PA not honoring winter stocking dates anymore?

mute

mute

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Does anyone know whats going on with the Chester County winter stockings? I remember last year there was an issue that happened and it never happened or something I dont recall anymore.

Pickering and French Creek FFO was supposed to be stocked back on 2/23. Ive checked both streams multiple times and saw no signs of fish being stocked. Talked to a handful of guys who had a bump or two and that was it. Prime pools show no fish.

I fished French Creek FFO this morning at 3 different stocking points. Saw 0 fish, had 0 hits, talked to one guy who fished a whole stretch with out a tap.

Can anyone from the state actually confirm they did or didnt stock fish in these areas? The website is useless, theyve rescheduled stockings but dont update the site until 3 weeks after with the date.

Hoping I didn't pay $31 for a fishing license and already get 1/3 of what I paid for taken from me.
 
I was helping my brother move this afternoon and made several drives back and forth along Pickering. Saw 6 different vehicles parked at the bridge hole lot by the old stone dam. FWIW.

Not sure I understand the last line of your post. There's more streams to fish than just Pickering or French with your license, and Mother Nature stocks many of them each Fall.
 
Yea theres always a bunch of vehicles there. Fisherman, hikers, etc. There was that many on the day of but no fisherman at the walking bridge hole, along with no fish. So who knows.

What I meant was I pay $31 for a license to fish for a year. Theres the winter stocking, the in season stocking and the fall stocking. Well if they decided to advertise a stocking, and never go through with it, theres a third of what i paid for the license.
 
I fished Pickering last Monday, (2/28), and landed two and rolled a bunch more. I was in the middle of the DHALO section.
 
From the PFBC site in SE Regional Reports - Fishing and Boating Report – February 25, 2016: http://www.fish.state.pa.us/splsero.htm

Chester County

The East Branch Brandywine Creek, Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only, French Creek, Catch & Release Fly Fishing Only, Pickering Creek, Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only, and the Valley Creek, Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only, were stocked 2/24/16. The weather was dismal at best, 37 degrees, cold, windy and pretty much a constant rain. The fish however looked great, fat and happy and very lively. Thanks to all the great help that we had getting the fish in the water in such poor conditions and for such a lengthy stocking. With Stocked Trout Waters about to close, there are now plenty of big healthy fish in a variety of streams for you to choose from. Good luck.

The streams were stocked. I've talked to anglers that fished the above streams and some report catching "a couple" and others report catching "a couple a dozen" along with some "nice ones."

The warm weather should turn on the fish beginning this week.
 
i guess that's why they call it fishing, not catching. There are plenty in there just because fishing has been slow means nothing more than cold water and fish lock jaw.

Also, I recommend fishing in the afternoon this time of year.
 
I always love the old "there is no fish in there" or "it's fished out" comments when someone doesn't catch anything. Sometimes you don't catch anything. Deal with it. Once you can live with that fishing will become more enjoyable.
 
Yo mu

I can personally attest to the Feb stockings on the Pick and French. I put a few buckets in myself.

The Commish website is a little muddled, but it is reliable enough for me to schedule up to meet with the trucks, WCOs and volunteers. Haven't gotten sideways yet in the 15 or so times I've done it in the last 2 years.
 
by Troy on 2016/3/6 9:38:30

I always love the old "there is no fish in there" or "it's fished out" comments when someone doesn't catch anything. Sometimes you don't catch anything. Deal with it. Once you can live with that fishing will become more enjoyable.


Troy, Im not a complete idiot. Theres a difference between fishing aimlessly and thinking theres no fish because you're not catching anything. And then knowing theres no fish because the obvious crystal clear pools show none.

Based on the stream report by afishinado they put fish in on 2/24 NOT 2/23 like the schedule calls for. Which would be the evening I fished. So YES, the reason why no fish was had was because there WAS none like I concluded. Which in turn kind of related to the the topic of this post.

So deal with that?



Afishinado thanks for the stream report, didnt know they did that on the site. Nothing sucks more when taking your 5 year old to hook a few and the fish never hit the water when scheduled
 
mute wrote:
by Troy on 2016/3/6 9:38:30

I always love the old "there is no fish in there" or "it's fished out" comments when someone doesn't catch anything. Sometimes you don't catch anything. Deal with it. Once you can live with that fishing will become more enjoyable.


Troy, Im not a complete idiot. Theres a difference between fishing aimlessly and thinking theres no fish because you're not catching anything. And then knowing theres no fish because the obvious crystal clear pools show none.

Based on the stream report by afishinado they put fish in on 2/24 NOT 2/23 like the schedule calls for. Which would be the evening I fished. So YES, the reason why no fish was had was because there WAS none like I concluded. Which in turn kind of related to the the topic of this post.

So deal with that?



Afishinado thanks for the stream report, didnt know they did that on the site. Nothing sucks more when taking your 5 year old to hook a few and the fish never hit the water when scheduled
Click to expand...


No problem, Mute. I'm guessing the cold water gave the fish a case of lockjaw.

Hopefully you can get out next week in the warmer weather with the little guy and give him a day to remember. Good luck.
 
Yo mu

Unless the trouts migrated real quickly or were depleted (I saw no herons, ospreys, eagles, loons or kingfishers), they were there when you ffished on the 24th. I just checked my calendar and the stocking went on schedule on the 23rd. The report that afish posted is otherwise accurate. The water where I checked was cold - high 30s and low 40s.
 
Lestrout im confused now...

Fact: PAFB schedule says stocking on 2/23

Fact: I checked the stream 2/23 with my boy, saw no abundance of fish in the usual pools.

Afishinados link says the state stocked the 24th ( one day after scheduled ).

I checked today, definitely schools of fish now in the same pools...

You said you helped dump fish in those streams. So was it the 23rd or the 24th?
 
Yo mu

My calendar shows the 23rd, as is on the schedule, and contrary to the followup report. I gave my fleece and Gortex substitute a workout because it was drizzling and cold the whole time. We met at noon at the Ridge Fire Hall and started on French. At the first stop we also loaded the float(s) and went downstream. Second stream was Pickering, and accessed it at 3 spots (IIRC). We were there about 1:30-2ish. Word was that a NJ TU has adopted this stream and someone said they had stocked it last fall on their own. We then went on to [West] Valley and then finished up on the East Branch Brandywine.
 
mute wrote:


Pickering and French Creek FFO was supposed to be stocked back on 2/23. Ive checked both streams multiple times and saw no signs of fish being stocked. Talked to a handful of guys who had a bump or two and that was it. Prime pools show no fish.
Click to expand...

Now I'm confused both streams multiple days no fish........
 
Was also at the stocking with Les...

One thing that may explain the apparent confusion is it that fewer fish were dumped in the usual "poaching hole" at Pickering. But overall many buckets were stocked.

 
Pickering holds fish all year.
 
I fished Pickering on Sunday the 6th and absolutely dominated. Was fishing a cream/copper ribbed zebra I tied with a coating of loon flow. Landed about 15 fish in less than 3 hours and then my BOA lace snapped and I didn't have my spare in the car with me so it cut my day short of walking way down stream.
 
I both help stock and do angler surveys. It is very common to hear "the state didn't stock", followed by my brother-in-law, barber, neighbor etc has a buddy at the hatchery who definitely said they didn't put any in. This is especially common until mid to late April when the water warms. It is somewhat annoying when I personally dumped a few hundred trout in a spot a few days earlier and still hear"I have the facts that the state didn't stock." The fish also seem to have lockjaw a few days after being stocked more often early in the season. By mid May, people are catching newly stocked fish seconds after being put in, but that is rarely the case in March or April.

The bottom line is that hatcheries are pretty tightly scheduled. To raise the new trout, the existing trout have to go out on schedule. Add to that the need to schedule trucks and drivers and meet volunteers, and the schedules are pretty firm. I've seen one or two days when floods or droughts/high water temps have caused some schedule adjustment, but that is rare in my experience.
 
Funny you mention the, "they didn't stock" thing.

Had a kid at school proclaim that the state stopped all stocking this year. So I showed him the front page of the news paper from that day showing a guy pouring in a bucket.
 
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