance of threatened fish like the endangered ghost shiner and pollution intolerant species like the smallmouth redhorse.

The largest number of fish and widest range of species were found at Grays Landing, near Masontown, Pennsylvania. (Google map.)

While freshwater drum (sheepshead), carp and channel catfish continue to be increasingly prevalent throughout the river, I found the appearance of numerous flathead catfish and longnose gar at Grays Landing particularly notable.

Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye, sauger and striped-white bass hybrids (whipers) were found throughout the waterway. Numbers of spotted bass are apparently also appearing with frequency. During the 2003 survey, not a single spotted bass was found at any of the sample sites. This time around, a total of 247 spotted bass was found spread throughout the three lockchambers.

Massive increases in the number of baitfish found each site indicates that the forage base has greatly improved throughout the Mon. This has surely contributed to the apparent boom in fish populations.

But all is not well. The decades of continued improvement in the fishery may come to an end at any minute, as waste is once again being dumped into the river at alarming rates. Bromide levels continue to rise in the Mon and tests done at the drinking water authority Fredericktown in the last few years reportedly showed high levels of harmful trihalomethanes. It remains to be seen what conditions in the Monongahela River will be like in the future.

You can read the Monongahela River Biological Monitoring Study report online at: http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/reports/2011bio/8x04_01mon.htm

Today, the Angler’s Notebook announces the release of yet another fishing map. This detailed map covers the upper stretches of South Fork Ten Mile Creek near Waynesburg in Greene County, Pennsylvania. It also includes Browns Creek and Wisecarver Reservoir, though those bodies of water are covered in more detail in another map.

This is the third map covering the Ten Mile Creek watershed. Another map covering the upper reaches of Ten Mile Creek is forthcoming.

Click here to download the map in PDF format (6 MB). Because of their sizes, these documents may take a while to open on slower connections. If you don’t already have it, you will need Adobe Reader to open the PDF file. It’s available for free here. PDF files are are simple to view and print.

The Angler’s Notebook is proud to announce the release of another fishing map. This detailed map covers the lower stretches of Ten Mile Creek and South Fork Ten Mile Creek, along with the Monongahela River, Ruff Creek and Browns Run Reservoir in Pennsylvania’s Washington and Greene Counties.

This is the second in a series of several maps covering the Ten Mile Creek watershed. The next map will cover the upper stretches of South Fork Ten Mile Creek.

Click here to download the map in PDF format (6.32 MB). Because of their sizes, these documents may take a while to open on slower connections. If you don’t already have it, you will need Adobe Reader to open the PDF file. It’s available for free here. PDF files are are simple to view and print.

The Angler’s Notebook is proud to announce the release of its first fishing map. The detailed map covers the waterways of Browns Creek, South Fork Ten Mile Creek and Wisecarver Reservoir near Waynesburg in Greene County, Pennsylvania.

This is the first of many fishing maps to come. Early on, maps will focus on Southwestern Pennsylvania; but it won’t be long until we release fishing maps for other parts of the United States, and the world.

Click here to download the map in PDF format (6.07 MB). Because of their sizes, these documents may take a while to open on slower connections. If you don’t already have it, you will need Adobe Reader to open the PDF file. It’s available for free here. PDF files are are simple to view and print.

My Central Park bass made it into the March 2011 issue of North American Fisherman. (I’m in photo #4, in case you couldn’t tell — click the photo to enlarge).

The big largemouth was caught on a worm in the summer of 2009. It was released back into the Harlem Meer to fight another day.

There are quite a few large bass, along with other species, in the Harlem Meer and the Lake in Central Park. A few anglers can be seen pursuing them throughout the Spring, Summer and Autumn.