Nepa border county's?

[Jessed]

Does anyone know why they're not many class a streams on the County's that edge nj and New York on the north east side? They just seem like big countys that would have more than a couple in them.

 

[moon1284]

Most Delaware river tribes in the area you describe hold wild trout. Not sure of their classifications.

 

[Jessed]

But what about Susquehanna? That's close to the Catskills which hold tons of wild trout streams?

 

[troutbert]

I think a lot of those streams in Susquehanna and Bradford County probably used to hold wild trout. I read an historical account of early settlers catching trout there.

But that area was heavily farmed, especially dairy farms. Most of the forest was removed, the streams were highly altered, i.e. relocated, straightened, and have been repeatedly channelized and dredged since then. And the streams in that area get very low in the summer.

If you drive around in that area, you can see that most of the streams are wrecked. There are some exceptions though, that do hold wild trout.

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
I think a lot of those streams in Susquehanna and Bradford County probably used to hold wild trout. I read an historical account of early settlers catching trout there.

But that area was heavily farmed, especially dairy farms. Most of the forest was removed, the streams were highly altered, i.e. relocated, straightened, and have been repeatedly channelized and dredged since then. And the streams in that area get very low in the summer.

If you drive around in that area, you can see that most of the streams are wrecked. There are some exceptions though, that do hold wild trout.

There are a lot more forest areas in Bradford and Susquehanna counties than say the Lancaster area or the Cumberland Valley areas. Yet those that region is rich with wild trout streams.

The difference is the norther tier counties of Bradford and Susquehanna have soil with a poor buffering capacity = low PH. And many streams have high dissolved aluminum concentrations from my understanding. For the most part, that's what accounts for the lack of wild trout streams in the region.

Schrader Creek which flows through a beautiful forested SGLs in Bradford County is kind of typical of what is found in many streams in the region.

On the wild trout map the northern border of PA in the northeast is nearly devoid of any wild trout streams.

 

[Jessed]

What does it take for a stream to be in that map? It shows some local streams of me to be wild trout streams but get really low and super warm in the summer?

 

[Swattie87]

Jessed wrote:
What does it take for a stream to be in that map? It shows some local streams of me to be wild trout streams but get really low and super warm in the summer?

The stream has to be on the PFBC's natural reproduction list. In order to get on the list the stream must have at least two year classes of wild fish present (one of which is young of the year) at the time it was surveyed.

So when those streams were surveyed, they met the above. Things can change over time though, for the better or for the worse. Some streams potentially haven't been surveyed in decades.

 

[Mike]

Gaylord Ck had a good, memorable population of wild trout when I was involved in its survey about 36 yrs ago and it is my understanding that it has since improved.

 

[troutbert]

Mike wrote:
Gaylord Ck had a good, memorable population of wild trout when I was involved in its survey about 36 yrs ago and it is my understanding that it has since improved.

I wonder what is different about that stream that it supports a good wild trout population, when the great majority of the stream mileage in that region does not?

Is it just more trees along the creek and in the watershed than most of the others nearby, keeping the water cooler?

Or, does it have a higher gradient because it's originating from a higher elevation that many others?

 

[Chaz]

Some of it is geology, they don't hold good flows through the summer. Some of it is lakes and ponds interfere with the natural ecosystem, some of it is agriculture. Wayne and Pike County have some very good streams not necessarily flowing directly into the 'D' but into other tributaries or lakes and ponds. Lakes and ponds tend to wack the streams for some distance, but if there are good tributaries and flows are good they quickly revert to trout streams. They may or may not be Class A but they are still good.