Like waking up on the morning of a fishing trip and finding the water conditions have changed, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, Trout Unlimited and to some extent anglers at large are waking up to new conditions that are limiting their access to the water.

For years, real estate developers, private clubs and frustrated landowners have posted streamside properties. But it's been only a short time since the Commission and the Pennsylvania branch of the nationwide, cold-water advocacy group Trout Unlimited have convened committees to investigate the problem and work on solutions.

As anglers gear up for the traditional opening day of trout season Saturday, it's hard to tell whether they've lost or gained ground since last year. On the plus side, the Commission has acquired new properties in steelhead country, and the commercial fishing empire of the exclusive Spring Ridge Club has lost its court fight to keep nonmembers off 1.3 miles of the Little Juniata River. The club is appealing.

But across the commonwealth, no one knows how many streamside farms and back lots, where anglers were once welcomed, have fallen in the past year to developers. How many streamside landowners have picked up the last Styrofoam bait cup, snelled-hook packet and bird's nest of monofilament line from their backyards and said, "Enough"?

The Fish and Boat Commission recently reported that:

83 percent of stocked trout waters run through private property.

70 percent of waters containing wild trout are on privately held land.

59 percent of Class A wild trout waters are on private property.

"Access is becoming more of a focus for us," said Fish and Boat Commission spokesman Dan Tredinnick. "Historically, we've always considered these things on a case-by-case basis. But it's not just a local issue. As a general trend, we seem to be losing to the privatization or commercialization of land."

Since last year, the commission has used its Lake Erie Access Improvement Program in six land purchases totalling 67.4 acres and 12,120 linear feet of stream frontage. Some $555,000 from angler's Erie stamps was used to leverage $1.7 million from other sources. At the commission's quarterly meeting April 15-17, proposals will be made to acquire easements on two Erie area properties: 2,350 feet along Crooked Creek in Springfield Township, and a parcel along Walnut Creek about 1/3 mile south of the Walnut Creek Marina. Unlike purchases and leases, public access easements are permanently attached to the property.

As the access issue has heated up, some of the 12,000 members from 54 Pennsylvania chapters of Trout Unlimited have questioned the absence of a proactive policy on the matter.

"That's a fair question," said state council vice-president Ed Bellis. "Speaking mainly from a Pennsylvania perspective ... most of our leadership at the state council level comes from areas that have good access to fishing, and I think we're late getting involved."

Trout Unlimited recently formed a committee that will spend the next year conducting a poll to gauge member's concerns. State council president Ken Undercoffer said the group has been informally asked by the Fish Commission to look for properties ripe for acquisition and report back to the state.

In some places, the effort will be too little too late. As dropping water temperatures catch the attention of spring steelhead, anglers will be able to watch from the Route 5 bridge over Twentymile Creek as members of the private Spring Ridge Club, on leased property, catch and release fish that were stocked in a program funded by anglers' purchase of Erie stamps.

"It's easy to see why people would be upset with the commercialization of public resources," Tredinnick said.

Spring Ridge Club owner Donny Beaver points the blame back at the Fish Commission for its decision to stock, "knowing the stream was nonnavigable and the fish were going to migrate through every private property of the stream, ... knowing full well [the landowner] can control who wades and fishes there? Shame on them, not shame on me."

Beaver's high profile makes his the public face of the privatization issue. But the commercialization of Pennsylvania trout streams began with the first private fishing club more than 100 years ago. Spring Ridge is the most exclusive and vocal, but many clubs keep a lower profile.

"[Beaver] is missing the point," said trout and steelhead guide John Nagy. "He's trying to exclude the public. The Fish Commission is trying to work with the landowners. We should be doing everything we can to make the tribs open to the public. If we can't, we should cut back on the stocking program. Why should Donny Beaver benefit?"

In central Pennsylvania, a few miles upstream from Beaver's holdings along Spruce Creek and the Little Juniata, Spruce Creek Fly Co. owner Eric Stroup says the absence of public oversight on commercialized waters leads to overstocking and what he terms the "pollution" of in-stream feeding. Beaver says the trout in his waters grow large because of his club's catch-and-release policy, but his neighbor Stroup argues that while boosting the angling quality on private portions of streams, property owners and private clubs, including the Spring Ridge Club and the Spruce Creek Rod & Gun Club, are damaging their own waters and spreading the contamination downstream.

"After they stock, they feed them every day," Stroup said. "Fish pellets. Those fish will get as big as you want them. The problem is, protein from the feed is horrible for the steam. All the feed is really bad for bug life, too, [and] the effluent from an unnaturally large number of very large fish is 10 times what it should be. It's not only in their sections of the stream, it washes down. It's a bad thing."

While the Fish Commission, Trout Unlimited and others search for ways to slow commercialization and keep fishing a public enterprise, anglers can help by doing a few easy things when they get on the water Saturday.

"Before you go onto someone's property, ask permission," said Bellis. "Even if it's not posted, make some connections."

"Don't leave worm cans behind or urinate in somebody's yard," Undercoffer said. "Join a conservancy or TU, and talk about this problem with other fishermen. Let them know we can do something about it."

"Don't litter," said Nagy. "Close a gate behind you. Some people think when you go fishing you have to drink alcohol. These are some of the people who cause some of these problems."

"People think fishing is a right in Pennsylvania," Tredinnick said. "It's a privilege that, more often than not, is granted by a private property owner. Individual acts of angler responsibility go much farther than anything we could ever do as a government organization."