CONSERVATION IS THE CURRICULUM
Without water quality, you don't have fish.
"It starts right here. It starts at home."
- JOE HUMPHREYS
PART 1 · IN JOE'S WORDS
The Spring Creek Story
MY LIFELINE
I want to tell you about Spring Creek. My lifeline. The stream where I caught my very first fish. And how I watched it almost die.
Spring Creek flows 22 miles from a source near my home in the mountains. My childhood. My parents. My siblings. My wife and children. I raised my family on this stream. It runs behind my property.
Spring Creek means everything to me.
LIMESTONE COUNTRY
Here in central Pennsylvania, we are in limestone country. The runoff from the mountains - the freestone streams go down into the valleys. A lot of the streams go underground and come up as major springs. Clear, cold top-of-the-mountain water. This is why we have such wonderful trout waters.
THE CRISIS
But then came Thompson Spring. Just adjacent to it was a pond called the Duck Pond. The Duck Pond is a storm sewer runoff holding pond. Chemicals, mercury, oils - every contaminant imaginable that flows from the streets of State College. They relocated the highway. That relocation pushed Thompson Spring into the Duck Pond - pushing all of that contaminated water into Spring Creek.
The water temperature started to climb into the 80s and 90s. Killing the fish. Spring Creek went down as a major trout producer. Seeing its demise was heartbreaking. I couldn't stand it.
And so I said: what can I do? What can one man do?
PART 2 · WE BEAT THE ODDS
What One Person Can Do
In the early 1970s, I pulled five guys together. We sat at a table right here and formed Spring Creek Trout Unlimited. We determined that we would divert that big spring back around the Duck Pond.
We had to punch a hole through a concrete wall with a jackhammer. Then I needed a huge pipe to go through the hole we were making to divert that spring. We got it done.
Spring Creek came back on its feet. It was a major undertaking for a few crazy guys who didn't know when to quit.
We beat the odds.
THE WORK IS NEVER FINISHED
The work is never finished. The dike has eroded. A good third of Thompson Spring is now entering the Duck Pond again - which we've got to correct. You have to be aware of what is happening. But people are aware now. It takes a lot of thought and effort from a lot of people to get it done.
PART 3 · LIVING WATER-QUALITY INDICATORS
Brook Trout as Living Water-Quality Indicators
"To catch a brook trout in all its regular beauty - it's gold to me."
- JOE HUMPHREYS
Brook trout are the canary in the coal mine for Pennsylvania's cold-water streams. They're very sensitive to pollution. And a lot of the same streams where these brook trout live - those are the same streams where we get our drinking water.
If you find brook trout, the water is clean. If they disappear, pay attention. They're telling you something.
We have more trout streams in Pennsylvania than any other state in the union - other than Alaska. Central Pennsylvania is limestone country. The runoff from the mountains - freestone streams going underground, coming up as major springs. Clear, cold top-of-the-mountain water. Your trout population demands temperatures in the 50s and 60s to survive.
That is the world we protect.
THE RULE
Find brook trout, the water is clean.
Lose them, and something is wrong upstream.
WHAT BROOK TROUT NEED
✓ Cold water - temperatures in the 50s and 60s
✓ Clear, cold top-of-the-mountain water
✓ Clean limestone springs
✓ No pollution upstream
PART 4 · NOT A LESSON, AN ACTION
What Students Do
Every program ends with a conservation action. Not a lesson - an action.
✓Hands-on aquatic macroinvertebrate survey (turn over rocks, find what's living there)
✓Brook trout population count at a surveyed reach
✓Stream data reported to Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
✓Stream cleanup as part of every capstone day
"I saw these kids so excited. It takes me back to my childhood. My feet would not have touched the ground for probably a month. I would have been so excited. I understand these kids."
- JOE HUMPHREYS
TRY IT
Flip a Rock, Find the Bug
Flip a Rock - Find the Bug - Get the Fly
Turn over a rock in the stream, look at the bug clinging underneath, and answer the questions. We will name the bug, hand you the right fly, and tell you what it means for the water.
Identify your bug from the chart below, then find the matching fly and what it tells you about the water.
How to walk the tree
- Flip over a rock and look at the bug. How many tails does it have?
- 3 tails
- 2 tails
- No tails (or many tiny legs)
- It has 3 tails. Does it look slim with little oval gills down its sides?
- Yes, slim with gills → Mayfly Nymph
- Not sure / looks different
- It has 2 tails. Is it big and dark with fierce pinchers?
- Yes - big, dark, pinchers → Hellgrammite (dobsonfly larva)
- No - stocky, 2 claws per foot → Stonefly Nymph
- No tails. Does it carry a little case of sticks, gravel or sand?
- Yes, it carries a case → Caddis Larva
- No case - it is bare
- No case. What does the bare bug look like?
- Tiny and wormlike, no legs → Midge Larva
- Red and segmented in the muck → Aquatic Worm
- Flat brown disc stuck to the rock → Water Penny
Bug, fly and water-quality reference
Stonefly Nymph
2 tails, stocky body, 2 claws on each foot. Lives under rocks in fast, cold water - flip one to find them.
Tie on: Big Stonefly Nymph (also a Pat's Rubber Legs)
Fished deep on the bottom, weighted, in fast riffles.
Excellent Excellent - needs fast, cold, clean, well-oxygenated water. A stonefly means the stream is very healthy.
Mayfly Nymph
3 tails, oval gills along the body. The most imitated insect in fly fishing.
Tie on: Pheasant Tail Nymph or Hare's Ear
Match the body size of what you find under the rock.
Good Good - lives in reasonably clean water. A solid sign the stream is in decent shape.
Caddis Larva
Worm-like, no tails. Often builds and carries a little case of sticks, gravel or sand to hide in.
Tie on: Elk Hair Caddis (dry) or a Caddis Larva / Green Weenie
Around size 12 to 16. Great when caddis are skittering on the water.
Good Good - tolerates some disturbance. A common, healthy stream bug.
Midge Larva
Tiny and wormlike, red, green or brown, with no legs. Trout eat them year-round, even in winter.
Tie on: Zebra Midge
Very small - size 18 to 22. Fish it tiny and deep.
Fair Fair to Poor - midges tolerate pollution, so finding mostly midges is a caution sign.
Hellgrammite (dobsonfly larva)
Large and dark, with fierce pinchers and little hooks along the abdomen. A warm-water monster.
Tie on: Dark Woolly Bugger or a Sculpin pattern
Big and dark, fished on the swing or bounced along the bottom.
Excellent Excellent - needs clean, well-oxygenated water. A hellgrammite means great water quality.
Water Penny
A flat, oval, brown disc that clings to the top of rocks - actually a beetle larva.
Tie on: No direct fly - it tells you the water is fairly clean. Try a Hare's Ear nearby.
More of a bio-indicator than a hatch to match.
Fair Fair - moderately tolerant. A decent but not perfect sign for the stream.
Aquatic Worm
Red, segmented and very small, wriggling in the muck. No legs, no case.
Tie on: San Juan Worm (a red worm imitation)
Simple red pattern, fished low and slow.
Poor Poor - an organic-pollution indicator. Mostly worms means the water is not very clean.
THE COMMITMENT
You have a challenge. You've got to take care of those streams that you so enjoy. Because there are a hell of a lot of people out there that won't protect it.
It starts right here. It starts at home. It starts with the stream you stand in. The stream you love.
CONSERVATION IN PRACTICE
The Look Up Moment
Joe ends every session the same way.
"Look up. You've been staring at the water from the moment we made the first cast. I'd like to stop and live the moment. One of the most beautiful sounds in the spring to me is a red-winged blackbird on its song. Or it can simply be the change of the clouds above. It can simply be the sun reflecting on a log.
Those are cherished moments. The good Lord has given us such a beautiful place to fish. When you don't take time to recognize and enjoy it and appreciate it and be thankful - you're missing part of the game."
- JOE HUMPHREYS