Penns Creek Bottoms up brunettes

[Trico3]

I saw far too many large dead brown trout in the catch and release area this weekend. I'm assuming they were overplayed, ill handled or over photographed during the green drake hatch. Take the time to properly revive your trout and don't over stress them as water temps rise. Making sure the trout can swim away makes a big difference in survival rate.

 

[AndyP]

How many is, "far too many".....?

 

[Trico3]

I saw 6 dead. 3 along edge and 3 in deeper water. All looked to be 13-19". Two of them looked to be 18-19"

 

[LetortAngler]

I've seen the same during times of heavy pressure and posted here, with replies such as " they are probably natural deaths, old age," or "just because you see a few dead fish you assume they are due to poor fish handling skills?"
Of course, we all try our best, and it always doesn't go according to plan, although IMO, proper fish handling skills will take a fishery a long way especially those smaller streams with delicate populations.

 

[Fishwagen]

It most definitely "is or was" poor handling. As it was said, sometimes it can't be helped, but most of the time it can. I have personally seen some folks toss these trout back with the underhanded softball pitch. And that was after the "grip and grin" photo shoot. They are not a LMB, not that pitching a bass back in is correct, but they are a little heartier of a fish.

I said something once to a guy who tossed back three like that. You shoulda saw the look I got. Felt like tossing him back as he did the trout. Maybe that's what some folks need, a lesson not a lecture.

Can't stand seeing such a beautiful natural resource being wasted because of stupidity or lack of care and respect. I've seen it far to often.

6 fish between 13-19"...what an unnecessary waste!

 

[krayfish2]

It's the green drake hatch though. Who cares if the water was 71 degrees? People have read about that fabled hatch and were going to fish it no matter what. The fish are ultra selective at 10pm so you need 6x right? As for the dead fish, 6-10 deceased isn't that big a deal. That creek is loaded with fish.





I loves me some sarcasm.

 

[Luke]

I have not fished Penns since May 15th. At that time, I was worried about the hot weather we were having and the low flows. I was predicting that I would cancel my planned June 19th weekend trip due to water temperatures.

Now, 10 days out, I am very encouraged by the cooler temperatures we have had and the recent rainfall.

As the flows on Penns remain low, I would like some more data though. Has anyone taken water temperatures in the Poe Paddy area recently? How do things look to you for June 19th?

Thanks,
Luke

P.S. I am thinking that Trico3 must work in Marketing with the eye catching title he put on this post. I was expecting a picture of some canoers...

 

[Tups]

Yeah, something tells me if you googled "bottoms Up Brunettes," the results might not all be trout fishing related.

In fact, I think I'll try that.

 

[attackone]

I know that my local limestoner will not be fishable this week or maybe for weeks to come...a creek that hardly ever sees over 68 was at 71 2 sundays ago, due to the hot days and low water.

 

[greenlander]

Seeing anglers that properly handle fish is a far rarer occurrence than seeing those that do not.

 

[JackM]

I think every rough handler of trout has learned her lesson here.

 

[mtnbum]

Early morning of May 24 -- I saw 2 dying fish belly up trying to right themselves and 3 dead fish.

The evening before (different part of the stream), I watched an individual hook, play, net, photograph and then place his index finger in the gill of an 18 inch brown holding it up for 3 buddies up stream and one downstream to see. One of his freinds gave him some business about it and he indicated that the fish was fine as it swam away.

 

[Midge22]

mtnbum - ive seen that happen and have witnessed people getting chastised over it by their partner. not going to change anything to be honest. some people just do not care.

on a side note, this happens everywhere and everyday. There are still a ton of wild fish. if this were happening on smaller streams it could do some damage, but we will never recognize the affects on a stream like penns or any other of the big 4 in central PA. I honestly just wish there was a way to get info out there for people to understand that they are wrong. but who am i kidding, the pafbc just wants the put and take crowd to keep buying licenses and will not even remotely try to spend some on angler education.

 

[TimRobinsin]

So if you are noticing these fish are not fairing well when stressed what are you doing there?

Hiking? Swimming? Tubing?

Surely you were not fishing. Anyone concerned enough to go on an internet forum to admonish the general population of anglers for poor fish handling technique during warm conditions is obviously conscientious enough to refrain from adding to the problem themselves.

Right? ... Right.

 

[PennKev]

Too many fisherman have the attitude that they MUST fish. They are fishing Creek X and there is nothing that is going to stop them.

The reality is that there are hundreds of creeks to fish and many of them are going to fish better than Penns during hot spells anyway.

A bunch of people have read this thread and I'm sure someone out there is looking at the warm weather coming up and thinking....

"BUT WE'RE FISHIN' PENNS DAMMIT!"


Folks need to keep an open mind and look for the best fishing for the given conditions. If that's Penns, fine, if it's smallmouth in a warm water river that's fine too. Just keep an open mind. It's not just better for the fish, it's better for your fishing in the here and now.

 

[sarce]

Spot on PennKev.

 

[bikerfish]

yeah, lets fish penns in a heat wave, with 3 wt's and 7x tippet!!! yeah man, cause it's penns!!!!

I NEVER fish less than 3x tippet on penns. get the fish in, let em go, don't play them to death on too light tippet or a sissy #censor# rod.
penns is a resource, everyone needs to respect and help the resource.
and like Kev said, if it's to hot, no matter the time or hatch, don't F-n fish it!!!!!

but then we wouldn't get to post about it here or on bragbook, fly a drone around, beat our chests, wear buffs over our faces(criminals??) and generally think if it isn't posted on the internet it doesn't count.

 

[RyanR]

As bad as I really, really wanted the photo, there's a reason I don't have one of my best wild trout ever, a 20" brown from a smallish stream. And that fish was caught early in the year during the Hendrickson hatch. Unless it's destined for the grill, a wild fish is just to precious to me to risk just for an ill advised photo.

 

[krayfish2]

I almost want to say the OP is "the boy who cried wolf" or just trying to stir things up a bit.

Like T Robinson said.....unless you were out patrolling the river for fish kills, it's likely that fishing was going on in conditions that the poster was criticizing others for angling in.

Just the other week, I put a dog in a kennel, drove 3.5 hours, paid for lodging, etc. It my big trip and could possibly my only fishing for the year. Conditions were not good and fished very little in 6 days. I had march brown spinnerfalls, drakes duns and coffin fly spinners. Add to that lots of wild fish 16"-24" feeding.... I surely wanted to fish as bad as anyone. Temps were too high and I had to suck it up and watch TV or play golf. Injuring the fish was likely and hopefully I drove that point home to my nephew that was fishing with me. I still saw fishermen and guides headed to the river as the water temps peaked at 72 or higher. Sad to see and I'm sure their selfishness impacted their decision to fish.

Just fished with DaveS and we didn't get a picture of my biggest fish for multiple reasons. I handled it like I was wearing boxing gloves and I didn't want to stress the fish too much. He told me it was the biggest bow he'd seen caught in that river but I'll have memories instead of a photo. That's bete than nothing.

 

[hooker-of-men]

TimRobinsin wrote:
So if you are noticing these fish are not fairing well when stressed what are you doing there?

Hiking? Swimming? Tubing?

Surely you were not fishing. Anyone concerned enough to go on an internet forum to admonish the general population of anglers for poor fish handling technique during warm conditions is obviously conscientious enough to refrain from adding to the problem themselves.

Right? ... Right.

Glad someone said it. This morning I wrote and then decided against posting pretty much the same thing.