How stupid is the PFBC?

Oswayo creek is a unique stream system that would be better left un stocked. It does not need extra stocked trout.
 
They regularly stock fingerlings in the LBE around this time. Did a check and fingerling stockings are underway and the LBE is scheduled for June 27th. What irks me is that according their schedule they plan to stock brown fingerlings instead of rainbows like years past. PFBC a few years ago moved to stocking only bows in the LBE because they surveyed and know there is a reproducing wild brown population. To see brown fingerlings stocked now seem like a step backwards.
Knowing the similarities of the two water ways quite well, I suspect brown fingerling stockings in the LBE will be like what happened in the little J- trout food.


http://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/Stocking/Documents/FingerlingTroutStocking2018.pdf
 
I think this is a tough one. Any stream cold now probably holds wild trout which means I wouldnt like to see them stocked. You could dump them into lake erie where they would probably be muskie bait. I dont know much about cold lakes. Damned if you do damned if you dont.
 
My vote would have been East Branch of the Clarion.
 
The lake at Greenwood Furnace State Park is cold enough to support trout year round. Anyone that doesn't believe me ha snevsr swam there in July. There are many spring seeps which come out of the ground mighty chilly.
 
salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfway_Lake_(Pennsylvania)


Halfway Lake is the main focus of R. B. Winter State Park. The lake is filled by spring-fed mountain streams. It was formed by a man-made sandstone dam. The water temperature is usually approximately 50 degrees F (10 degrees C) due to much of the lake being filled with water from directly underground. There is an artesian spring, Little Bubbler, that comes up through the sand on the west end of the beach at the park.[1]

Not a bad thought but....
Is there a cold lake reasonably close enough to the Oswayo Hatchery for them to utilize?
Click to expand...

Halfway Lake stays cold too. Good point. I don't exactly know where oswayo hatchery is without looking it up, though. I'm obviously assuming up north.
 
Half Way Dam would be a good spot. I know they have stocked Fishing Creek in Clinton County in the past in June July or August even. One year water temps were getting warm at the one hatchery so they brought them down to Fishing Creek. I always HATED this because it brought everyone out of the woodwork again when I finally had the stream to myself.

IF there were a surplus of fish at a hatchery they should have increased the number of fish being stocked during the normal season. If a stream that gets fish from that hatchery gets 1000 fish well give them 1200 instead for their first or second stocking. Get them in the water when they could be utilized better. Don't wait til everything is too late and is pointless! It really looks like poor management!
 
They stocked trout and other salmonids in Raystown, Marburg, and some other big, deep, reservoirs. I think this has been stopped or curtailed, at least on Marburg.

However, big reservoirs like these with "two tier" cold depths would be a place to dump surplus adult or fingerling trout, although doing so in summer might not work for some reasons. Moreover, trout stocked in big waters may not be as quickly "utilized" by the angling public(?). I think PFBC, for understandable reasons, wants their hatchery trout to be harvested quickly and at as high a rate as possible.

Agree with the comment above that the agency is damned if they do and if they don't.
 
Dave_W wrote:
They stocked trout and other salmonids in Raystown, Marburg, and some other big, deep, reservoirs. I think this has been stopped or curtailed, at least on Marburg.

However, big reservoirs like these with "two tier" cold depths would be a place to dump surplus adult or fingerling trout, although doing so in summer might not work for some reasons. Moreover, trout stocked in big waters may not be as quickly "utilized" by the angling public(?). I think PFBC, for understandable reasons, wants their hatchery trout to be harvested quickly and at as high a rate as possible.

Agree with the comment above that the agency is damned if they do and if they don't.
Click to expand...

If that's the case why don't they just let them die in the hatchery and just not let anyone know? Out of sight out of mind. I just don't know why they didn't add a few more fish to each scheduled stocking. Its not like all of a sudden June is here and they realize they have too many fish. They had to know this a while back!
 
Tom,

A couple have been named.

I totally agree they should have been stocked awhile ago.
The question is why not?
They might have a reason they didnt. It's beyond me though.
 
Big Smoke.

Very small fire...:)

I'm sure the propagation people had a reason for what took place.

And even if they didn't, it's still an air sandwich.

My view, anyway.
 
I know one of our streams had it's final inseason cancelled due to high water temps the end of May. Different hatchery, but this might be a potential source of extra fish.
 
As I said earlier, I'd love to hear an official explanation from PAFBC.
Big deep lakes may be cold on the bottom, but surface temps may already be lethal to trout. How do you get the fish in without the warm surface water?

Youghiogheny river would be fine but may have been other logistical problems.

I'm hoping Fishtales chimes in here to clear the air. Afterall, some of us have been pressuring our legislators to support a license increase. I'd hate to look foolish (more foolish than usual) asking for more financial support only to have what, at first blush, looks like a poor use of resources.
 
How about the stocked stretch of Kettle ABOVE Ole Bull? They stock up to the 44 bridge, and that stretch generally stays cool.
 
...and they want a license increase. What a waste of time and money.
 
The_Sasquatch wrote:
How about the stocked stretch of Kettle ABOVE Ole Bull? They stock up to the 44 bridge, and that stretch generally stays cool.
Click to expand...

This is where I would have put them as well. I heard the fish were from Oswayo but someone else reported they saw trucks from Tylersville. Maybe the Potter section was too far of a distance for Tylersville trucks to go on such a hot day. I'd love to hear some kind of explanation. I don't think they can say anything to make themselves look good though.
 
bigjohn58 wrote:
The_Sasquatch wrote:
How about the stocked stretch of Kettle ABOVE Ole Bull? They stock up to the 44 bridge, and that stretch generally stays cool.
Click to expand...

This is where I would have put them as well. I heard the fish were from Oswayo but someone else reported they saw trucks from Tylersville. Maybe the Potter section was too far of a distance for Tylersville trucks to go on such a hot day. I'd love to hear some kind of explanation. I don't think they can say anything to make themselves look good though.
Click to expand...

Today I saw a hatchery truck returning to the Tylersville hatchery. I have no idea where they stocked.
Click to expand...

Tylersville trucks could have been returning from Kettle Creek, but there is no indication they had anything to do with it, other than troutbert posted this comment earlier in the thread.

Do you think they hand count every fingerling they raise? Genetics, conditions, lower mortality rate, canceled stockings, whatever, dictates that the yield on a hatchery year class might fluctuate by a few thousand every year, resulting in a surplus from time to time. Oxygen tank failure on the trunk would also result in the same sort of DOA stocked fish scenario as the videos showed.

Would be nice to hear from the WCO's mouth why the where and when were chosen, instead of from all the armchair WCO's ;-)
 
salmonoid wrote:
bigjohn58 wrote:
The_Sasquatch wrote:
How about the stocked stretch of Kettle ABOVE Ole Bull? They stock up to the 44 bridge, and that stretch generally stays cool.
Click to expand...

This is where I would have put them as well. I heard the fish were from Oswayo but someone else reported they saw trucks from Tylersville. Maybe the Potter section was too far of a distance for Tylersville trucks to go on such a hot day. I'd love to hear some kind of explanation. I don't think they can say anything to make themselves look good though.
Click to expand...

Today I saw a hatchery truck returning to the Tylersville hatchery. I have no idea where they stocked.
Click to expand...

Tylersville trucks could have been returning from Kettle Creek, but there is no indication they had anything to do with it, other than troutbert posted this comment earlier in the thread.

Do you think they hand count every fingerling they raise? Genetics, conditions, lower mortality rate, canceled stockings, whatever, dictates that the yield on a hatchery year class might fluctuate by a few thousand every year, resulting in a surplus from time to time. Oxygen tank failure on the trunk would also result in the same sort of DOA stocked fish scenario as the videos showed.

Would be nice to hear from the WCO's mouth why the where and when were chosen, instead of from all the armchair WCO's ;-)
Click to expand...

I have to act like a WCO...Clinton County hasn't had a WCO in several years due to budget restraints. If I see something going on along the waterways in Clinton County I take it upon myself to speak up and do what I feel is right. I care about our resources and fish more then I care about most of the people out there.
 
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