Fingerling trout stocking schedule 2023

[Mike]

Thought I’d wake up the forum a bit. https://www.fishandboat.com/Fishing/Stocking/Documents/FingerlingTroutStocking2023.pdf

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Mike...When will see Golden Trout fingerlings introduced?

 

[Mike]

Of the list of possible comments, that was not one that I saw coming. I don’t think you’ll ever see that unless one slips into the mix inadvertently.

 

[PennKev]

Would be interested on seeing survival studies done on some of these waters in the way it was done on the LJR. (Or have that data made public if it already exists)

 

[Fish Sticks]

Isn’t bens creek the class A brook trout section that was repeatedly stocked despite some PFBC commissioners demanded it be taken iff the list as per policy?

Good thing brown fingerlings going into the skook with all the AmD work done in it. PFBC and skook county headwaters tag teaming the brook trout in that watershed.

 

[bigjohn358]

Would be interested on seeing survival studies done on some of these waters in the way it was done on the LJR. (Or have that data made public if it already exists)

I see a number of these fish survive every year. I actually fish year round on one of these creeks and I kind of get to watch them grow up. What I don't understand though is that they seem to peak at around 12-13 inches. They seem to not make it past that length. I've never understood that.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I see a number of these fish survive every year. I actually fish year round on one of these creeks and I kind of get to watch them grow up. What I don't understand though is that they seem to peak at around 12-13 inches. They seem to not make it past that length. I've never understood that.

We fish the same place(s) and that's been my observation too. My thought is that rainbows aren't the apex predators that browns are hence why the bows max out at 12". Browns are eating other trout and packing on weight/length while bows eat everything else and become small footballs. I'm sure genetics also play a large part too. Beyond that, I dunno and yield to Mike on that. On BFC, Penns, Kish, the bow fingerlings color up quite nicely and are fun to catch when you find them.

 

[bigjohn358]

We fish the same place(s) and that's been my observation too. My thought is that rainbows aren't the apex predators that browns are hence why the bows max out at 12". Browns are eating other trout and packing on weight/length while bows eat everything else and become small footballs. I'm sure genetics also play a large part too. Beyond that, I dunno and yield to Mike on that. On BFC, Penns, Kish, the bow fingerlings color up quite nicely and are fun to catch when you find them.

You would be hard pressed to find pretty rainbows that actually look like how a rainbow is supposed to look.

 

[Swattie87]

Isn’t bens creek the class A brook trout section that was repeatedly stocked despite some PFBC commissioners demanded it be taken iff the list as per policy?

Good thing brown fingerlings going into the skook with all the AmD work done in it. PFBC and skook county headwaters tag teaming the brook trout in that watershed.

Upper Skuke watershed (all three branches) have already converted to mostly Browns. There’s some pockets of mostly Brookies wayyyyy up on them, but the most appetizing (and open to fishing) water is predominantly Browns.

Same thing is gonna happen to a similar AMD recovering watershed just to the west that is all (or mostly all) Brookies right now over the next 10-20 years. Calling it now.

 

[Fish Sticks]

Upper Skuke watershed (all three branches) have already converted to mostly Browns. There’s some pockets of mostly Brookies wayyyyy up on them, but the most appetizing (and open to fishing) water is predominantly Browns.

Same thing is gonna happen to a similar AMD recovering watershed just to the west that is all (or mostly all) Brookies right now over the next 10-20 years. Calling it now.

Heres the thing about that though….

PFBC & SCH are stocking fingerlings, vibert egg boxes, and adult brown trout in those watwrsheds. So to say that in an AMD watershed that these brown trout have taken over(yes they have) but humans have solved any recruitment issues for that population by the continuous human launched invasion. Those fish do not have to reproduce or survive on their own behavioral or genetic merit. Brown trout decides to spawn with wrong hydrology, who cares, their putting in thousands more next year, survival doesn’t matter at that point. Will some reproduction happen? Sure it will but those fish will have to survive and reproduce during stochastic events that may only happen every couple of years, every decade, or every 100 years.

We have seen several streams where stocking is stopped and brown trout persist to a degree but brook trout rebound greatly.

To answer your prediction Swatty your probably right in both cases(With the stocking factored in). Its actually very likely that those brook trout populations would be much more stable over time without the tremendous multi party stocking issue on that stream.

This is backed up by more than anecdotal cases of rebounds after release from competition from invasive stocked trout. fisheries science out of new york that was featured in a Ben Moyer PA outdoor news article has shown that wild brown trout alone does not account for brook trout reductions in the face of stocking and that this repeated stocking of invasive brown trout likely has the ability to cause extirpation exponentially much much faster. Link below to article on EBTJV SCIENCE AND DATA page.

Broad-Scale Patterns of Brook Trout Responses to Introduced Brown Trout in New York — EBTJV

Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis and Brown Trout Salmo trutta are valuable sport fish that coexist in many parts of the world due to stocking introductions. Causes for the decline of Brook Trout within their native range are not clear but include competition with Brown Trout, habitat...

easternbrooktrout.org

 

[troutbert]

The section of Bald Eagle Creek from Spring Creek down to the lake is a Class A section that is stocked with adult trout. Stocking fingerlings there is probably mostly "feeding the fish." The wild browns in there will eat them.

 

[Fish Sticks]

The section of Bald Eagle Creek from Spring Creek down to the lake is a Class A section that is stocked with adult trout. Stocking fingerlings there is probably mostly "feeding the fish." The wild browns in there will eat them.

Yea stocking fingerlings over a wild predatory invasive species is not an issue for them its a snack

Imagine Browns gobble up 3” rainbow fingerlings just like they gobble up 3” wild native brook trout

 

[PennKev]

The section of Bald Eagle Creek from Spring Creek down to the lake is a Class A section that is stocked with adult trout. Stocking fingerlings there is probably mostly "feeding the fish." The wild browns in there will eat them.

The same is probably happening on several of the waterways being fingerling stocked. Hence, my interest in actually determining survival. We had fingerlings being stocked into the LJR and virtually none of them made it despite being dumped into a near ideal waterway.... ...which had a large number of wild fish already present but people hesitated to believe it until it was proven.

 

[caddisflyer]

How long is a fingerling?

 

[McSneek]

Don’t know why Penns needs any fingerlings.

Been years but caught plenty of them in the Yough and Stonycreek. Don’t hear much about Stonycreek River these days. Anyone fishing it?

IMO the fingerlings that grow up look very much like wild trout.

 

[Swattie87]

Don’t know why Penns needs any fingerlings.

Been years but caught plenty of them in the Yough and Stonycreek. Don’t hear much about Stonycreek River these days. Anyone fishing it?

IMO the fingerlings that grow up look very much like wild trout.

There’s a YT Channel I watch that fishes Stonycreek River pretty regularly. They don’t name it, but context clues and background shots confirm its identity. They catch an occasional Brown, but they’re mostly catching small Rainbows. I’ve always assumed they were the fingerlings, but I dunno. That water stays pretty cold and they’re catching a lot of them.

Many of the streams on that list don’t need them, and probably shouldn’t be getting them. IMO the Yough is a perfect example of where this type of management is appropriate. Lower Tully would be another. Places where you have relatively cold water for most of Summer, where stockies traditionally hold over pretty well, but for whatever reason there is little to no consistent natural reproduction. This is where finglerlings make sense…less costly to raise in hatcheries and getting them in the water as youngsters produces a more “wild” appearing and acting fish than does stocking them as adults.

Many on that list are Class A’s. Many more are more than viable wild Trout fisheries on their own.

 

[Mike]

The same is probably happening on several of the waterways being fingerling stocked. Hence, my interest in actually determining survival. We had fingerlings being stocked into the LJR and virtually none of them made it despite being dumped into a near ideal waterway.... ...which had a large number of wild fish already present but people hesitated to believe it until it was proven.

When I surveyed the Ltl Juniata the first time in about 1977, the river had nowhere near the density of wild BT that it has today. It was on an early stage path to recovery. Fish from fingerling stockings (Fin-clipped before stocking) contributed nicely to the electrofishing catch below Spruce Ck and survival had been acceptable to decision makers. As I recall the fingerling stocked fish made up an impressive portion of the population, given what I later learned to be frequently poor survival of fingerlings in what I would characterize as most flowing waters. Farther upstream though, I don’t recall finding much if any evidence of stocked fingerling survival, but it’s possible that none was stocked up there. Obviously, or so it would seem, and generally speaking, once (or if ) a wild trout population of a given species reaches a desirable density such that fingerling stockings are no longer needed to maintain a desirable size population/fishery, the stockings should be discontinued, but with follow-up to determine if the population has back-slid. In my view, fingerling stockings were initially beneficial in the Ltl J.

The above is what is done in warmwater fisheries, lakes for example. Fingerlings are used to establish reproducing populations. For some species fingerling or yearling stockings continue until reproduction is adequate to support a desirable size population. If reproduction and survival are inadequate or not occurring at all, and the species in question is one that may be maintenance or supplementally stocked each year or every other year, fingerling or yearling stockings continue on a regular schedule, assuming in this example that the fish are available and that the maintenance or supplemental stocked fish are surviving in adequate numbers to adult size (and eventually providing a fishery).

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Thought I’d wake up the forum a bit. https://www.fishandboat.com/Fishing/Stocking/Documents/FingerlingTroutStocking2023.pdf

Mike...A more serious question for you...Have you heard or have any idea how successful the fingerling stockings are on Laurel Creek Reservoir in Mifflin County? I live a few minutes from there and rarely see anyone fishing it. I know it is difficult to fish from shore because of the steep drop-off and no boating of any kind or wading is allowed. The place seems underutilized and I imagine the PFBC is operating under some positive assumption to continue stocking there.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

The section of Bald Eagle Creek from Spring Creek down to the lake is a Class A section that is stocked with adult trout. Stocking fingerlings there is probably mostly "feeding the fish." The wild browns in there will eat them.

I had a similar thought about fingerling stocking below Kinzua. Those little guys have to run a gauntlet of musky, pike, walleye, smallmouth, and adult trout. Yikes!

On the other hand, it could inform fly tying for that section. 😁

 

[Mike]

Mike...A more serious question for you...Have you heard or have any idea how successful the fingerling stockings are on Laurel Creek Reservoir in Mifflin County? I live a few minutes from there and rarely see anyone fishing it. I know it is difficult to fish from shore because of the steep drop-off and no boating of any kind or wading is allowed. The place seems underutilized and I imagine the PFBC is operating under some positive assumption to continue stocking there.

No, I believe it was evaluated by a former AFM roughly 15 yrs ago, but I never inquired about the results. I don’t know if it has been surveyed since then, but you could contact the Area 7 AFM for an update. In the 1970’s, however, I know that it was supporting some very nice size BT, some consuming frogs, but they (the BT) were somewhat thin.