Lets face the facts today about 1/3 of Elk Creek is private posted maybe even more. How can this be good for Pa. fishermen, local businesses, sport stores, and the Erie area ? How is the money going to continue to flow in and support the cause when there is hardly anywhere to stream fish ? It won't ! People like myself will show up less and less with all the congestion in the non posted areas. The fish will also show up less and less as stockings drop off . I'm really considering if I want a Erie stamp anymore. Fishing Clubs like the 3 CU have to wonder if this is worth the trouble to raise Steelhead if only private area fishermen are going to enjoy most of their hard efforts . The Fish Commish will also have to rethink their stocking program on these creeks. Why waste time and money if the majority of paying fishing license holders can't have access. Most of my friends and coworkers have all pretty much given up on Erie Steelhead fishing the last few years , and with this news I see even more giving up . Erie combat fishing is not fun ! I can't wait to read the fishing reports this year when the guy says " You got to get out and walk the creek if you want to find and catch fish " !! Let's see how far you walk now and see this...... PRIVATE PROPERTY NO TRESSPASSING OR FISHING IN THIS AREA ! Bet you won't walk too far !

though I agree this land being posted is unfortunate, and the circumstances surrounding it seem shady, there's still enough open water for me to fish.  I understand if any landowner posts their property.  I would post mine if i owned some.  But with the easements in place and landowners who miraculously still keep there's open, buying the erie stamp is a no brainer for me.  Captn hook you been around awhile ( you are old;)  I ain't been around so long, so i still got years of catching these fish before i move on to bigger and better things like you are.  
Unless things drastically change for the worse, ill continue to catch dem stillies.  I just won't be shopping at Trout run B&t. 

topdog99
jis' wait until the "anglersnotebook" hears about this tube steak deelio gone wrong 

Expect lots of Wikipedia copying and other irrelevant out of context info

Like KJ and others have said. All these issues should have been thought of before they promoted and made it into the circus that is has become. Before all the Trawt Gawds felt the need to pound theyr chests and spoon feed the masses.  Millions of fish in what amount to ditches. Jag-offs stomping around all hours of day and night. WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? Cry me a river. I dont blame land owners one bit. Post it all, jus sayin..... Erie SUXS but I guess every sport has a minor league circuit..

Sounds good...and I,m certified too
thats what the doctor said.

Hey boys  It is as simple as this Money talks and Bull sh--- Walks and you all know what we have in these post!!!!!!

Where is Rt 5??....WF....are the steelheads up to there yet?

Aint no wonder I never caught one....WF

Fishing private water is for girlz. 

I'm curious: to those who attended the PSA meeting with Commissioner Mascharka, what did he say about it, other than boilerplate, "made for press-release" type rhetoric?
 
 
 

you wont know

D-nymph

ladyoflakeerie
Really.......this is very disturbing to me on so many levels....I'm sure some of you on this very forum are guides...and I am sure that before you take your "clients" out for a day on the creeks you know exactly which part of the creek has been "leased" if you will, from the PFBC through their public access fishing program.....ok....with that said, have you ever considered that the clients that you are guiding, which pay you for your service (by the way some may interpret this as profiting from the fish placed in our streams that are paid for by the licenses that WE purchase and the trout salmon/lake erie permit)...that if you decide to take this client to privately owned land, have you ever once considered contacting the owner of the land to ask for permission to fish there...with your client who is paying you for your time and know how???? Maybe you instead sent the landowner a thank you note or a fruit basket...well did you???? What you are all failing to recognize with your grandiose ideas of the wrongs that have been bestowed upon you is this....."its a free country, where citizens are able to own and manage their land any way they see fit"...even if it rubs you the wrong way....and no they shouldn't have to move somewhere else to live just because they are tired of people profiting from the use of their land with no consideration to them at all?? Most of us in the area that you are referring to on Elk Creek were born and raised there...we have raised our own kids there....we have taught them to appreciate the true beauty of the land and water and to never take it for granted....there are many reasons why one would love to live and enjoy this property.....so if the land owner wants to post this property for any reason....even if the landowner wants to have a little extra money to off set the cost of the property taxes so what.......Make it right people....quit crucifying the owner...

Only one person here crucified a landowner, and was told they were being ridiculous by several.
 
Everyone also is free to patronize whichever fishing tackle shops they see fit.  And if one is doing something they don't like, they are free to spend their money elsewhere.

 
So this tackle shop or any shop for that matter was wrong to attempt to satisfy a land owner who has "amazing fishing holes" and fishermen by attempting a lease agreement? Whether it was from the landowner himself or a broker????
 
I'm sorry I'm confused? Id think that everyone would be happy to know they could go into a shop and pay a reasonable fee to fish in the best holes around... It would be like Elk hunting out west! You pay a guide to get you to the best places... They pay land owners for their land!

Yes, that tackle shop or any shop is wrong to do so, in my opinion.  And I will not patronize a business that does so.
 
No, not everyone is happy to pay to fish somewhere, quite the opposite.  In fact, my days of fishing Erie county, spending my money in the county, over night, food, lodging, etc, is rapidly coming to a close, as a result of leasing of lands.

[ Edited quote=Youghman]
 
I don't know what the answer is, hell, I already forgot the question.
 

As my friend, a Destin FLA charter boat Captain says
"Sea-nile Virus" [that's the way he wrote it, no misspelling].

I had my prime Steelheading times the past 2 years. Honestly, this year I'm ready to be done with the whole scene. I think it's time to take some trips to the Pacific for real Steelhead. It's like a carnival up there in Erie, and the people are too much. Crowding, trashing, profiteering, politics, economy, land easements... It's all too much. The fun of the fishing is being sucked right out of it.

In a lot of cases, too, the fishermen are just snagging fish to eat anyway. For every conservation and ethics based individual, there are prolly 10 slobs up there. Locals and out of towners. Whether you're a fisherman who trashed someone's land or a land owner who trashed someone's fishery. Either way, it's not ok, and you're gonna catch hell for it from someone. I don't like the idea of people profiting from a public resource either, but it is their land. They can post it if they want to. MMMERICA!!! It's absurd that the PFBC, fishermen, and land owners can't get along and work something out.

That said, I can't help but think of one important detail. If you pay for the Lake Erie Stamp, you can still catch Steelhead from the lake. That just about defeats any argument on posting stream-side land. On the same tone, if you close your land to profit from a public resource instead of closing for privacy, that defeats your argument for justification.