redietz
Well-known member
They only stock from Loch Raven up to 1.6 miles below Corbett Road. Above that, it's never stocked.
TheBluegillMaster
Member
Yeah I know, fished phoenix, sparks and glenco.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
Hey TheBlugillMast:
Did you get an email from DNR like the one Reditz mentioned...?
P.S. - I won't turn you if if you don't have a trout stamp...
Did you get an email from DNR like the one Reditz mentioned...?
P.S. - I won't turn you if if you don't have a trout stamp...
TheBluegillMaster
Member
Nah, I’m under 16, I’m gonna get it next year.
TheBluegillMaster
Member
My dad has the stamp, but he doesn’t really fish he just takes me there. I think he removed the email or something. I just check the website for now.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
EXCLUDING your father, do you know any old farts who have a trout stamp that you could ask about the email?
TheBluegillMaster
Member
Sadly no lol. I’m basically the only one in my family who fished and my friends are just basic suburban kids lol (no offense to them) so they don’t fish either.
Bamboozle
Well-known member
It must suck being young, eh?
If nothing else I'd call DNR tomorrow and ask them who you could talk to about stockings and ask that person if YOU could be added to their email stocking notification list.
It's worth a shot...
Good luck!!
If nothing else I'd call DNR tomorrow and ask them who you could talk to about stockings and ask that person if YOU could be added to their email stocking notification list.
It's worth a shot...
Good luck!!
TheBluegillMaster
Member
Haha, don’t really have things to do besides school so that’s good. What does suck is that I can only fish once a week and for 2 hours at best, but hey that’s better than nothing. Thanks for the help man, really appreciate it. I don’t really want to spend 30 miles for no fish lol. That’s why I mostly fish for wild trout these days.
redietz
Well-known member
Alternatively, if you use Facebook, there's groups called "Fly Fishing in Maryland with Old Green Hat." The stockings are usually posted there every day.
jifigz
Well-known member
Trout, even hatchery reared fish, can be very stealthy and blend in to waters much better than anglers think. Just because you didn't catch and/or see any means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
silverfox
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2006
- Messages
- 1,928
Here's their trout stocking page which is the same info sent in the emails: https://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/pages/trout/stocking.aspx
Here's the stocking map (with stocking locations as blue stream lines): https://maryland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fbad23ec650742d0bf5eb229b1fef5b8
I know near me, when they stock, they seem to spread the fish out pretty well, and 500 trout isn't a lot of trout in some places. My nearest stocked stream in MD gets 500 at a time and they spread out pretty quickly. Usually, you can see the bananas and there will be a dozen or so with them. Maybe they just stocked a different section of the stream from where you were fishing?
Here's the stocking map (with stocking locations as blue stream lines): https://maryland.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fbad23ec650742d0bf5eb229b1fef5b8
I know near me, when they stock, they seem to spread the fish out pretty well, and 500 trout isn't a lot of trout in some places. My nearest stocked stream in MD gets 500 at a time and they spread out pretty quickly. Usually, you can see the bananas and there will be a dozen or so with them. Maybe they just stocked a different section of the stream from where you were fishing?
Tigereye
Well-known member
Sometimes stockings are cancelled or postponed due to various factors.
Truck breaks down, weather, stream access, personnel, and a host of other issues
Truck breaks down, weather, stream access, personnel, and a host of other issues
J
JeffK
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 1,300
I stock in NJ and I have often gotten complaints about that state didn't stock and "my brother-in-law said they skipped the stream" etc, etc, etc places that I personally dumped trout in. Some days they move, some days they don't bite right away (more common in cold water), and sometimes the fishermen aren't fishing where the fish are. (I did an internship in 2015 where I did stream surveys for a year so got a good idea of fishing success). For example, one spot near me has a giant pool below a bridge where the fish hang out at the edge of a gravel bar below the bridge. After one storm the gravel bar moved about 30' downstream. People still fish where the lip of the bar was which is now 6" deep. When I tell them to move down a little they always say I don't know what I'm talking about and that the problem is the state didn't stock.
The counts may be a touch off - numbers of fish dumped into a spot are just estimates. But I rarely see spots missed unless something is wrong which is usually major like a bridge is under construction or something where the truck can't get to a place. However, once so many cars were at a pull-off that the stocking truck couldn't safely pull over. We skipped that spot and people were pissed.
Rarely is too low, too high or too low a cause to delay stocking. A hatchery is a factory where the current stock has to be sent out to make way for the next batch. They have to get rid of fish on schedule.
The counts may be a touch off - numbers of fish dumped into a spot are just estimates. But I rarely see spots missed unless something is wrong which is usually major like a bridge is under construction or something where the truck can't get to a place. However, once so many cars were at a pull-off that the stocking truck couldn't safely pull over. We skipped that spot and people were pissed.
Rarely is too low, too high or too low a cause to delay stocking. A hatchery is a factory where the current stock has to be sent out to make way for the next batch. They have to get rid of fish on schedule.
redietz
Well-known member
Except that they don't add to that page in those cases. It's a history page, not a schedule.
S
sandflyx
Well-known member
its winter and water is very cold if not frozen. trout will shut down when it gets to cold (water temp)
pcray1231
Well-known member
I've had it happen both that they didn't stock, that they did and I had no luck, etc.
Last winter I was fishing the Quittie, not among my favorites but kinda in my backyard, it's just an easy place to waste an hour. There were a handful of very visible fish left from the fall stocking in the special reg stretch, they were abused and we all kinda knew them almost by name, lol. But the Feb stocking was published, so I went the week after. And.. Those same fish were there, no new ones. A bunch of guys there saying the same thing. They lied, they must not have stocked, I drove all the way out here for this, etc. Mumbled cuss words.
I went back home, and the PFBC had put out a notice saying the stocking was rescheduled, but you kinda had to dig for it. 2 weeks later they did put em in. But that one trip, yeah, went expecting stocked fish based on the published schedule and it didn't happen.
Another time on Tionesta Creek. This is big water, fish move. Typically. My dad helped them stock, err, tried to. This was a low water year, with no high water events between the stocking and opening day. And in a 4 mile section, when there used to be 4 or 5 stops and stocking points, they made none. Lots of help like always, plenty of guys ready to carry buckets. But the driver said he was in a hurry, they had to have all of the fish stocked in ___ amount of time, and they didn't have the time to make all those stops. So he stopped on the bridge at the top of the 4 mile section, extended the boom, and fish cannoned them all in right there. Took a pictures with some politician, put it on facebook saying what a great job they were doing stocking all those fish for the public. That stretch has a bunch of famous holes all through it, with people lined up on opening day. Few weeks later on opening day, nobody caught a thing. At the bridge hole at the top though it looked like a hatchery raceway and it was a complete zoo. Technically, they DID stock the section they said, with the published number of fish, they just put em all in 1 spot, and with the low water, the fish didn't really move. Probably a higher % of the stocked fish than normal were caught and kept, which is a metric of "success" for the PFBC. But lots of people spread out caught nothing and the only ones catching fish were fighting the zoo scene at the one spot. NOT what I want to teach my kids that fishing is like.
Another time on Oil Creek. It was like June. It was weeks after the last scheduled in season stocking. I was over a mile from the nearest road access, but there's a bike trail that the stocking truck drives, so it's nice to find stocked areas away from easy access. I was fishing, doing okish, as expected, and I heard a vehicle. What the??? Stocking truck arrives. Nice driver said hey there buddy, we had some fish leftover and gotta get rid of them, so we're stocking. You want some fish? Uh, ok... I'm over a mile in, no roads, no people in sight, and there's a fish cannon shooting fish at me. I think I caught 60 and only quit because my arms were sore. But it felt kinda cheap, lol.
I remember that one, it was similar to above. Where we parked and usually had fish according to the locals, didn't that day. I recognized it for what it was and took off walking, exploring, it was my first time on that stream, and if I wasn't gonna catch fish I was going to learn a new place, you know? I found an obvious access/stocking hole downstream a mile or two, I was the only one to go that far. There was 1 hole with a bunch of fish, and a couple guys had em surrounded, and were catching them. I didn't push in, I kept on going further down, a few holes further and there was an open hole, where I caught my one ugly bow that apparantly had made its way down from the stocking point. They did stock. Just not very well or where our jam crew of locals expected them to.
Stocking points aren't consistent. And sometimes conditions are such that fish move and spread out, that's a good thing (if fishing for the stocked fish). Sometimes they stay right there where they were stocked, and you have 1 hole with a bunch of fish and a lot of water with few or none. If you went to a place last year that had fish, and you go this year expecting the same, it's very possible to be dissapointed.
Last winter I was fishing the Quittie, not among my favorites but kinda in my backyard, it's just an easy place to waste an hour. There were a handful of very visible fish left from the fall stocking in the special reg stretch, they were abused and we all kinda knew them almost by name, lol. But the Feb stocking was published, so I went the week after. And.. Those same fish were there, no new ones. A bunch of guys there saying the same thing. They lied, they must not have stocked, I drove all the way out here for this, etc. Mumbled cuss words.
I went back home, and the PFBC had put out a notice saying the stocking was rescheduled, but you kinda had to dig for it. 2 weeks later they did put em in. But that one trip, yeah, went expecting stocked fish based on the published schedule and it didn't happen.
Another time on Tionesta Creek. This is big water, fish move. Typically. My dad helped them stock, err, tried to. This was a low water year, with no high water events between the stocking and opening day. And in a 4 mile section, when there used to be 4 or 5 stops and stocking points, they made none. Lots of help like always, plenty of guys ready to carry buckets. But the driver said he was in a hurry, they had to have all of the fish stocked in ___ amount of time, and they didn't have the time to make all those stops. So he stopped on the bridge at the top of the 4 mile section, extended the boom, and fish cannoned them all in right there. Took a pictures with some politician, put it on facebook saying what a great job they were doing stocking all those fish for the public. That stretch has a bunch of famous holes all through it, with people lined up on opening day. Few weeks later on opening day, nobody caught a thing. At the bridge hole at the top though it looked like a hatchery raceway and it was a complete zoo. Technically, they DID stock the section they said, with the published number of fish, they just put em all in 1 spot, and with the low water, the fish didn't really move. Probably a higher % of the stocked fish than normal were caught and kept, which is a metric of "success" for the PFBC. But lots of people spread out caught nothing and the only ones catching fish were fighting the zoo scene at the one spot. NOT what I want to teach my kids that fishing is like.
Another time on Oil Creek. It was like June. It was weeks after the last scheduled in season stocking. I was over a mile from the nearest road access, but there's a bike trail that the stocking truck drives, so it's nice to find stocked areas away from easy access. I was fishing, doing okish, as expected, and I heard a vehicle. What the??? Stocking truck arrives. Nice driver said hey there buddy, we had some fish leftover and gotta get rid of them, so we're stocking. You want some fish? Uh, ok... I'm over a mile in, no roads, no people in sight, and there's a fish cannon shooting fish at me. I think I caught 60 and only quit because my arms were sore. But it felt kinda cheap, lol.
I remember that one, it was similar to above. Where we parked and usually had fish according to the locals, didn't that day. I recognized it for what it was and took off walking, exploring, it was my first time on that stream, and if I wasn't gonna catch fish I was going to learn a new place, you know? I found an obvious access/stocking hole downstream a mile or two, I was the only one to go that far. There was 1 hole with a bunch of fish, and a couple guys had em surrounded, and were catching them. I didn't push in, I kept on going further down, a few holes further and there was an open hole, where I caught my one ugly bow that apparantly had made its way down from the stocking point. They did stock. Just not very well or where our jam crew of locals expected them to.
Stocking points aren't consistent. And sometimes conditions are such that fish move and spread out, that's a good thing (if fishing for the stocked fish). Sometimes they stay right there where they were stocked, and you have 1 hole with a bunch of fish and a lot of water with few or none. If you went to a place last year that had fish, and you go this year expecting the same, it's very possible to be dissapointed.
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Swattie87
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 3, 2011
- Messages
- 5,770
Not saying this is what happened in the above scenarios, but the drivers have the fish on a “clock”. I don’t know exactly what it is, but once that clock expires, they get them in the stream ASAFP, regardless of whether they had more stocking points. They just dump them in wherever they are. It has to do with stress and mortality rates from being in the truck. It’s especially harder on the bigger fish. It’s not necessarily the driver/WCO being lazy is what I’m saying.
Have seen this once or twice while helping at camp on Kettle/Little Kettle. The driver says the clock is up and all the remaining fish go in wherever the truck is stopped. Or they drive to the nearest bridge as noted, and dump the remaining fish in.
One year most of Little Kettle didn’t get stocked, as the clock ran out at the first, most upstream stocking point. All the fish went in there. Water was fairly high, so I’m sure some moved down, but normally there was another 3 or 4 stops, at least. And I can attest, the big fish were struggling. There was a load of breeder Brookies in with this mix of fish, and we had to hold them upright in the current to revive them. I’m sure many still didn’t make it. FWIW.
As far as the stocking schedule, stockings get rescheduled all the time due to all kinds of different variables. They all eventually get updated on the website, but yeah, it doesn’t exactly work in real time, and you can go to a stream thinking it was just stocked, but it wasn’t, and the website isn’t updated yet.
Have seen this once or twice while helping at camp on Kettle/Little Kettle. The driver says the clock is up and all the remaining fish go in wherever the truck is stopped. Or they drive to the nearest bridge as noted, and dump the remaining fish in.
One year most of Little Kettle didn’t get stocked, as the clock ran out at the first, most upstream stocking point. All the fish went in there. Water was fairly high, so I’m sure some moved down, but normally there was another 3 or 4 stops, at least. And I can attest, the big fish were struggling. There was a load of breeder Brookies in with this mix of fish, and we had to hold them upright in the current to revive them. I’m sure many still didn’t make it. FWIW.
As far as the stocking schedule, stockings get rescheduled all the time due to all kinds of different variables. They all eventually get updated on the website, but yeah, it doesn’t exactly work in real time, and you can go to a stream thinking it was just stocked, but it wasn’t, and the website isn’t updated yet.
JimKennedy
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2016
- Messages
- 254
When Maryland posts that they stocked, they stocked. They also post when they are delayed during the regular stocking season (March through May), so there’s no reason for them to lie.
Two other issues affect the fishing for early season stockers:
1-Maryland stocks out of Beaver Creek spring (Powell Hatchery), which has a fairly consistent temperature of 55 to 60 degrees. Meanwhile our freestone creeks across Maryland can have water temperatures in the upper 30s to lower 40s this time of year. It’s not an issue for wild trout, but stockers are used to very consistent ideal 50 to 58 temperatures. Drop them in an ice cold creek and they drift to the deepest, slowest hole and wait for a little warmer temperatures.
2-Maryland DNR counts trout by the pound. In the old days, it was something like 9 to 11 ounces per fish and they weighed them as they filled the stocking tanks. On those occasions when they had big fish, the numbers were low. A 2 pound fish might count for three. As a result, the 500 to 1200 fish per stocking could easily be fewer if they are big.
It’s worth keeping in mind most of the folks who work in fisheries are anglers themselves and (to a person from the many I’ve met) decent, honest and moral people. As scientists, they are largely truth focused and evidence oriented.
It’s a trope that govmint is no good. Then again, we are eager to sing the praises of the Marines or the Navy, or the Army, but they are the biggest departments of the govmint that there are.
Bottom line line: stocked trout aren’t always easy to catch.
Two other issues affect the fishing for early season stockers:
1-Maryland stocks out of Beaver Creek spring (Powell Hatchery), which has a fairly consistent temperature of 55 to 60 degrees. Meanwhile our freestone creeks across Maryland can have water temperatures in the upper 30s to lower 40s this time of year. It’s not an issue for wild trout, but stockers are used to very consistent ideal 50 to 58 temperatures. Drop them in an ice cold creek and they drift to the deepest, slowest hole and wait for a little warmer temperatures.
2-Maryland DNR counts trout by the pound. In the old days, it was something like 9 to 11 ounces per fish and they weighed them as they filled the stocking tanks. On those occasions when they had big fish, the numbers were low. A 2 pound fish might count for three. As a result, the 500 to 1200 fish per stocking could easily be fewer if they are big.
It’s worth keeping in mind most of the folks who work in fisheries are anglers themselves and (to a person from the many I’ve met) decent, honest and moral people. As scientists, they are largely truth focused and evidence oriented.
It’s a trope that govmint is no good. Then again, we are eager to sing the praises of the Marines or the Navy, or the Army, but they are the biggest departments of the govmint that there are.
Bottom line line: stocked trout aren’t always easy to catch.
A
a23fish
Active member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2021
- Messages
- 210
I think MD DNR does a good job in stocking. I've met a few of them over the years during stocking efforts, and every one of them has been friendly and focused on doing their job. And it never hurts to tell them so.
While I've heard a few complaints about the number or average size of fish stocked - I too thought the numbers were a fish count vs. a weight count for a long time - I've never heard anyone complain when they hook into one of those "big ones."
While I've heard a few complaints about the number or average size of fish stocked - I too thought the numbers were a fish count vs. a weight count for a long time - I've never heard anyone complain when they hook into one of those "big ones."
