Al's take on fishing at Conowingo dam

By Alan Kowaleski

The situation as it exists on the Conowingo hydroelectric plant is that tons of large carp are carted off. The fishers use 50 gal trash barrels rolled away on dollies, emptied into a truck or trunk of a car, and returned to the catwalk to be filled again. Many of these fishers are engaged in semi-commercial fishing.

One Bangladeshi harvester I spoke to had a minivan filled with fish and a car trunk as well and the destination was New York where Bangladeshi families awaited them. I had posted this photo of some fish he had on a long rope stringer, tended at the shoreline by young children and women, while the men fished in relays, snagging the carp in the boil of the dam outlet.

Some people on the list were offended by this photo, as they were offended by the idea. The truth is that these carp nursed in the estuary of the lower Susquehanna river, dumping into the huge delta of the Chesapeake bay, comprises a body of water which could accept the British isles within it, and may well be the largest body of water holding carp with exception of some of the Easternmost Great Lakes. It may well hold more carp than any other body of water in the world.

The unique relationship of miles of fresh water into tidal river and then bay ensure a proliferation of forage which the unique carp are able to utilize from the dam, and can penetrate in the bay as the denser salt water occupies the bottom strata while the less dense fresh water stratifies on the surface, enabling carp to penetrate far into the bay.

Carp within this transitional area feed on freshwater fauna and also crabs, oysters, and other molluscum which are able to tolerate the fresh water, partially brackish areas of the river. Volumes of phylum, divisions of the animal and plant kingdoms could be written by biologists on the variety of life found in this area where the carp proliferate.

Thousands of huge carp finding their way to the turbines and the chopped fish it provides are a fraction of a percent of the carp which exist in symbiosis with the rest of the estuary animals, including large populations of musky, bass, panfish, shad and stripers visiting from the ocean into the freshwater areas to spawn. They are found with millions of eel and catfish, none able to out compete each other for the huge feast found for all beneath the surface; and the carp among all these species is able to utilize the food sources of the other, omnivorous and opportunistic.

No chance of depleting the carp. Once again, no chance of altering the balance of the carp population in the slightest way. There is no limit on the amount of carp that you can snag, spear, shoot or catch. The only illegal maneuver I have seen is the violation of multiple hooks.

A Russian Jew known to us as the rabbi once showed me his secret for catching 30-40 pound carp consistently. About ten eagle claw hooks in a softball size cornmeal ball,(mielie bom style) all buried within, fished patiently on a tight line and heavily ledgered. A bell is placed so that he can tend about six other rods all rigged similarly. The rabbi began showing Mike and I his methods about two years ago. He could not understand why I continued to fish with my puny wheaties doughball when he showed me a method that worked. The other members of the rabbis team spoke little English, or pretended not to, speaking only Russian among each other.

So it is with the Chinese and Korean harvesters. The Amish fisherman speaking only Their Germanic dialect, all choosing to ignore you. You cant talk toxicity to these guys. And a confrontation over their right to harvest the carp can get you into a life-threatening situation, and I emphasize that without exaggeration. Occasionally the police will make a tour of the catwalk and lookouts will warn those using multiple hooks, but I have only seen police question American anglers. They may or may not know the angling regulations and probably don't care, being interested in the many out of state vehicles in the parking lot and the many tent pitching campers along the river bank.

I have invited many friends along on my trips to the 'wingo' but none have taken me up on it yet. A good time is to be had if you mind your own business and enjoy the outing. My friend Andy from the UK does a bit of the 'wingo' as he is over here each year but he can never adjust to the shoulder to shoulder kind of fishing with tangled lines and rude people bumping into you, your tackle and whatever. A good day on the 'wingo' is like the first day of trout with every possible space filled by someone. Striper fishers, catfish men come from many states, shad fisherman line the shores, and a few carp fisherman, usually catching the action.

Al