Do Stocked Trout Move Upstream or Downstream?

[ArtofCory]

I'm sure the answer is "both," but I'd like to tap into the breadth of experience on the forum here and learn what you guys have seen over time - do stocked trout generally head upstream or downstream?

More specifically, I'm heading to Morgan Run (in Maryland) soon and I'd like to take advantage of the few hours I have to fish by heading in the direction of the most potential success. I'd love to hear what everyone's experience has been with stockies.

 

[joebamboo]

The trout in Morgan Run seem to hold in the upper section. Never had much luck below the "Handicap" platform and parking lot.

 

[silverfox]

A PFBC study on stocked trout movement linked below. The document is more about the different species and how/when/why they move, but there is some directional information in there too. The short answer is it seems mostly downstream.

https://switchfisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/trout_movement.pdf

That said, it really depends on a lot of factors. I've found stocked trout WAY up tributaries miles from where they were stocked. I've seen stocked trout hold in cold water inputs in otherwise warmwater streams for months. So sometimes they don't seem to move very much at all.

 

[ArtofCory]

The trout in Morgan Run seem to hold in the upper section. Never had much luck below the "Handicap" platform and parking lot.

That's generally been my experience, too. Lots of good holding spots among all those boulders.

 

[ArtofCory]

A PFBC study on stocked trout movement linked below. The document is more about the different species and how/when/why they move, but there is some directional information in there too. The short answer is it seems mostly downstream.

https://switchfisher.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/trout_movement.pdf

That said, it really depends on a lot of factors. I've found stocked trout WAY up tributaries miles from where they were stocked. I've seen stocked trout hold in cold water inputs in otherwise warmwater streams for months. So sometimes they don't seem to move very much at all.

Very cool. Appreciate the linked study!

 

[JeffK]

In NJ I see stocked rainbows heading downstream and the stocked brookies (when they stocked - dont anymore) going up or down. For years I stocked from a bridge with a dam 100 yds upstream where I also did angler surveys. The brookies ended up in the plunge pool below the dam and the rainbows in the pools below the bridge - more or less. This was also the time NJ stocked some places pre-season with 50/50 brookies and bows to check comparative catch rates and unexpectedly more rainbows were caught.

That said, fish seem to find the best spots so my advice is always forget stocking points and fish the better spots.

 

[troutbert]

Soon after stocking I think they move mostly downstream, as they are disoriented soon after stocking, and high water in the spring carries them downstream.

Later in the season, as waters warm, in many cases they move upstream and into tributaries to find cool water.

 

[bdhoover77]

Regarding Morgan Run specifically, I have been told that many of the stocked rainbows move downstream and eventually end up in Liberty Reservoir. Once there, the resident striped bass are waiting to feast on those stocked rainbows, which explains in part why there are some massive stripers in Liberty Reservoir.

 

[bigjohn358]

They can run anywhere. Certain waterways seem to dictate which way they run but I've seen them way up in non stocked waters and I've seen them way down in waters like the branches of the Susquehanna. Some waters the stocked trout stay right where they get dumped in.

 

[hunter1]

What I see on the Gun powder river, is the stock trout stay down river more towards parkton . I was told the wild trout stay upstream.

 

[Solitariolupo]

Yes they can run up or down. Or no sometimes they stay where they are put. The longer they are their I’m sure they move more but doesn’t mean they go far.
The waters temp, water and oxygen levels, food, more sure will play in.

 

[krayfish2]

Mike had posted something on here a while back that they generally move less than 75 yards from where they're put in. I also think he mentioned that it's more likely that stocked fish move downstream rather than upstream.

I remember one study in New York where they put a radio tracker on a stock fish and a wild fish. Once the water temperature exceeded 62°, the wild fish were on the move seeking out cooler water. Some went up River, someone downriver. The stocked fish stayed in the same spot where it was tagged and perished as the water temperatures reached 80. I wouldn't expect a whole lot out of a stocked fish since they're not built to survive

 

[JimKennedy]

That spot on Morgan run holds trout surprisingly well. It’s harder for them to move upstream than downstream, but that hole is just below a fairly good cascade that puts O2 in the water even in the heat of summer.

The pool itself is deceptive. The bank opposite the wheel chair ramp has not changed since I first fished there in 1978, and the cascade just upstream is remarkably similar today to what it was when I was a kid.

The far bank has holding water for as
Many as a dozen trout, and the pool holds a variety of food: minnows, crayfish, bugs.

It’s a rare month when you can’t at least spook a brown, and it’s a good spot for stocked rainbows from February through mid June and then the fall stocking until the first big wintertime to early spring flood.

The unfortunate thing about Morgan is its wild brown population has long suffered because of an upstream sawmill, which tends to result in runoff that kills trout eggs. Morgan has potential for a better wild brown population, but upstream pulse pollution issues need to be addressed.

If you are fishing Morgan over the autumn and winter, start below the klees mill bridge and fish slowly upstream, paying special attention to the pool at the handicap area. That pool is where most of the trout will be, though a few will move up looking for O2, and a few will move down looking for food, or because bigger trout chased them.

I’ve probably spent too much time fishing that spot.

Meanwhile, trout move after being stocked because:
They are hungry, so they might move up or down
Heavy rain causes a flood and they go with the flow
Wild trout chase them out of prime spots and they move until they find cover or a bird eats them
They are looking for cool water and better O2. Rainbows will go downstream when the days are long because most rainbows are also steelhead. Browns will explore, but the Maryland wild strains are largely not much on moving except during spawning season, and in the first months of their lives.
Stocker browns are a coin flip, except in flood waters, when they go downstream.

Bottom line: if you know your creek, you’ll be able to predict with better than 5050 accuracy where stocked trout go. But that’s a low bar. You are better off fishing for and getting good at catching wild browns. Wild browns hunker down in good cover and focus on chasing other fish away (or eating them) and doing what it takes to get big.

Stocked trout are fun, but wild trout satisfy the soul.

 

[ArtofCory]

That spot on Morgan run holds trout surprisingly well. It’s harder for them to move upstream than downstream, but that hole is just below a fairly good cascade that puts O2 in the water even in the heat of summer.

The pool itself is deceptive. The bank opposite the wheel chair ramp has not changed since I first fished there in 1978, and the cascade just upstream is remarkably similar today to what it was when I was a kid.

The far bank has holding water for as
Many as a dozen trout, and the pool holds a variety of food: minnows, crayfish, bugs.

It’s a rare month when you can’t at least spook a brown, and it’s a good spot for stocked rainbows from February through mid June and then the fall stocking until the first big wintertime to early spring flood.

The unfortunate thing about Morgan is its wild brown population has long suffered because of an upstream sawmill, which tends to result in runoff that kills trout eggs. Morgan has potential for a better wild brown population, but upstream pulse pollution issues need to be addressed.

If you are fishing Morgan over the autumn and winter, start below the klees mill bridge and fish slowly upstream, paying special attention to the pool at the handicap area. That pool is where most of the trout will be, though a few will move up looking for O2, and a few will move down looking for food, or because bigger trout chased them.

I’ve probably spent too much time fishing that spot.

Meanwhile, trout move after being stocked because:
They are hungry, so they might move up or down
Heavy rain causes a flood and they go with the flow
Wild trout chase them out of prime spots and they move until they find cover or a bird eats them
They are looking for cool water and better O2. Rainbows will go downstream when the days are long because most rainbows are also steelhead. Browns will explore, but the Maryland wild strains are largely not much on moving except during spawning season, and in the first months of their lives.
Stocker browns are a coin flip, except in flood waters, when they go downstream.

Bottom line: if you know your creek, you’ll be able to predict with better than 5050 accuracy where stocked trout go. But that’s a low bar. You are better off fishing for and getting good at catching wild browns. Wild browns hunker down in good cover and focus on chasing other fish away (or eating them) and doing what it takes to get big.

Stocked trout are fun, but wild trout satisfy the soul.

Thank you for the great reply. I agree about the wild trout. Definitely a loftier pursuit, but over this past long, hot summer, it was tough to find wild browns around here! That being said, I appreciate the info about Morgan Run. I've fished there quite a few times and know the parts and landmarks you're talking about, so I'll check that out.

 

[gungagalunga]

They move everywhere! In 2016 I was fishing on the lower Brodhead gorge, I caught a rainbow trout with a tin tag on its lip. Turns out it was part of a program from NJ DEP Hook a Winner program (yes, I did receive a certificate with my name on it). The fisheries biologist could not identify the exact creek that it was stocked in New Jersey, but speculated it could have been the Paulins Kill River, Columbia Lake, Pequest River or even the Musconetcong River. Regardless, this stocked fish moved a lot!

 

[greenghost]

It's interesting that the studies found there are many factors that COULD be associated with trout movement and not a single one or two for each water. (Even though there might be) Overall, they were inconclusive, except for the fact that trout DO move around. Aside from temperature, water flow, structure, acidity, and time of year, there might be another factor; the individuality of trout. All living things have individual traits. Some fish may be more prone to "travel." Just like people. A fish that's been couped up in its runway all of its short life, wants to go out and explore the world. I can relate. LOL

 

[krayfish2]

They move everywhere! In 2016 I was fishing on the lower Brodhead gorge, I caught a rainbow trout with a tin tag on its lip. Turns out it was part of a program from NJ DEP Hook a Winner program (yes, I did receive a certificate with my name on it). The fisheries biologist could not identify the exact creek that it was stocked in New Jersey, but speculated it could have been the Paulins Kill River, Columbia Lake, Pequest River or even the Musconetcong River. Regardless, this stocked fish moved a lot!

Sounds like New Jersey might be getting less genetically modified versions of hatchery fish.... unlike the PFBC.
That's pretty impressive movement for a stocker.

 

[Tigereye]

They move everywhere! In 2016 I was fishing on the lower Brodhead gorge, I caught a rainbow trout with a tin tag on its lip. Turns out it was part of a program from NJ DEP Hook a Winner program (yes, I did receive a certificate with my name on it). The fisheries biologist could not identify the exact creek that it was stocked in New Jersey, but speculated it could have been the Paulins Kill River, Columbia Lake, Pequest River or even the Musconetcong River. Regardless, this stocked fish moved a lot!

I have caught palominos in th BH gorge far from nearest stocking point. Similarly I have seen ( didnt catch) them in the Lehigh gorge.

 

[gungagalunga]

Sounds like New Jersey might be getting less genetically modified versions of hatchery fish.... unlike the PFBC.
That's pretty impressive movement for a stocker.

That was in 2016, so maybe. but that's a big maybe and would require extensive investigation into a comparison of brood stock I would imagine. I remember seeing a presentation a few years ago on a study done on tagged wild rainbows on upper D. A single female fish had moved from upper west down through mainstem and then back up the east branch in a single season. Consider that steelhead used to swim freely from Idaho all the way through to Alaska or the Kamchatka peninsula in western Russia. Thousands of miles in travel or thousands of feet in elevation gain to breed and die, that's a tough fish. I read Tucker Malarkey's Stronghold a few years back and its a fascinating dive into the huge habitat range that rainbow trout/steelhead and other salmonids occupy in the pacific. As the great Dr. Ian Malcolm once said "Life finds a way"

 

[krayfish2]

I believe there was a fish tagged around Lordville that swam downriver almost to Narrowsburg looking for springs as the water temperature warmed. That same fish worked it's way up to the FF-ing museum in Livingston Manor some time between October and March. That's absolutely mind boggling distance. Fish had to navigate low water Beaverkill rapids over the winter and would bet the river was iced over. I have mad respect for my rainbows up there.