How do you make stocked trout edible?

[Bamboozle]

...I’m fuzzy on this, but somehere I read or heard that you’re not supposed to gut fish streamside unless it’s for immediate consumption, which I think was meant like you’re eating them right then and there streamside. Any legitimacy to that?...

I only know this because I looked it up the other day in my old Summary Booklets for another thread...

You can still field dress fish, but since 1984 you are required to leave the head & tail on for any fish with size limits.

However, since 2007 (I assume after complaints) you are NOT allowed to throw the entrails/guts or any fish parts into any Commonwealth waters or adjacent properties unless you have landowner permission.

So if you want to gut your keepers, you'll be taking the guts home with you OR properly disposing of them in an appropriate receptacle.

Maybe you'll need another freezer pack for the guts... 😉

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

Maybe you'll need another freezer pack for the guts... 😉

If you have a cat, take it fishing with you.

 

[Bamboozle]

If you have a cat, take it fishing with you.

In PA, a cat probably needs a license or permit...

 

[hockeyref]

I like to burry them about 18 inches deep in my vegetable garden then after a couple weeks I'll plant my tomatoes above them...can't beat a tomato and mayo sandwich on Italian bread during those dog days of summer

I’ll sub butter for the mayo but yeah a fresh tomato sandwich sounds good.

 

[wildtrout2]

However, since 2007 (I assume after complaints) you are NOT allowed to throw the entrails/guts or any fish parts into any Commonwealth waters or adjacent properties unless you have landowner permission.

So if you want to gut your keepers, you'll be taking the guts home with you OR properly disposing of them in an appropriate receptacle.

Which, I think is utterly ridiculous.

 

[TimMurphy]

Which, I think is utterly ridiculous.

Dear wildtrout2,

If you are fishing on someone's lawn, I think that is a perfectly reasonable rule.

If you are on SGL's or State Forest just do what I do. I have mounted mink and raccoon paws in my fishing bag. I use them to scratch the ground up and drop the guts right in the middle of the scratchin's.

Problem solved! 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[wildtrout2]

Dear wildtrout2,

If you are fishing on someone's lawn, I think that is a perfectly reasonable rule.

If you are on SGL's or State Forest just do what I do. I have mounted mink and raccoon paws in my fishing bag. I use them to scratch the ground up and drop the guts right in the middle of the scratchin's.

Problem solved! 😉

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

Are there really THAT many people complaining about fish guts on their lawn, that they had to come up with a regulation against it? I'm a tough sell on that. 🙂

 

[troutbert]

Are there really THAT many people complaining about fish guts on their lawn, that they had to come up with a regulation against it? I'm a tough sell on that. 🙂

They probably don't complain. They just put up no trespassing signs.

I'd never put fish guts on someone's lawn. But on a stream running through state forest land, gamelands etc., I throw them back in the brush. Some animal or bird will eat them.

 

[TimMurphy]

They probably don't complain. They just put up no trespassing signs.

I'd never put fish guts on someone's lawn. But on a stream running through state forest land, gamelands etc., I throw them back in the brush. Some animal or bird will eat them.

Dear troutbert,

At least you understood the sarcasm in my previous post. People literally take dumps and whizz in people's yards in plain view while trout fishing and wonder why the properties get posted.

It's really not that hard for most people to be decent people and comply, but there will always be JO's afield. Unfortunately, they seem to be becoming more prevalent too!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Swattie87]

Thanks for clarifying Bamboozle. That’s about what my recollection was. I leave the head and tails on them, so they can be measured, but I want the guts out of them if I’m gonna be transporting them all day.

 

[5footfenwick]

When I was about ten, we would always clean our trout on this one rock in a local stream. And drop the guts off the edge and watch them sink. After a while you could look back down and see a few crayfish getting their fill.

It was nice and deep there with the undercut going way back in under the big flat rock. One year a Big brown took up home here.

We probably gutted about 12 -15 trout here over the course of the year. For that whole year, not a single gut pile made it all the way to the bottom. He would come shooting out and eat the guts as they sank.

That image of that big dark brown trout eating guts like a channel catfish is burned into my memory. My friends and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. It drastically changed the way my friends and I looked at big browns and their diet and the size of food they would eat. This discussion made me think of it.

~5footfenwick

 

[Swattie87]

When I was about ten, we would always clean our trout on this one rock in a local stream. And drop the guts off the edge and watch them sink. After a while you could look back down and see a few crayfish getting their fill.

It was nice and deep there with the undercut going way back in under the big flat rock. One year a Big brown took up home here.

We probably gutted about 12 -15 trout here over the course of the year. For that whole year, not a single gut pile made it all the way to the bottom. He would come shooting out and eat the guts as they sank.

That image of that big dark brown trout eating guts like a channel catfish is burned into my memory. My friends and I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. It drastically changed the way my friends and I looked at big browns and their diet and the size of food they would eat. This discussion made me think of it.

~5footfenwick

One of the coolest posts I’ve read on here in 15 years. That’s a total game changer in terms of how you approach catching a Brown you know is present in a lie like that potentially. And is a 180 from the standard approach I’d take to try and catch that fish.

 

[Swattie87]

Did you guys ever catch him?

Reminds me of a fish I found on Cedar Run (Pine trib one) in a similar lie. I saw him a few times. But never caught him.

 

[wildtrout2]

Dear troutbert,

At least you understood the sarcasm in my previous post. People literally take dumps and whizz in people's yards in plain view while trout fishing and wonder why the properties get posted.

It's really not that hard for most people to be decent people and comply, but there will always be JO's afield. Unfortunately, they seem to be becoming more prevalent too!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

I could actually envision someone fishing a stream that butts up to private property, which is the case with a couple streams not far from me, and leaving fish guts where they'd be visible. Some of these wealthy land owners in my township are on a high horse, so complaining about something like that wouldn't surprise me. It'd be rare though.

I still don't know what would motivate the PFBC to make such a regulation.

As a side note, these same wealthy property owners are the main reason why my local stream no longer gets stocked like it did for a lot of years.

 

[fatoldman]

My Granddad started me fishing younger than I can remember. He died when I was eight. I have 2 of his reels. I generally don't eat a lot of trout. When I realized one year it would be 50 years since I had last fished with Granddad, I put one of his reels on a rod and caught a couple. I cooked it up in some butter with onions, garlic and a little old bay. Maybe it was just thinking of Granddad but I thought it tasted great.

 

[PSUhorty]

I could actually envision someone fishing a stream that butts up to private property, which is the case with a couple streams not far from me, and leaving fish guts where they'd be visible. Some of these wealthy land owners in my township are on a high horse, so complaining about something like that wouldn't surprise me. It'd be rare though.

I still don't know what would motivate the PFBC to make such a regulation.

'High horse'? I don't care what one's financial status is. But, I would totally support anyone complaining about people leaving fish entrails in their lawn. I certainly wouldn't want that on my lawn.

 

[5footfenwick]

Did you guys ever catch him?

So oddly enough we didn’t catch him. Or if anyone from my friend and family group did they didn’t fess up. Perhaps why I still daydream about him. We tried quite a few times. He wouldn’t touch anything with a hook or line attached. He was old and smart. I still regret not night fishing for him. This wasn’t a spot we really fished very often. It was more like a swimming hole and a place to gut trout. I will say that a lot of the lessons I learned helped me. The next year I was definitely using smaller hooks and lighter line and much bigger baits haha.

~5footfenwick

 

[Swattie87]

So oddly enough we didn’t catch him. Or if anyone from my friend and family group did they didn’t fess up. Perhaps why I still daydream about him. We tried quite a few times. He wouldn’t touch anything with a hook or line attached. He was old and smart. I still regret not night fishing for him. This wasn’t a spot we really fished very often. It was more like a swimming hole and a place to gut trout. I will say that a lot of the lessons I learned helped me. The next year I was definitely using smaller hooks and lighter line and much bigger baits haha.

~5footfenwick

That was one of those “rogue” Browns as I call them. They’re fascinating animals.

 

[wildtrout2]

'High horse'? I don't care what one's financial status is. But, I would totally support anyone complaining about people leaving fish entrails in their lawn. I certainly wouldn't want that on my lawn.

See first sentence of post #89.

 

[5footfenwick]

That was one of those “rogue” Browns as I call them. They’re fascinating animals.

They really are. It’s strange, but the ones I see(especially multiple times) but can never catch, stick out vividly in my mind, sometimes more so than the ones I’ve actually caught. A lot of my favorite fishing memories are of individual big fish I never could catch.
~5footfenwick