Assault on Native Brook Trout

[JeffP]

I fished Hammer Creek today with my youngest son. We fished between the mills and only caught a couple chubs. Our friends invited us over for a cookout in the late afternoon. Their house is the one on the Hammer right by the county park entrance. As my middle son and I walked the bank, their was a huge commotion in the water right by our feet. Here two small stockies about 10 inches had viciously attacked something right by our feet and driven it half on the banks in an inch of water. We were sure it was a salamander but it turned out it was a small brookie. You could tell it was badly beat up.
I am constantly amazed at the number of brookies that survive the onslaught of anglers who trample the banks of the Hammer from the pumping station through the county park. In addition we saw numerous largemouth that must have worked their way up from Speedwell. Add stockers to the list and its hard to believe any last. Plus Walnut Run has been so low and silted the last couple years. Timbering in its headwaters has certainly taken its toll. If a stream ever could use a few friends it is this one. I truly believe the Hammer Creek could be something special, but I'm afraid it's soon going to be too late.

 

[HopBack]

Water levels have been really low for at least the last 2 years and habitat is terrible if there is still any at all but somehow there are more wild Bookies and wild brown trout than you would expect. I don't even fish it anymore because it's just not enjoyable for me.

 

[HopBack]

Winter 2015

 

[JeffP]

Beautiful! I caught one about 13 a number of years ago. Anybody fish it 20-30 years ago? I mostly fished Middle Creek. It is a shell of it's former self due to posting, limited stocking, and bad water quality from the lake.

 

[HopBack]

Postings and limited stocking should actually favor wild trout In upper hammer creek but development and stream silting have suppressed the population. It's a situation close to the heart of several members on this forum.

 

[JeffP]

Sorry! I was talking about Middle Creek with the posting and stocking. You are right about some posting has helped Hammer through the years.

 

[salmonoid]

This is something I spent a fair amount of time pondering last week, as I walked many miles of stream, some stocked, some not. What I was thinking about is whether there have been any longitudinal studies that show the seasonal or annual variation in macros, bait fish, yoy and wild or native fish in a stream, after the biomass of salmonids is artificially increased by stocking. Last year, as many know, it was a dry and warm summer, so I was expecting to find far less wild fish as I fished. Instead, I found the exact opposite - wild fish in stretches where I couldn't even sniff a fish a few falls ago, and seemingly more wild fish in other stretches than I caught in the few years I've been fishing the particular stream I was on. Anglers were complaining about the poor stocking in one particular stretch, and it turns out, ironically, that the co-op nursery fish were the ones that did not survive the warm and dry summer. They apparently lost a lot of fish and therefore did minimal stocking in the one stream section I was fishing, and that other anglers were complaining about.

I really wish there was not political or social pressure from anglers to continue stocking over viable wild trout populations. I'm just not sure what evidence would ever convince politicians or anglers that it is overall a bad thing. Perhaps best summed up by the attitude of the one guy I was talking to, who lamented that he only caught two fish in the stretch I was gearing up to fish. "The PFBC keeps labeling sections as supporting wild trout, so they don't have to stock them. Stocked trout don't hurt the wild fish at all". I bested his production by 22 times, catching some of those nonexistent stocked trout out of pocket water and logjams, but the majority were wilds. I only wonder how many more wilds there would have been if their gene pool wasn't constantly being infringed on, or the YOY being eaten..

 

[Swattie87]

salmonoid wrote:
"The PFBC keeps labeling sections as supporting wild trout, so they don't have to stock them. Stocked trout don't hurt the wild fish at all".

Spincaster fishing bait right?

 

[Bopper]

Here is a link to Caleb J. Tzilkowski's PhD thesis, Native Brook Trout and Naturalized Brown Trout Effects on Two PA Headwater Stream Food Chains

https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/1014

 

[salmonoid]

Bopper wrote:
Here is a link to Caleb J. Tzilkowski's PhD thesis, Native Brook Trout and Naturalized Brown Trout Effects on Two PA Headwater Stream Food Chains

https://etda.libraries.psu.edu/files/final_submissions/1014

That's interesting, but not really what I was thinking about. That's a thesis about how wild browns and native brooks coexist. I'm thinking more along the lines of what happens to a stream which has a healthy population of wild fish in it the day after 11,000 fish are introduced to it. The food chain that supports the wild fish is definitely tinkered with. How much? What species of macros or crustaceans are suppressed? How many YOY are consumed? How many not-so-YOY are consumed by the breeders that are stocked? And then what would happen if instead of stocking 11,000 fish over five years, stocking stopped altogether. How would the forage base respond? How would the macros respond? How would the wild fish population respond? The problem with ever being able to do such a study is that there would be such a firestorm from anglers if a stream that is stocked with 11,000 fish (or probably even just a stream with 1000 fish) were removed from the stocking schedule for five years. And, stocked fish are not the only variables affecting stream biology. Rainfall and temperatures are variables as well.

Swattie - the old angler I talked to was fishing salmon eggs. It's unknown if they were from stocked or wild caviar..

 

[Mike]

JeffP,
I was under the impression that the club that used to stock Hammer from roughly Speedwell Forge Rd by the upper end of the lake upstream to the turnpike vicinity no longer does so. What species was or were the stocked predators?

 

[The_Sasquatch]

In the case of HC, I always feel discouraged in April/early May. I confess I have to fight "stereotypes" building up in my mind about "slobs", but it's hard when you can walk along and pick up trash, fishing line, etc. and you just know most of the people fishing there on opening day and the following weeks just DON'T CARE. Period. They don't give a crap.

And then I think about the "Resource First" slogan on my pin, and I struggle to take it seriously when streams like that are used and abused by the put-and-takers, and I realize the put-and-takers have that mentality because that's exactly what is encouraged by the way these streams are managed.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Oh, and Hopback and JeffP, to quote Jurassic Park, "Life finds a way", despite the best efforts to keep that stream from being what it could be. I seem to remember hearing once it's Lancaster County's most popular "ATW" (at the time, now it's what, "stocked trout waters" or something like that). If that's true, I'm convinced that has more to do w/ how it's managed than anything else.

Concerning WR, we need a few good floods to watch that stream clean again. I didn't know about timbering in the head waters, but there is a lot of sandstone which will cause a lot of sand. I have noticed higher up where it splits, at least this Spring, the deep holes are getting deep again. We've had some very good soakers.

 

[JeffP]

It was in the county park where it is stocked. They were rainbows. I'm not sure if that stretch is still stocked but I think it has fresh posted signs. I may have seen 2 people fishing that section in 10 years so I think you are right. I believe a sportsman's club stocks in the park.

 

[mike_richardson]

I dunno one of my favorite streams to fish gets tons of stockies dumped in it. There is also a nice wild brown trout population. This summer the stream got really low. Well I mainly fish in the winter and was amazed that I only caught 1-2 hold overs but caught a pile of really nice sized wild browns. Biggest I have ever caught from that stream in the 5 years or so that I have fished it.

I feel that the stockies parished in the warmer lower water, and the browns got to cash in on all that extra food and less competition.

 

[riverwhy]

Timbering occurred where they put the parking area in on the game lands. Worse than that (and I have mentioned it before on here) is the disgraceful treatment of the mountain hillsides along the road. Tree cutting and herbicide application are causing the mini landslides along there. Penn Dot has done little except throw cobble in the gaps which has only made it worse. How dumb are they? Seems little effort to get vegetation established especially on the south side hills facing north (maybe not enough sunlight).

Also, with the last heavy rain all kinds of mud and water rushing across 322 at the gated entrance to some house back in the woods. I never saw it do that before. A tiny portion of the stream runs under the road right by the guys landscaped area. Ridiculous how he keeps expanding this Suburban like entrance in the middle of the woods. He applies lots of herbicides. The little stream carries mud from something he must be doing upstream plus is eroding into his landscaped area.

Then you have the houses around and including the Kennel that have burned and cut the woods down so they can plant grass along the little stream that feeds the pond.

Everyone always thinks they need to "improve" everything.

I am not sure what is going on nearer the headwaters in Buffalo Springs area? Are there developments up there now? Used to be sheep farms, limestone springs, and a few big trout up there.

 

[Swattie87]

That gated "house" is a mansion. An entire compound really. Check it out on sat maps.

 

[gfig19]

love the posts on the hammer. gives me a good pitcure of opinions. I'm still nailing native land sharks in the usual spots and i'm starting to see the crazy browns also taking my wulffs on the deeper pools. the froggy waters need a good fixing and the trash needs to stop. river rats, pan fish and chubs will eventually make their way to the ol' dam rendering that area completely useless in the summer for fishing. but good above and below as well till you get to the froggy zone.

see you out there, walnut run still amazing.

 

[JeffP]

I have walked Walnut Run a lot the last couple years and have not seen a whole lot. It seems very silted and its headwaters have definitely been messed with. Glad to hear its still ok.

 

[Chaz]

The response of brook trout to droughts is to reproduce more young fish. There should be loads of young brookies in streams this year after several years of drought.