Holdover Stocked Trout ?

[Canoetripper]

Hatchery raised stocked trout feed on pellets from the surface. They are looking up for their next meal. At least this is how I think they are raised and fed. I've never worked at a trout hatchery.

What happens after they are stocked and can possibly holdover through the winter, and predators like ospreys and eagles notice that they are there and prey on them. Do they figure out the danger above them and acclimate to a sub-surface diet and stay out of harm's way?

I don't know. I am just curious and am interested in other's opinions about what stocked trout figure out what to do to stay alive. Wild trout obviously feast on prolific hatches, but the avian predators obviously observe this as well.

I am just curious about what the board thinks and opines. I know that most trout dine 90% of the time sub-surface, which is why I want to get better at nymph fishing.

 

[Dave_W]

Canoetripper wrote:
Do they figure out the danger above them and acclimate to a sub-surface diet and stay out of harm's way?

Mostly this^

Fresh stocked trout can acclimate pretty fast. I have even seen trout stocked in the morning feeding on hatching insects in the afternoon.

Predators certainly take plenty of fresh stocked trout (especially blue herons) but they seem to know instinctively to seek deeper runs and cover, and to feed on food low in the water column.

 

[fritz]

When helping to float stock hatchery reared trout I’m always kind of amazed that the majority of them run right down to the dark spots.

 

[jifigz]

I think that it is all instinctive. They are used to a place and are raised there their entire lives. They are moved to a brand new area in one day and all of a sudden they need to find refuge, food, etc. I think this is where they insintctually find some place that makes them feel safe, identify food, etc.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear canoetripper,

I am of the opinion that once any creature, other than a human child, survives a trip around the sun on the planet Earth they have things pretty much figured out as to what is required to survive.

I'm not trying to be smart here. Animals and fish can and do find ways to survive. It's instinctual.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[troutbert]

Hatchery trout feed subsurface right away. On a local stream they typically stock the Friday before opening day, and they are caught subsurface the very next day.

Regarding hatchery trout surviving the winter. Not many of them do.

The percentage of trout that are stocked in the spring and that are still in the stream the following spring is very low.

In limestone streams the percentages are higher than in freestone streams because the conditions are more favorable.

 

[PennKev]

For stocked fish, it isn't about figuring out what IS food. it's about figuring out what ISN'T food.

If it's small enough to fit in their mouths, they'll probably try to eat it at some point. How quickly they become conditioned to disregard non-food items varies IMO. On heavily fished streams, like some DHALO projects, the fish can change their habits pretty quickly.

 

[Tigereye]

"For stocked fish, it isn't about figuring out what IS food. it's about figuring out what ISN'T food."

yep, one stocked brownie caught this year was literally puking hemlock needles. Caught it on green caddis larvae.

I unwittingly matched the hatch I guess

 

[Canoetripper]

I should have thought about this a little bit more before posting because I remember when I was a young boy that the trout that I caught with my grandfather were stocked and we kept and cleaned some of them.

My grandfather would open the stomach and show me what the trout had been feeding on in the stream before we caught them and that diet was what I recognize today as nymphs. When I was a young boy I really had no idea what I was looking at.

I observed the same thing on canoe trips where I caught stocked trout that I kept for a grilled dinner and a fried breakfast. Nymphs. Those canoe trips were on the upper Greenbrier River and South Branch of the Potomac Rivers in West Virginia.

 

[RLeep2]

Back in the days when I was fishing bait and killing wild trout (and I killed a pile of them..), I'd say 85%+ of them had crayfish in their stomachs. The other 15% had mostly stick caddis larvae in them. The plump tannish ones.

This was mostly in Crawford, Venango and Warren Counties. Some, but fewer, in Erie County as well.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

My brother-in-law said to match the color of the food they ate at the fishery. What fun is that?

The winter hold over is better than the summer hold over of spring when they stock (This is for PennyPack Creek). I have heard of people catching trout in July - but have never seen anyone nor myself at PennyPack Creek. During fall/winter time there are less people fishing. Somedays I am the only person I see out there with a fishing rod in hand.

 

[JasonC]

Pennypack, I can testify to that. I have even myself caught a trout or two in early August in Pennypack, closer to Lorimer Park than anywhere else. Pennypack sucks for like two weeks after opening day then it’s wide open to fish with being the only person out there, if you don’t mind people throwing sticks into the creek while their dogs fetch them and basically ruin the hole you were targeting.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

JasonC,
I would rather have that, then parents teaching their children to dump plastics/aluminum and what ever products into the creek.

 

[Swattie87]

JasonC wrote:
if you don’t mind people throwing sticks into the creek while their dogs fetch them and basically ruin the hole you were targeting.

You probably ruined their play time with their dog at their favorite spot. Call it square.

 

[Solitariolupo]

Canoetripper wrote:


What happens after they are stocked and can possibly holdover through the winter, and predators like ospreys and eagles notice that they are there and prey on them. Do they figure out the danger above them and acclimate to a sub-surface diet and stay out of harm's way?

.

As for what they eat they’ll figure it out. Even a movement of a small crab will get them interested. But going to predators yes birds get them. Just not birds and stuff from the sky they got to worry about musky and pike love them. I’m sure even catfish get a couple. But that’s all the places where they stock the two together. But for smaller creeks I see mostly birds get them. The ones that they can catch. The couple that get away should get smarter and bigger.

 

[JasonC]

Swattie, this is true! I actually don't mind as I'm a huge dog lover as well. And who's to say that I didn't spook the fish before the dog jumped in anyway!

Pennypack, I agree. Unfortunately, I still step on, over, and around golf balls, aluminum cans, old bikes and shopping carts when fishing the creek.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Somethings I can just pick up and other items I look at and know that it would take a long time to dig out. Those items I pass by.

 

[JasonC]

Pennypack, when I find trash on the ground, I will pick it up and carry it until I can throw it away. I was talking about encountering all those items IN the actual creek! Although, when you think about, a shopping cart would be a pretty nice piece of cover for a predatory fish right?

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Jason:
I have been attaching a plastic bag to my vest and empty it once it is full of creek items (mainly cans/bottles/plastics). A lot of the items are close to shore or right on shore within hand reach.