Blown out opening day for trout

Things are just fine in southeastern PA. Flow and color are perfect. Didn't catch anything huge but plenty of chunkers were looking for a meal.

Unnamed 2
 
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Note that some stockings may not have occurred that were scheduled for the end of this week. Advise checking the schedule for rescheduled events as a precaution before you make a drive to one of those streams’ sections.
 
Water levels have receded on the Breeches. They are still bank full but above Boilingsprings the water is off colored and slightly dirty. Some roads still have road closed signs but as of 3Pm on Friday I only saw about 1/2 inch of water running over the road on Petersburg road. The water should fish well for bait fishermen and could be fishable for guys using weighted nymphs. Also never use the USGS gauge for the creek to determine water conditions for your trout fishing. The gauge is on the lowest end of the creek in the Camphill area and does not represent a fare evaluation of the area most of us fly fish. We have two fly shops in the area that can give a proper evaluation of stream conditions and fly hatches.
 
Jordan Ck, Lehigh Co was still over 600 cfs and rolling this morning with velocitiy that would make getting down pretty difficult. Water was still quite off color with visibility of around a foot. Went to near-by Coplay Ck instead, which is much smaller, and where it was moving and a bit high, but the water was clear and 46 deg F. Fish were hitting worms and garden grubs (japanese beetle larvae) well. Haven’t fished pieces of worms in years and had never used garden grubs. It was a lot of fun and took me back to my teens. I’m usually a lure guy on opening day, but when the water is in the low to mid 40’s on opening day I’ve repeatedly learned my stocked trout lessons in the past vs the catches of bait anglers at those temps and flows. Old habits die hard.

Here’s some stocked trout stomach contents. The stream was stocked a month ago. Contents shown include fish eggs…possibly white sucker, larger snail, Corbicula…the invasive Asiatic clam, smaller 2 snails = probable New Zealand mudsnails…known to be in the creek, Chironomids (midge larvae), and skuds (Gammarus sp). You can learn a lot by harvesting some fish occasionally😱 Perish the thought. For example, I had not known about the mudsnails being in the creek and I never knew that fish other than sturgeon ate Asiatic Clams. Try tying that fly🤣

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Near blow out conditions make places like letort much easier...
 
Mike said:
Here’s some stocked trout stomach contents. The stream was stocked a month ago. Contents shown include fish eggs…possibly white sucker, larger snail, Corbicula…the invasive Asiatic clam, smaller 2 snails = probable New Zealand mudsnails…known to be in the creek, Chironomids (midge larvae), and skuds (Gammarus sp). You can learn a lot by harvesting some fish occasionally😱 Perish the thought. For example, I had not known about the mudsnails being in the creek and I never knew that fish other than sturgeon ate Asiatic Clams. Try tying that fly🤣
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Hmmmm...

Conspicuously absent is Power Bait, Power Balls, Velveeta, corn, mealworms, waxworms, garden worms, Gulp Maggots, Uncle Josh Salmon Eggs, balls of Meier's bread, or even a nightcrawler or two...

Seem like those stockers ain't as dumb as we are always led to believe...

Maybe some of that stuff will show up in next week's catches. ;)
 
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I remember fishing for stocked trout a long time ago and cutting them open to find the stockies loaded with cased caddis to the point where their stomachs were bumpy and distended. I recall the fly I was using was a breadcrust pattern which is a good imitation of a cased caddis.
 
afishinado said:
I remember fishing for stocked trout a long time ago and cutting them open to find the stockies loaded with cased caddis to the point where their stomachs were bumpy and distended. I recall the fly I was using was a breadcrust pattern which is a good imitation of a cased caddis.
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Good thing you didn't clean Mike's fish 'cause I'm unaware of any decent fly imitations of an Asiatic Clam. ;)
 
Section of Yellow Breeches I fished today was about unfishable. Especially with a fly rod.

Probably about half the crowd as usual and I did not see a single fish landed. By comparison, last year I netted 13-14 opening morning, this year didn't even have a bump.

Water was probably at least 2 ft above normal, off color enough you could not see the bottom and moving very swiftly.
 
Bamboozle said:
Hmmmm...

Conspicuously absent is Power Bait, Power Balls, Velveeta, corn, mealworms, waxworms, garden worms, Gulp Maggots, Uncle Josh Salmon Eggs, balls of Meier's bread, or even a nightcrawler or two...

Seem like those stockers ain't as dumb as we are always led to believe...

Maybe some of that stuff will show up in next week's catches. ;)
Click to expand...
Mike just didn't catch the right ones.....
 
I went out at 1:00 pm to a small stream I like a lot. I caught 4 wild browns in an hour of fishing a black bugger. Not bad. I've had worse days.
 
Bamboozle said:
Conspicuously absent is Power Bait, Power Balls, Velveeta, corn, mealworms, waxworms, garden worms, Gulp Maggots, Uncle Josh Salmon Eggs, balls of Meier's bread, or even a nightcrawler or two...

;)
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And my all time favorite for trout - garlic baloney (if you're fishing private clubs get the garlic bologna)
 
kbobb said:
And my all time favorite for trout - garlic baloney (if you're fishing private clubs get the garlic bologna)
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Dear kbobb,

You may laugh at this, but cut up hotdogs heavily seasoned with garlic salt make an awesome bait for channel cats. Slice each piece halfway through lengthwise and stick them on a #4 treble hook. Put the hook shank into the bottom of the cut and slide the weiner down onto the barbs and toss it out there!

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
 
TimMurphy said:
Dear kbobb,

You may laugh at this, but cut up hotdogs heavily seasoned with garlic salt make an awesome bait for channel cats. Slice each piece halfway through lengthwise and stick them on a #4 treble hook. Put the hook shank into the bottom of the cut and slide the weiner down onto the barbs and toss it out there!

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
Click to expand...
I have caught my fair share of channel cats on a hot dog. There are better baits, but there are worse baits, too.
 
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