k-bob wrote:
Dwight said the "small percentage" point on PAFF posts relevance is overstated. ...
My post stated nothing about posters on PAFF.
My post was about the percentage of PA trout fishermen who have fished for and caught wild trout.
The numbers of people who post on paff is low, and the number of people who post on general tackle forums is also low. But neither has any relevance whatever to the topic. And the percentage of anglers who are flyfishers is also not relevant.
It was claimed that very few PA trout fishermen fish for wild trout. I think that is highly exaggerated, for the reasons given.
Many wild trout streams are very popular, with both fly and spin fishermen. And there is a huge mileage of small unstocked streams that are never crowded, but do get fished and the cumulative amount of fishing done on those streams is considerable.
And about half of the streams that are stocked hold wild trout, so people fishing those streams catch both wild and stocked trout.
So, the idea that only a tiny percentage of people in PA catch wild trout, just isn't true.
Many fishermen, both spin fishers and flyfishers, fish for and catch both stocked and wild trout.