Better quality fishing?

[TimMurphy]

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…..

Dear td566,

Is your creek a tributary of a larger river that has smallmouth? Many of the local streams around the Susquehanna have actual spawning runs of smallmouth in the Spring. If water conditions remain favorable more than a few of them stick around all year too.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[dryflyguy]

I started fishing the Little J in the mid '80's
And it was pretty good, although I mostly caught fish in the 10 inch range.
Being new to the sport, I was fine with that.
Just happy to find rising fish.

NO catch and release on it then.
You could creel 8 fish at that time.
And I saw people doing it.

Then the limit was cut back to 5 fish per day
And eventually catch and release.

The fishing slowly started to improve - size wise
To the point now, that I really think its the best that it's been in my 40 years fishing it
So yes, regulations can really help a stream IMO

 

[nymphingmaniac]

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

yeah, but those bastardized fall spawners

 

[greywolf]

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?

Th wild brown trout population has definitely improved over the years but the size of the fish has decreased in the past 15 from my experience. I remember and documented catching 17 - 20 inch trout on a fairly regular basis there in the 2007 -2017 time frame, but in the past 7-8 years it has become a rare event for me.

 

[5footfenwick]

Th wild brown trout population has definitely improved over the years but the size of the fish has decreased in the past 15 from my experience. I remember and documented catching 17 - 20 inch trout on a fairly regular basis there in the 2007 -2017 time frame, but in the past 7-8 years it has become a rare event for me.

I seemed to have my best years size wise from 2009-2012. A few 20 inchers were caught. 22 or 23 Being the biggest. They seem to have either disappeared or become uncatchable. Kinda weird to think it could be overpopulated and stunting the population. But I’m not sure what else to blame it on?
~5footfenwick

 

[rustbeltwilds]

One particular stream i fish has gone thru some changes just 3 or 4 years ago lots of 10 to 12 in browns. And lots of 8in and 9in.. now lots of 16in to 17... very few 18in and 19 in.... and lots fewer 8 to 12 inchers..but more 20inchers than ever....also i have noticed LOTS more blue herons...and white poop on the rocks...i really beleive they are having a negative impact on the overall population of trout on this stream

 

[wildtrout2]

One particular stream i fish has gone thru some changes just 3 or 4 years ago lots of 10 to 12 in browns. And lots of 8in and 9in.. now lots of 16in to 17... very few 18in and 19 in.... and lots fewer 8 to 12 inchers..but more 20inchers than ever....also i have noticed LOTS more blue herons...and white poop on the rocks...i really beleive they are having a negative impact on the overall population of trout on this stream

Other than the Herons, it sounds like a great stream, especially with it having more 20"ers than ever!

 

[rustbeltwilds]

Maybe i got better catching the 20 inchers after years and years and countless hours of attempting to target them lol lol. Perhaps they were always there. Lol

 

[5footfenwick]

Maybe i got better catching the 20 inchers after years and years and countless hours of attempting to target them lol lol. Perhaps they were always there. Lol

We definitely get better overtime and it skews our perspective of some streams. We perceive them as changing or improving. But perhaps it’s us that have changed and improved all along.

 

[nd1001]

I remember seeing some PFBC electroshock survey data with sample results from the same stream (wilderness brookie stream) sampled across several different years. In some years there was a high count of 9”+ fish and in other years practically none. Obviously limited data, but there is definitely something to be said for size distributions fluctuating over time with year classes.

I also agree that time spent learning a particular stream is likely to translate to catching more big fish. On my first visit to a particular stream, I approached an obvious “fishy” plunge pool from the inside bank and caught a small trout in the main current seam. On my second visit, I made a similar approach and spooked a larger fish from a logjam at the base of the pool. The next year, I approached from a different route where I could drift a fly to the logjam instead of the main plunge, and I caught a large trout. Every subsequent trip, the same approach has been good for a solid fish or two.

 

[ANF-Hiker]

Most streams I've fished multiple times ebb and flow on the quality and quantity of fish caught. From my (more observational than using any data) view, it seems that if we get a full year of relatively wet weather, the trout size seems to increase. If we have a very dry calendar year, the trout tend to be smaller. For me, 2011 was a great year for fishing, 2012 was not so good, 2013 was decent again, 2018 was good, 2019 not so good, 2022 good.