Fishing
Boy fishing near Alderson, 1892 (C.F. Cook Photo)
Part 1: The Early Years
In 1830, a
decade before lumbering and farming created the Lake’s first settlements, Isaac
A. Chapman, an early Wyoming Valley historian, described the Lake’s native fish
as “trout, perch and sunfish.” While a bridle path from Luzerne to the Lake
was available as early as 1800, the Lake was not readily open to early
recreation until the Lake House hotel was built at Sunset in 1855. Even then
stage coach travel, three to four hours from Wilkes-Barre, was not practical
for sustained fishing trips. Moreover, the Lake was seemingly more popular for
limitless deer hunting.
The native trout
in the Lake were speckled trout but by the end of the 1800s they were wiped out
by new fish species introduced into the Lake. Catfish, too, and eel were also
native fish. Eel were once common in the Susquehanna River and could easily
ascend Harvey’s Creek, at its mouth at West Nanticoke, and upstream to the Lake. In 1860 another local historian, Stewart Pearce, reported that “Esox” had been introduced
into many area lakes, including Harvey’s Lake, destroying native trout
populations. It is unclear if Pearce in referring to pickerel – a true esox
(pike) species - or to the walleye (also known as the pike-perch or Susquehanna
Salmon in an earlier day). The walleye is actually a perch not a pike species
but would have been easily transportable in 1860 from the Susquehanna to the Lake.
In the fall of
1870 Hendrick B. Wright, local congressman, and Charles T. Barnum, local judge,
applied to the state for warrants to the land underneath the Lake. Both
Wright and Barnum had other property at the Lake. Land warrants to areas under
rivers and lakes in the state were not uncommon, and were often purchased by
coal mining companies. The Lake was surveyed on November 3, 1870, and patents
to the Lake bottom were issued to Wright and Barnum on February 20, 1871.
The Lake patents drew the anger of local residents who protested to the legislature. The
legislature responded with a law declaring Harvey’s Lake and Harvey’s Creek to
be navigable waters. The law was actually proposed to the legislature by the Lake’s Hoffman Lumber Company, but it had popular local support, with Wright and Barnum
opposing the act.
The effect of
the law was not to challenge Wright and Barnum’s ownership of the land under
the Lake, but to assure access to the Lake waters by adjoining property
owners. In fairness to Wright and Barnum, they probably never intended to
exclude public use of the Lake. Wright and Barnum planned to engage in
ice-cutting on the Lake in the winter, and Lake patents arguably provided a
legal basis to support the business. They built four large ice houses in the
Alderson corner for their ice business. But the Hoffman Lumber Company was
booming logs in several sections of the Lake creating an unsightly and
sometimes dangerous nuisance. At one time, a log boom threatened to damage the
Inlet bridge. By obtaining Lake patents, Wright and Barnum may have been able
to limit Hoffman’s operations on the Lake and to protect the pristine integrity
of the Lake for lakeside owners. Wright and Barnum did exercise a proprietary
interest in the Lake by stocking it with three hundred black bass, a new game
fish, in late August 1871. (Other accounts claim the State stocked the Lake
with bass in 1876 but the 1871 stocking is confirmed).
In time, a
number of different game fish would be stocked in the Lake. Bass were
introduced in the Lake in the same year that the last reported eel were caught
at the Lake for some years. Eel had found their way to the Lake from the
Susquehanna River and Harvey’s Creek. The dams built in the river earlier in
the century to serve the canal system had greatly impeded eel migration to Wyoming Valley, but a few eel still found their way to Harvey’s Creek and the Lake. In 1873
eel weighing 8 to 11 pounds were reported caught in the Lake. But small dams
built on Harvey’s Creek for grist mill operations would finally end regular eel
migration to the Lake.
In June 1876
State Representative Charles A. Miner arranged for the stocking of 5,000
landlocked salmon in the Lake. However, the salmon apparently did not thrive –
and nearly a century later the State Fish Commission would try again. The
principal game fish would remain bass – presumably smallmouth bass at this
time. Later in June 1876 a Wilkes-Barre newspaper reported:
The bass placed in Harvey’s Lake a few years ago, have multiplied
rapidly, and are attaining considerable size.
Yesterday afternoon the guests of the Lake House caught nine of different sizes;
one of them was seventeen inches long and
weighed three and a half pounds. It was caught
on a troll line by N.G. Belding and F. R.
Rhodes, and is the largest, thus far taken
from the lake. It was preserved alive and placed in
the Colonel’s handsome acquarium, in which he
has a splendid collection of bass, pickerel,
trout, perch, etc.
The following entry was made on
the Lake House Register:
Tuesday, June 13, 1870. The Largest bass even taken from the
lake, weighing 3 ½ pounds, was caught this day
on troll line by N.G. Belding and F. R. Rhodes. The Colonel is busily engaged in
putting his house in order, to
accommodate the visitors to this favorite resort this summer.
The Colonel was
former Sheriff James W. Rhodes who purchased the Lake House in 1875. It would
be renamed the Rhodes Hotel. An account by Rhodes notes:
Mr. Rhoads, proprietor of the
Lake Hotel, says: “I have fished in many
waters, but nowhere do I find bass so gamey as in Harvey’s Lake, and what has been my experience seems
to be the experience of every fisherman.”
Most of the bass are caught by
casting and still fishing. The trout found
in the lake are not near as gamey as those found in the
small mountain streams. One old fisherman who has spent
thirty-five ears on the lake says: “No trouble to
‘ketch’ trouth in the ‘ere lake! Why they just wiggle up to
your hook and fasten themselves on. Of course, if ye
wants easy fishin’ trout is yer game; but if ye wants
genuwine sport, then yer must try and hook Harvey’s lake bass.”
Fishing at the
Lake was mostly the preserve of the moneyed class who could afford the expense of
travel and recreation to the distant Lake. And, at the Lake, the lawyers,
judges, and businessman all wanted William “Daddy” Emmons as their fishing
guide. As a July 1880 account noted:
In a shady spot, about a hundred
feet from the Harvey’s Lake Hotel, stands a
small cabin. It is comfortably arranged inside,
and on the outside can be seen poles, lines, nets,
and the varied paraphernalia of fishing. This is
the home of William Emmons, familiarly known as
“Dadd.” He is still hale and hearty, though beginning
to show the effects of years of exposure. He came
from New Jersey thirty six-years ago and settled
at Harvey’s Lake.
For sixty years he has been a
fisherman and we do not believe there is an older one
in the State. He is now 81 years of age, but has lost
non of his love for the sport. In his early life he
fished in the Delaware and for about two years in Chesapeake Bay. For the past thirty six-years he has
fished at Harvey’s Lake and made a fair living. He has
never fished on Sunday – something that few anglers
can truthfully say.
He is happy in his lonely life,
but begins to feel that his days are drawing to an end.
The death of Messrs. Houpt, Hancock and Miner caused
him much sorrow.
An account of a
fishing adventure with Daddy Emmons was written by Caleb Wright, a
lawyer-novelist originally from Wilkes-Barre, but who later moved to Bucks County:
DADDY EMMONS
“I never see the name of this harmless
and gentle spirited man, or hear it
pronounced, but with reverential emotion. Many years have passed
since it was first my pleasure to become associated
with im in the mystic art of capturing fish – an occupation
that everybody knows is, and always has been, with all men,
one of the characteristics of genius.
“The first time I met this
ancient fisherman was at Harvey’s Lake. There he had his
summer cabin, invited to it by the genial warmth that lured
also the osprey and the kingfisher, and the like them
evoting himself to the one occupation.
He had his boat, his bait net,
and all his tools of trade at hand; and with the morning dawn was up
and abroad upon the waters.
“At our first interview I thought
I discovered his merit; and then and there we grew into
bonds of affinity. On the little inland sea I was constrained to
acknowledge his superior sleight of hand, and often wondered where
such matchless skill in capturing pickerel and catfish
could have found growth. But when on the bold steam issuing
from the density of the Sullivan county woods, armed with the
coachman or yellow-sally, my companion laid down his arms at
my feet. The most cautious and alert of untamed things, the
trout, challenges a prowess not thrust promiscuously upon the
sons of men. It is a special gift.
“With every yard square of the
noble sheet of water, largest of Pennsylvania lakes,
Daddy Emmons was familiar. The places where, at different times
of the day, bait shiners could be scooped up with his net, and at
what spots, at different hours, lay the largest of the fish he
sought.
“A man may be good on water
without much knowledge of woodcraft. This was once
demonstrated when the old fisherman undertook to guide George
Lear, of the Bucks county bar, and myself from the north shore
of the lake to Beaver Run. We wished to reach the run at the
foot of the great meadow. It was once a meadow, but of late years
an inextricable confusion of alders, through which the stream
found its way, a mile or so in extent. Instead of reaching it
below the jungle, our conductor brought us in above. Our Bucks
county friend started it first. A short distance brought him to the
alders. We found his track, where he had penetrated the
tangled undergrowth, but that was all.
The future Attorney General of
the Commonwealth was lost. In hunting for him, having wound up
our lines, we got lost too. I don’t know how many hours we
wandered in the dismal slough, chiefly in circles, but Squire
Kocher, hunting his cattle, found and rescued us. Mr. Lear,
getting out upon a log road, followed it to the lake, and a lad of
Judge Barnum’s rowed him across to the hotel.
“There was a pleasing simplicity
and honest candor in This old navigator of the lake
that commended him to the regard of men far above him in
social rank. Judge Paxson of our Supreme Bench, for many years
a summer resident of the celebrated resort, spent his days
in company of Daddy Emmons.
Their communion was a pleasant
thing to behold, and the distinguished jurist, in common with
many others, will ever bear a kindly remembrance of this old
piscatorial veteran, deploring the sad catastrophe that hastened
his descent to the tomb.”
The death of Daddy Emmons in
September 1888 was widely noted:
Almost a Centenarian
Fisherman.
The venerable “Daddy” Emmons, the
famous fisherman of Harvey’s Lake is dead, his demise having occurred at Dallas on Sept. 14, at the
home of a daughter, Mrs. Davis.
A fortnight ago while walking on
the streets of Dallas he was knocked down by a passing team,
sustaining the facture of a hip. At the advanced age of 92
such an injury could not be recovered from and he passed
quickly away. As the Leader says, he went to Harvey’s Lake from New Jersey about thirty-five years ago and ever since has been
a prominent character at that favorite resort. Up to about two
years ago he lived in a hut in a copse of woods on the banks of
the lake, and was looked upon as the ideal fisherman of the
neighborhood. He knew just where the finny tribe was most
numerous, and seldom failed to make a catch when a proper effort was
put forth. He taught many of the prominent men of his day the art
of angling, among his pupils being the late Judge Paxson, of Philadelphia. Since leaving the lake he has resided with his
daughter.
A July 1901
report by Charles J. Randall, a Columbia County newspaper editor, gave tips on
bass fishing at Harvey’s Lake, including insight to Lake fishing guides “Uncle
Sank” and “Dutch Thomas.:”
The outfit – you want a 10 to 12
foot rod weight 10 ½ To 12 ounces: lance wood
preferred but split bamboo will do. The rod should be flexible, but
not so much as a fly rod. Fifty yards of good waterproof braided
line, size “F,” or medium: an 80-yard multiplying click and
drag casting reel, bass size, some Heavy 8-yard leaders, best
quality; some 3-0 and 4-0 Carlisle hooks tied on the best heavy gut,
and some No. 6 box swivels. For bait use minnows; the silver
shiner is best; they should be from two to three inches in
length. Of course, you can get them at the lake if you engage them
ahead, but if you can procure them at your home it is better to take
them with you, then you will be sure of a supply for your first
day’s fishing. Take about a hundred in a minnow bucket. You can keep
them very nicely by carrying with you a pocket bicycle pump
and occasionally pumping some air into the water.
We’ll suppose that you have your
outfit packed and your bucket minnows (and have
previously written to Charles E. Rhoades, Lake House, Shawanese, Luzerne
Co., PA., and engaged accommodations)
and are ready to start. Hunt up “Uncle Sank” and tell him
you want to go fishing. He will know whether “Dutch
Thomas” is seasick or not, and if he is not you are all right, for
between his spells of seasickness the old man is one of the best guides on
the lake. If Thomas is seasick “Uncle Sank” will procure you
another guide, provide you with a boat, give you the necessary
instructions and start you out.
If it’s “Dutch Thomas” don’t give
him over one good drink after you get started, but
promise him a couple after you get back, besides his regular fee. That
one will be enough to start him talking, and between Thomas and the bass,
if they are biting, you will have a circus. He will keep the boat
from 50 to 100 feet from shore, as the depth of the water varies, and
taking your station in the stern of the boat you make your cast. The
minnow is hooked by passing the hook through the mouth, out through
the gills, and then pressing the point of the hook through the side of
the fish until it projects upon the other side.
It takes a little time to catch
the knack of casting, but a fisherman can get an idea of it
from watching some expert, and after a little practice will be
able to make a fairly good break at it. You use from 25 to 60 feet
of line as the occasion requires, and when you hook your first bass the
fun gets fast and furious. Thomas will hustle the boat out into
deep water and you fight with your bass. It’s all kinds of trout
fishing rolled into one, and after you begin to wonder when the blasted
fish is going to quit tearing around and give up, and make up your
mind that if he doesn’t quit pretty soon that you will. Thomas comes
to your rescue with a long-handled landing net and after making
a few remarks about things in general he skillfully lands the
fish in the boat and transfers him to the jive-box. Then he lights his
pipe, which has gone out in the struggle; and makes some more
comments. You sit down in the boat, wipe the perspiration from
your face, forget yourself in your elation and pass the bottle to Thomas,
then take one yourself, and after you get over your
excitement (the old fishermen call it the bass fever) you’re up and at ‘em
again.
And so it goes until you are
tired out or have landed all you want. A dozen bass from
one to three pounds is considered a fair trip, but there
have been catches of over a hundred to two men. This however, is an
unusual catch, but there are plenty of catches on record of
from 20 to 50. The sport may be common to all
lakes where black bass abound, but nowhere are the
conditions so perfect as at Harveys Lake, or nowhere else will you
find such genial surroundings and good accommodations. The editor was one of a party of
fishermen at the lake from June 15 to 18, and though we
can generally make a pretty fair stab at almost every kind of
fishing, casting for bass was a revelation to us.
Ed Swan Boat Rentals at the Inlet basin, 1920s (Photo courtesy of Bill Casterline.)
Almost the
entire history of Sunset to this time was witnessed with bemusement by a unique
Sunset institution, the Oxford educated Ed Swan, who had rented rowboats at the
Inlet for nearly half a century. Swan immigrated to the United States from England as a young man. He was originally associated with W. W. Finch, who had
rented rowboats on the Susquehanna at Wilkes-Barre since 1881.
During the
1880s Swan began a rowboat rental service at the Lake. Originally, his boats
were located on the Lake shore near the Rhoads Hotel, but the Lake waves
damaged his boat line. Swan then relocated his service to the Inlet basin.
Swan’s shack along the Inlet shore was filled with a tumbling collection of
junk, but it was a special place for friends to idle away time and to watch the
seasons turn, until Ed Swan’s time also passed in 1933.
The Nanticoke canal dam which impeded eel migration on the Susquehanna was largely destroyed in
1902 and 1904 floods. A renewed eel population seemingly reappeared at the
Lake (perhaps illegally introduced since a substantial dam along the Lake’s outlet stream would remain a substantial barrier to eel migration). In any event an
August 1939 account notes eels in the Lake:
James J. Murray, local realtor,
long-time summer resident of Harvey’s Lake and perhaps the best known disciple in the Back Mountain territory of
the Coolidge type of worm fishermen, has long contended that
the peculiar species of the eel family that inhabits the waters
of the Valley’s most popular resort is a “walking eel.”
After threshing the waters of the
lake for thirty-five years Realtor Murray is at last in
position to prove his contention – and what is more has a witness in Dr.
P.A. McLaughlin, who is willing to make affidavit to the Murray statement that “walking eels” do live in Harvey’s Lake.
While occupied with his favorite
sport of worn fishing, seated as he always is in a
comfortable easy chair, one evening the early part of the week Mr.
Murray saw his cork disappear. Grabbing his bamboo pole he felt
unusual resistance. But being an expert in landing game fish, a
deft pull at the right second sent skyward a wiggling eel.
On examination it did not look
any different than any of the hundreds of eels that James
has pulled out of the lake. Not wishing to take the trouble to
dress his catch for the morning meal, he called to his little
granddaughter to bring a bucket filled with fresh water. This done, he
deposited the eel in the bucket and placed bucked and eel on his
front porch for the night.What was his surprise the next
morning on reaching the porch to find the eel missing.
He scanned the area and soon detected tracks of the thing to
the ten feet of steps that ascend the way down to the edge of the
water, where his eelship was found dead, with an over-sized frog in
his mouth.
“Ah,ha,” said James to himself.
“My repeated assertions Of ‘walking eels’ in Harvey’s Lake has at last been proved.” Incidentally, it is well to state
that James is a teetotaler.
Copyright 2006-2008 F. Charles Petrillo |
