Better quality fishing?

[wildtrout2]

I'm curious to hear if anyone has experienced better quality fishing (size/numbers) on a particular wild trout stream now, than they've experienced in the past? If so, what do you think is responsible for it being better than it used to be?

 

[Swattie87]

Which stream do you wanna talk about Jeff? I’m kidding.

My experiences run the spectrum. Some are way better for all kinds of reasons…floods, cessation of stocking, cleanup of AMD or natural infertility coupled with acid rain deposition. But it’s very case by case. Others have gotten worse. Others (often my favorites) are amazing consistent. Some are still good, but the species mix has noticeably changed.

 

[wildtrout2]

Which stream do you wanna talk about Jeff? I’m kidding.

My experiences run the spectrum. Some are way better for all kinds of reasons…floods, cessation of stocking, cleanup of AMD or natural infertility coupled with acid rain deposition. But it’s very case by case. Others have gotten worse. Others (often my favorites) are amazing consistent. Some are still good, but the species mix has noticeably changed.

None specifically. 😀 Just ones that have gotten better and why you think it/they got better.

 

[Mikey2006]

One of my local brookie streams has been consistently turning up more and bigger fish for the past few months. This isn’t a small improvement, it’s a huge difference from the way it used to fish. It’s my third year fishing this stream, and during the first two years the biggest fish I’d ever caught from it was 8.75 inches. And aside from that fish, none of the other fish ever exceeded 8 inches.

This year, however, it’s a lot different. I’ve landed 6 fish that were 9 inches or longer, the biggest being 9.25 inches. I’ve lost count of the number of 8+ inch fish I’ve caught. It seems like a guarantee right now that if I spend two hours on this stream I will catch several fish near or above 8 inches.

I have no idea what to attribute this too. This stream has always been very productive, almost always yielding high numbers, but never much size. Now I catch just as much fish, sometimes more, and they are all bigger on average. I have no doubt that I’ll soon catch a fish in the 10-11 inch range if I put in the time, that’s how many 9+ inch fish I either spook or hook everytime I fish it.

A little over two years is not a very large sample size, and this could just be a normal change in the population, but either way it’s really cool.

The stream that flows down the other side of the mountain, however, is the exact opposite. I used to catch many 8-9 inch fish there, but recently I can’t even crack the 7 inch mark on a regular basis. The number of fish has greatly declined as well.

Last year a flood came though and washed out nearly every logjam, ruining all of the deep holes and leaving long stretches of unbroken shallow riffles in their place. Both streams were affected and ended up looking a lot different than before in certain areas, but only one of them suffered noticeable effects. The stream seems to be recovering as of the last time I fished it, but it’s still a shadow of what it was 2 years ago.

 

[TroutHunter814]

Interesting topic.
Curious what others have to say.
I can only speak of the wild stream sections that I fish on a consistent basis, and those have degraded ( in my opinion) over the last few seasons.
Many factors could be at play, but overall, they don’t seem to fish as well.
Be it low flow, high temp concerns, fishing pressure, more pollution.?

 

[troutbert]

The wild trout population in Spring Creek appears to have increased. Mike said in another thread that when he fished it in the 1970s they never caught wild trout. Now it has a high wild brown trout population. That is a very big change.

What was suppressing the wild trout population in the past?

 

[dryflyguy]

better sewage treatment?

 

[Millsertime]

I catch more wild browns in the Brodhead now than I did 10 years ago. I'm talking about the stocked sections in town.

 

[Mike]

The wild trout population in Spring Creek appears to have increased. Mike said in another thread that when he fished it in the 1970s they never caught wild trout. Now it has a high wild brown trout population. That is a very big change.

What was suppressing the wild trout population in the past?

To clarify one thing, my comment pertained to the greater Houserville and immediate Lemont areas. The situation could have been different elsewhere given Spring Ck’s length, the opportunity for it to then potentially have a natural recovery zone with improved conditions below it, and with and the input of springs along its length that had the potential to improve things like water quality and seasonal temperatures. On the other hand, based on electrofishing in the mid-1970’s the situation was the same about 3/4 mi upstream from Fishermen’s Paradise. There were a few trout there…very few…but I don’t recall if they were wild or stocked. The population was really poor though, unlike today.

As for Mikey’s example, my interpretation is that he has fished a particular stream for 3 years and in that time it has yielded an abundance of smaller fish. Suddenly he is catching larger fish in greater abundance than in the past. Given the short time period relative to an ST’s full life cycle, in this particular stream the appearance of larger fish over this 3 yr time period (especially since previously the fish were smaller but abundant) could just be a case of a large year class moving through the population and the survivors growing to a larger size during that time period. Implicit in this from the outset is that the stream must also have had habitat suitable for a greater abundance of larger fish.

 

[PennKev]

I'm curious to hear if anyone has experienced better quality fishing (size/numbers) on a particular wild trout stream now, than they've experienced in the past? If so, what do you think is responsible for it being better than it used to be?

I've only experienced perceived changes on a couple streams. All have been more small fish in exchange for fewer larger fish. By larger I mean fish over 14"

The only changes I know of pertain to sewage and waste water discharges.

If that is the key change, then I guess I prefer more poo and bigger fish.

 

[TimMurphy]

The wild trout population in Spring Creek appears to have increased. Mike said in another thread that when he fished it in the 1970s they never caught wild trout. Now it has a high wild brown trout population. That is a very big change.

What was suppressing the wild trout population in the past?

Dear Troutbert,

I'll hazard a guess on this, stocking 10000 trout a year in Spring Creek until the Kepone was discovered in 1983 played a huge role in suppressing the wild trout population. For all of that time it was subject to harvest with an 8 fish limit too. While wild trout may have been few in number certainly some of them were coincidentally harvested.

The next forty plus years of no stocking demonstrates the resiliency of those hatchery trout to establish and maintain the wild population.

Edited to add- I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there have been several substantial floods over the years that have released both rainbow and brook trout into Spring Creek from the Benner Spring Hatchery. I think I've read on here that there are now sections on Spring Creek that seem to produce stream born rainbows based on the size and appearance of the fish being caught. It's not scientific evidence, but a 4-inch rainbow with parr marks being caught after the preceding year featured low water conditions seems to hint at the fish being born in the stream.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[dryflyguy]

You were probably able to keep fish from spring creek, before those chemical spills too

 

[jifigz]

Dear Troutbert,

I'll hazard a guess on this, stocking 10000 trout a year in Spring Creek until the Kepone was discovered in 1983 played a huge role in suppressing the wild trout population. For all of that time it was subject to harvest with an 8 fish limit too. While wild trout may have been few in number certainly some of them were coincidentally harvested.

The next forty plus years of no stocking demonstrates the resiliency of those hatchery trout to establish and maintain the wild population.

Edited to add- I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that there have been several substantial floods over the years that have released both rainbow and brook trout into Spring Creek from the Benner Spring Hatchery. I think I've read on here that there are now sections on Spring Creek that seem to produce stream born rainbows based on the size and appearance of the fish being caught. It's not scientific evidence, but a 4-inch rainbow with parr marks being caught after the preceding year featured low water conditions seems to hint at the fish being born in the stream.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

Rainbow trout 100% spawn in Spring Creek.. There is no doubt about it!

 

[Tabasco-Joe]

I'm curious to hear if anyone has experienced better quality fishing (size/numbers) on a particular wild trout stream now, than they've experienced in the past? If so, what do you think is responsible for it being better than it used to be?

I'm 70 years old so I experienced a lot of streams that didn't support wild trout years ago but now have thriving populations.

I think the water quality in forested areas of the state generally improved. On the flip side many streams in developed areas are now warmer and now either marginal or worse.

 

[Bamboozle]

I've seen up and down cycles in regards to fish quantity & size in every wild trout stream I fish on a regular basis with the majority of those being Class A sections NOT in the wilderness.

I attribute those ups and downs to my own ups and downs and cyclical environmental factors, but at no place that I fish have things got consistently worse versus 10 - 30 years ago.

The lone exceptions being stream sections severely impacted by loss of trees that are subsequently clogged and silted up in many stretches. I'm not referring to Clark's Creek but it is a Clark's-like problem.

However, even at a few of those places, a blowout storm or two has cleared the jambs and things are back to a new & similar normal.

 

[JGR]

Interesting topic.
Curious what others have to say.
I can only speak of the wild stream sections that I fish on a consistent basis, and those have degraded ( in my opinion) over the last few seasons.
Many factors could be at play, but overall, they don’t seem to fish as well.
Be it low flow, high temp concerns, fishing pressure, more pollution.?

I fish small wild trout streams in the Laurel Highlands and have experienced the same thing over about the last 4 years.

I suspect it's due to consistent flooding rains in the spring followed by hot weather and drought later in the year. Fishing pressure is so minimal on the bluelines that I don't believe it has much impact--I've seen 3 others fishing for wild trout in the 34 years I've lived here.

 

[wildtrout2]

As for Mikey’s example, my interpretation is that he has fished a particular stream for 3 years and in that time it has yielded an abundance of smaller fish. Suddenly he is catching larger fish in greater abundance than in the past. Given the short time period relative to an ST’s full life cycle, in this particular stream the appearance of larger fish over this 3 yr time period (especially since previously the fish were smaller but abundant) could just be a case of a large year class moving through the population and the survivors growing to a larger size during that time period. Implicit in this from the outset is that the stream must also have had habitat suitable for a greater abundance of larger fish.

This makes perfect sense. I experienced what I believe to be this same scenario on a pretty well known native stream. For a number of years I caught good numbers of 6"-8" natives, with an occasional 9"-10" fish. Then, a couple years later I started catching some natives in the 9"-11" range, with a couple in even around 12"!
Then, after two years of the bigger fish, it reverted back to the smaller brookies again. Fascinating how trout sizes fluctuate over time on a given stream.

 

[5footfenwick]

They are cyclic. The trick is finding a stream on the upswing. A tiny freestone stream
that I’ve been really fishing and learning for about 20 years finally got good the last two years. Last year that creek gave up a 10-3/4”, a 12”, a 12-1/4”, a 12-1/2” and a 12-3/4” native. Three males, two females. I’m hoping they made it over the winter. I think the good year class means everything. I imagine this stream had an amazing spawn a few years ago. Those high numbers led to a higher than average number of individuals surviving to reach each age class. So you end up with a higher number than usual of old big fish.
~5footfenwick

 

[wildtrout2]

They are cyclic. The trick is finding a stream on the upswing. A tiny freestone stream
that I’ve been really fishing and learning for about 20 years finally got good the last two years. Last year that creek gave up a 10-3/4”, a 12”, a 12-1/4”, a 12-1/2” and a 12-3/4” native. Three males, two females. I’m hoping they made it over the winter. I think the good year class means everything. I imagine this stream had an amazing spawn a few years ago. Those high numbers led to a higher than average number of individuals surviving to reach each age class. So you end up with a higher number than usual of old big fish.
~5footfenwick

Cyclic is the right way to describe it. Isn't it awesome when you catch it during that transitional time, when the bigger natives become prevalent? The two years I mentioned experiencing this, I'll NEVER forget. Nor, will I likely encounter it again in my lifetime.

 

[td566]

I’m wondering if one of my smallmouth streams is experiencing this, as I have experienced noticeably larger fish the last 2 years. That said I fished it last October after it started getting water back into it and couldn’t find a fish. Between last years low water and predators it may be a bust this coming year.

Sorry, back to trout streams talk…..