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Project begins to restore fishing spot
It's the things he's seen -- and not seen -- this summer that will always stick in Jim Zoschg's mind. In years past, an evening drive along Route 120 and the Driftwood Branch of Sinnemahoning Creek in Cameron County would have revealed lots of fishermen. That's not the case now. On June 30, 28 cars from a Norfolk Southern train derailed near Gardeau, along the McKean/Cameron county border. About 44,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide, also known as caustic soda or lye, spilled out. Some of the pollution entered Sinnemahoning-Portage Creek, wiping out all of the fish -- including wild brook and brown trout -- and insects in the next 7 1/2 miles of water. John Arway, chief of the environmental services division for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, said surveys have revealed that the spill killed fish as far as 30 miles downstream the Driftwood Branch of the Sinnemahoning, however, all the way to the stream's confluence with the First Fork and Wycoff Run.
'Big Lake' fishing remains steady
Little has changed on the 'Big Lake' this week, as limit catches of king salmon, along with an occasional lake trout and steelhead, remain common. Although a few nice catches were reported between Holland and Grand Haven, the better fishing has been near Muskegon, White Lake, Pentwater, Ludington and Manistee. Most of the fish are being taken 40-70 feet down, but with an east wind, that could quickly change. Everyone seems to have a favorite spoon or fly, but some of the more productive patterns have been the Moonshine Lures in Flounder-Pounder or Spitfire, mixed veggies, Natural Born Killer (NBK) and the blue or green dolphin. Flasher-fly combos also have been effective with Pickled Sunshine, Snow Ghost and Little Bride being popular color patterns. Downriggers have been used effectively in deep water, but lead-core, wire line and Dipsy/Slide Divers can be used when the boat traffic isn't heavy.
Injured vets strong-arm the river
Bond - The trout rose and sipped a mayfly off the surface of the Colorado River. Joshua Williams caught the small disturbance on the water from the corner of his eye. Standing in a drift boat, he raised his fly rod and the trout rose again and gulped in the artificial fly on the end of the line. And suddenly, Williams was in trouble. He'd done this a hundred times before on the rivers and creeks around his home in Virginia, passionately throwing a fly at rising trout, holding the long rod in his right hand and gently stripping in the slack line with his left, a delicate two-handed operation. But on Friday, the baby-faced 22-year-old Army staff sergeant who spent a hellish year engaged in street combat in Iraq had a problem. He didn't have a right hand. The trout surged into the current.
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