2016: A Tough Year for Trout - Your Thoughts in Retrospect?

[Dave_W]

Much of the discussion here on PAFF in 2016 revolved around the difficult weather conditions. We had drought and hot temps across much of the state. Many of you described your home streams as the lowest you've ever seen 'em. This was particularly pronounced in NCPA. Some streams literally dried up. It was a tough year for trout fishing in PA.

Nevertheless, I'm seeing and hearing about some good fishing reports lately on some of the well known streams, including some that are quite succeptible to warm, dry summers (Tully, Penns, etc.). we know that trout, especially wild trout, can be resilient.

Obviously, it's too soon to say. . .but if you've been out and about this fall and winter, I'm interested in hearing what you're seeing in your neck of the woods. Speaking for myself, I think my local streams weathered it fairly well. Breeches got very low and warm this summer, but there seems to be plenty of fish, both stocked and wild, that held over through the summer. I'm not so sure about local brookie streams as I didn't get out on them much this fall. My guess is, they're fine, but many were reduced to mere trickles. If you're a gemmie fan: how are your streams looking and feeling now?

Of course, the damage from a year like this one can be subtle and hard to discern just from fishing trips, nevertheless, I'm pretty optimistic.

So whaddaya think at this point? How did your local trout streams hold up?

 

[Wild_Trouter]

My two favorite gemmie streams in Centre County both completely dried up. Each stream held quite a few toads up to 12". With no other refuge available at either stream, I think it's safe to say that I won't be back for several years assuming we don't have another Summer like this past one.

On another note, 2016 saw me fish for trout the least in the 36 years I have been doing this on account of the drought. Heat/humidity was downright oppressive for the bulk of the Summer. I left the trout alone and hit the Susky/Juniata for bass a few times. Hopefully 2017 will be a wetter cooler year. Tight Lines

 

[Swattie87]

Dave – I didn’t fish much locally this Fall…or fish much in general this Fall really, but here’s my brief anecdotal take…

Had the one big trip out to NW PA with salmonoid in October where we saw and caught good numbers of fish, although admittedly, that area got more consistent rain throughout the Summer, and PLENTY of rain right before we got there. Had my normal last week of September trip to NC PA. Flows were still very low then. Fish were seen, but few were caught. Got back up to NC PA once for a day in early November, after the drought broke. Was on a small, steep Gemmie stream that day and did relatively well, seems like the fish weathered it well. I only fished locally once, in September after a good rain, and did well on a wild Brown freestoner.

I think generally the fish weather these events better than we think. Flows in most of the state have rebounded well this Fall. Centre/Mifflin/Snyder and Schuylkill up toward the Poconos could still use some good rain though. Certainly there were some casualties, and I know we’ve seen some pics of dry streambeds this year, but I think things largely will be ok. In the areas hit hard, there will be a natural void in the population and higher survival and faster growth rates by the fish that repopulate. It’s a big cycle. On average over the last 10 years, we’ve run pretty good with rain over the Summers. I remember a couple years where I hardly Bass fished over the Summer because the big creeks and rivers were blown out all Summer it seemed! Made for good Trout fishing though. Hopefully 2017 is a more “normal” year as I like the different types of fishing the different seasons and conditions provide.

I didn’t keep exact stats, but I’m certain 2016 was the least I fished in recently memory, at least back to 2010 or so. Part of that was conditions, part of it was work, and part of it was life just being busy. Hopeful to get 2017 off on the right foot with a New Year’s Day outing though…always good to shake the new year skunk as early as you can.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Sometimes you can tell but honestly you can't without electroshocking equipment.

Pre drought:
You come to a pool that holds 3 trout, don't see the 2 semi hiding. Catch the one that is out in the channel, other 2 spook. You caught one fish and move on.

Post drought:
Same pool, 2 fish have died, you catch the one and move on.

Angler thinks creek is normal.


In my case, I fish limestone springs mostly in the winter and early spring. I'm bass fishing or after WW species the rest of the year. I'm fairly certain those springs faired very well given what they are.

 

[troutbert]

There was a severe drought in the summer of 1999 and it caused a noticeable drop in populations on many freestone streams in NC PA.

So I think a similar thing is likely after this drought. That's the bad news.

The good news is that just 4 years after the 1999 drought, in 2003, the freestone wild trout fishing in NC PA was really superb. It recovered pretty quickly with a few good water years.

This year the gauge on Kettle Creek below Cross Fork got down to 6.8 cfs. That is extremely low considering the size of the watershed, and all the miles of Kettle itself and all its many tributaries.

I don't know how 6.8 cfs compares to 1999 and other drought years, but 6.8 cfs is very little water for a stream of that size.

 

[Jessed]

The streams are good for me!

 

[sarce]

Things in my area weren't nearly as bad as NC PA, but conditions were still not fishable for much of the summer and early fall. My favorite streams in VA, MD, and SE PA got very low but I don't know of any that dried up. I continued to fish one high gradient stream even in the low water because the water temperature stayed cold. I was rewarded with a handful of nice browns, plus one freak 25" beast. Another stream had marginal temps every time I tried it, but since it was a new stream to me I just explored with a rod in hand, occasionally moving fish but never hooking them. I plan to go back for those fish in prime spring conditions.

Other than those two streams, I didn't fish for trout much at all this summer and fall. Other species had my attention.

A few days ago I fished a small freestone wild brown stream in SE PA that I am sure got very, very low this summer - trout were in all the usual spots and I ended up having one of my best days on that stream. Other than that I have only fished one time for trout this month, and the fish are so "moody" on that particular stream that my skunking that day was pretty much meaningless. My fishing partner and I observed two very large browns spawning that day, and flows were decent, so I doubt there were many effects on that stream and others in the area.

 

[salmonoid]

Streams that were marginal lost fish. Streams that have good habitat had fish survive, even though there was only water left in the pools. Overall, not healthy for the next few years' fishing, but plenty survived, just like they have been doing for many, many years. Tis but a blip on the trout history of time.

 

[krayfish2]

Poor conditions had me trout fish very little. I didn't make it to Penns, Spring, Little J or any free flowing streams. I believe I strictly fished tailwaters this year. Clark's once, Yough once, Lehigh twice, Tully twice and 6-7 days on the Delaware. Leading into the drought, the fishing was fair to good. When returning in the fall, I was surprised to see as many trout as I did in areas that the water temps reached 76-80 degrees for extended periods this summer. Not only did we find fish, we found some quality fish.

The bulk of the summer was spent chasing bass on the Susky but the extreme low flows hurt the fishing there as well.

The tailwater predictions for 2017 is still up in the air. Some lakes were ok while others like Cannonsville were almost completely drained. For the Delaware system, Cannonsville is crucial as it's the main source for cold water during the summer months. It's only at 32% of capacity currently. Doubt it will fill up which is going to hurt fishing / survival on the Main Stem. Have to see where things stand come April 15th.

 

[troutbert]

As I mentioned in another post, this year the gauge on Kettle Creek below Cross Fork got down to 6.8 cfs.

By what percentage do you all think the drought decreased the wild trout population in the Kettle Creek drainage from that gauge upstream, including all tributaries?

This would be a very rough estimate of course. But what ballpark estimate would you give?

 

[Swattie87]

troutbert wrote:
As I mentioned in another post, this year the gauge on Kettle Creek below Cross Fork got down to 6.8 cfs.

By what percentage do you all think the drought decreased the wild trout population in the Kettle Creek drainage from that gauge upstream, including all tributaries?

This would be a very rough estimate of course. But what ballpark estimate would you give?

Dunno. I ran Kettle's CF gauge back 5 years. In the Summers of 2011 and 2012 it bottomed out under 10 CFS. Not as low as this year and not for as extended of a time admittedly, but still, I remember good fishing upstream of CF and on its tribs in the years that followed.

Speaking of one trib in particular (but probably applicable to other areas) in terms of biomass, the big fish are generally in the deeper, primo habitat. I think those fish are likely still there for the most part. The casualties will have been the decent sized fish in marginal water that didn't move in time. Smaller fish will find it easier to move in low water.

Purely a guess...in terms of biomass...25% lost? On the better tribs, and Kettle upstream of Ole Bull, you probably wouldn't notice from a fishing perspective on any given day.

 

[sarce]

Fished a marginal SE PA stream this afternoon, one of the warmest (in summer) brown trout streams I know of. Tangled with 4 wild browns, landed the biggest at just shy of 12". SE PA streams are probably OK if this one was.

Creek chubs and fallfish seem to have had quite a year...Lol. They were everywhere.

 

[mike_richardson]

One of my favorite streams had really low water for quite a while this year. I didn't fish it all summer. I hit it up on Christmas Eve and Yesterday to see how the trout made out. I typically catch a pile of hold over fish from the previous years stocking.

well I only caught 1 hold over trout and 8 wild browns varying from 4-13" or so. Seem the stockies didn't fare too well, but the wild trout really didn't look to bad. Im guessing that there must have been a decent die off of those stockies in the summer. I don't mind, as that means more food, and less competition for the wild trout. Either that or the stockies weren't hungry.

 

[rrt]

I fear that the trout took a real beating from the drought. The fishing I enjoyed this autumn produced significantly fewer and smaller fish in nearly all the streams that I fished. (Maybe I've significantly declined as a trout fisherman, too.) Also, I know a couple of the trout refuges on one stream were pounded regularly during the drought by both c/r anglers and kill 'em and grill 'em types.

Anyhow, I do not expect to see as many fish during the upcoming season as I usually do, though I hope I am wrong.

I am also hoping the low, warm water did not adversely affect the fly life.

 

[Chaz]

The main concern isn't whether the trout survive, there are refuges within most trout streams, my main concern is the lost of diversity of the gene pool. This impacts the future of trout and the survivability of the various species.
there comes a time that trout could reach a tipping point if the reduced diversity becomes critical and this may not even be in our lifetimes.
The good thing is that trout are in so many streams and we've got documented science that tells us the DNA varies from watershed to watershed very quickly. If may be enough to protect against loss of diversity. I wouldn't bet on it though.

 

[streamerguy]

Fished 3 streams in NW PA over the past two days. Two of them are really dinky creeks, but gave up fish. The one actually fished quite good......brookies were active. Didn't get to see them during the rough part of summer but I'd imagine they got pretty dry.

The third creek is a bit larger, and warm water was probably more of an issue here than low water since it does have bigger holes, but here too the fish seemed to make it just fine. At least the smaller fish(both browns and brookies). Couldn't connect with any bigger fish the two times I visited it this fall, but that doesn't mean they aren't still there.

Also fished a few streams earlier in the fall and they too fished fine. Still a little worried about some of the less-shaded creeks, but overall I think that corner of the state made out ok.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

2016 will go down in my book as the worst year of my trout fishing history. 2017 looks better already. GG

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

My question is this:
Suppose trout populations across the state took a hit.
I guess we should see an uptick of larger fish in a few years due to there being less fish. Right? I mean we are told constantly to harvest our catch and we might see larger fish.

 

[Swattie87]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
My question is this:
Suppose trout populations across the state took a hit.
I guess we should see an uptick of larger fish in a few years due to there being less fish. Right? I mean we are told constantly to harvest our catch and we might see larger fish.

Probably to a degree. But (assuming good flows/temps/conditions in the next couple years) you'll also see faster growth rates and higher survival rates of younger fish filling the void that was left. The stream will rebound to its natural carrying capacity, faster than we'd maybe think in many cases. Trout CAN grow fast in the right conditions.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

The climate in pa is changing.
I totally get what you are saying though, however I expect more droughts in the years subsequent to the 2016 drought.