As trout season arrives in Pennsylvania, here's who's helping to make that happen

Trout season in Pennsylvania is beginning - with a little help from their friends.

Chuck Swanderski is one of those friends, working with the Doc Fritchey Chapter of Trout Unlimited, "one of the hidden gems of Dauphin and Lebanon counties," he said.

“We do a lot of work with conservation," said Swanderski, vice president and membership/diversity chairperson for the Palmyra group. As do the other 48 chapters of Trout Unlimited volunteers across Pennsylvania. They find ways to keep fish living and multiplying in public waterways.

“Our chapter is probably one of the most well-rounded in its approach," said Russ Collins, immediate past president and conservation chairperson. In addition to working with events to introduce children and women to fishing, his group is probably second in the state with projects that improve the local watershed, he said.

They do stream bank improvement projects and projects that improve water quality. In Dauphin County, they are working on a watershed implementation plan to assess the health of Spring Creek in Derry Township.

“We will be able to go in there and prioritize a list of areas that need habitat improvement and access improvement,” Collins said.

Over the last five years, the Fritchey Chapter has secured $1.3 million in grants from a variety of sources to improve the watersheds in the two counties.

In addition, the group of about 500 members introduces people to the outdoors and fishing.

“We’re not just 100% fly fishing. We participate with the (Pa.) Fish and Boat Commission on different venues and events they have with spin fishermen and bait fishermen," Swanderski said. The chapter also works with local fly fishing and sports shops on events and programs.

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Conservation efforts

In the Quittapahilla Watershed in Annville, Lebanon County, the chapter is sponsoring grants for projects on several tributary streams.

“The big focus for me lately has been on the Hammer Creek Watershed,” Collins said. The chapter wants to improve the habitat for brook trout. The group completed two construction projects last year and another one is planned this year on 8,000 linear feet of the creek. They also have equipment to monitor the water quality of waterways.

The members also place limestone in two diversion wells on Rausch Creek in Lebanon County. For roughly 30 years, the chapter volunteers have been shoveling crushed limestone into the wells to help neutralize mine acid drainage. The southeastern Pennsylvania creek flows into the Stony Creek, a good trout stream.

“The wells require a lot of maintenance,” Rich DiStanislao, president and education chairperson, said. When the water is flowing, the limestone needs to be replenished each week.

“We have a gang of about a dozen guys who every week, it’s like a religion to them, they show up,” he said. “They firmly believe in what they’re doing." There are about four weeks in the winter and four weeks in the summer where the task isn’t required, but otherwise, the volunteers are there to refill the well with limestone. “Thank God we have volunteers with that mentality,” DiSanislao said. Pennsy Supply donates the limestone and someone donates their time to deliver the material.

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Wild trout

The agency is advocating that wild trout streams should not be stocked with fish as those hatchery fish compete with the young wild fish that are already finding ways to survive.

“We want to protect them and keep them pristine," he said. When it comes to fishing these waterways, the organization encourages catch and release fishing. “The trout are too valuable to only catch one time,” DiStanislao said.

When planning to catch and release fish, the chapter believes anglers should use barbless hooks on artificial lures, flies or spinners because those items are moving when a fish strikes. Most times the hook will be near the end of the fish’s mouth.

“It’s very difficult to catch and release a fish when you use bait (such as worms). By the time they swallow that bait, you lost everything,” Swanderski explained.

He also suggests not playing a fish very long to avoid stressing it out. To revive fish, hold the fish in the water with the net until it revives and is able to swim away. He said some anglers will move the fish back and forth, but that reverse water action isn’t healthy for the fish. “Respect the fish,” he said adding that some fishing guides refer to the fish as their “business partners” that they want to be able to see and catch again on future outings.

If you want to eat fish, DiStanislao said to remember fishing is recreation and limit your kill to what you will actually eat.

“You don’t have to kill your limit to have a good time,” he said. “If you look at fish as recreation, you want to protect them.”

In addition to respecting the fish, the men said anglers should respect their fellow anglers and property owners. “Every year, I can’t tell you how much stream mileage is lost to posting of private property because the previous year people were disrespectful to the landowner’s property," DiSantislao said about activities like not parking in the right area, setting campfires where they are not permitted and littering. “Use your head and have fun,” he said.

Visit dftu.org and tu.org for membership information and additional information on a chapter near you.

Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website's homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors ,Twitter @whipkeyoutdoors and Instagram at whipkeyoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Trout Unlimited volunteers help wild trout and anglers, conservation