Redistributing stocked trout???

There are probably better uses of your time and energy than redistributing stockies.

 
McSneek wrote:
If those two holes aren't that deep after you're done fishing them and if no one else is around just walk through them and try to scatter the trout.

Also, if you hook one maybe it might put up a heck of a fight and "run" downstream before you can land it in which case you could release it there rather than back in the hole where you hooked it.
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I've spooked golden rainbows one day and seen them in the place they fled from a day or two later. I've actually seen it in 3 different holes in 2 different bodies of water. I'm like 98% sure they were the same fish.

I know they left the hole and didn't just hide because you can see them so clearly. I don't know if other trout will do this because they are so much more difficult to see and follow in the water, but I'd assume they do.
 
A fish will stay in the first safe lie it gets to after stocking until it finds that lie untenable, at which time it finds the next available and hospitable lie. Jackdam holes can support of load of stockies that are used to living among others so long a sufficient food exists. While fishing a jackdamn hole it is not illegal, nor unethical to release trout above the damn which were caught below it.
 
salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
troutbert,
You would think but per pfbc data, rainbows stay close to stocking points
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Perhaps some of their data suggests this, but other publications at least point out some anomalies.

From http://fishandboat.com/images/fisheries/info_sheets/trout_movement.pdf

In the spring of 2005, fisheries biologists monitored the movement of the radio-tagged preseason stocked trout in both streams with radio telemetry equipment. The radio-tagged fish showed little movement for the first few days of the study. Most of the rainbow trout from both creeks left their stocking points and headed downstream after the third day. Several rainbows were never found again. One rainbow trout from Tunkhannock Creek was found nearly 13 miles downstream from its stocking point. And one rainbow from Wysox Creek was found 123 miles downstream in the North Branch of the Susquehanna River.
 
phiendWMD wrote:
McSneek wrote:
If those two holes aren't that deep after you're done fishing them and if no one else is around just walk through them and try to scatter the trout.

Also, if you hook one maybe it might put up a heck of a fight and "run" downstream before you can land it in which case you could release it there rather than back in the hole where you hooked it.
Click to expand...

I've spooked golden rainbows one day and seen them in the place they fled from a day or two later. I've actually seen it in 3 different holes in 2 different bodies of water. I'm like 98% sure they were the same fish.

I know they left the hole and didn't just hide because you can see them so clearly. I don't know if other trout will do this because they are so much more difficult to see and follow in the water, but I'd assume they do.
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I think it's a genetic thing with Lightning Troot. They've been bred to stay put so they can help provide the "Truckload of Fun" the PAFBC promises us every year.
 
troutbert wrote:
There are probably better uses of your time and energy than redistributing stockies.
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Maybe not if he doesn't have the time or ability to frequent wild trout streams. I could understand desiring a better stocked trout experience that fishing over 100 of them in the same hole.
 
Maybe not if he doesn't have the time or ability to frequent wild trout streams. I could understand desiring a better stocked trout experience that fishing over 100 of them in the same hole.
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Being from SWPA, I agree 100% with you. We don't have a lot to choose from. Stockies are about as good as it gets unless you drive to Ohiopyle or a handful of secret streams and even those are nothing like the limestone streams in other parts of the state. A nice, fat, hold over stockie is a real treat and rare find in most of our streams.

 
I appreciate all of your feedback. I was suspecting that it would violate the rules to use a bucket... It's a bummer that this is so. The stream I am referring to is Dunbar. I do realize that there are plenty I other things I could do other than relocate trout within the stream, but I do enjoy fishing there and I don't know any wild trout streams in SWPA yet. I also don't have too many opportunities to get out to fish other than maybe a few times a month at best.

In between the jackdams at Dunbar, the stream has some beautiful scenery and I think it would be nice to have the trout spread out in those areas too, that's all... Believe me, if I have the opportunity to help stock it, I will seize that opportunity!

Again, thanks for all of the responses.
 
Check out the headwaters of Dunbar, up past the Glade Run split. Its a bit of a hike, but you may be surprised what you find.

Also, damn near every stream coming off of Laurel Ridge will hold some population of wild trout.

Best bet is to dig out a good map/gazetteer and stare at it. Theres a ton of public land (state parks, state forests, gamelands, ect) in the Laurel Highlands with miles of streams worth fishing.

The PFBC nature reproduction list is a good cross reference tool - http://www.fishandboat.com/trout_repro.pdf

Cheers
 
I have been only a little bit past Glade Run on Dunbar, but I will definitely try heading up further than I have in the past. Thanks for that advice. Also, researching some maps in the LH area will be a nice addition to tying flies this winter to pass the time when we hit the deep freeze that I am suspecting will be just like that past two winters we have had...
 
I apologize for not knowing Dunbar Creek MathFish, but if we are only stocking two areas there may be a reason (access, safety concerns, habitat, landowner issues).
However, leading hooked fish downstream into fast water to spread them out, float stocking is bad for wild trout, and “laziness” of the stocking helpers are some of the responses to the original post? Seriously?
MathFish…if I watched you catch 5 trout, put them in a bucket, and move them downstream you are good. If you came back (the same day), caught more fish, put them in a bucket and moved them downstream we would have a conversation about what you were doing. We appreciate what your intentions are, but stocked fish have fins and tails and move on their own.
 
PFBC has strict schedules for stocking trout. The drivers and WCO's tell the guys where to put the trout. That being said, people will take buckets away from the areas to spread the trout out, which is a good thing. The stream next to the camp I belong to gets a ton of trout every year, You'd think they hold over from year to year, because there are always trout though the fall and into the early winter.
Every spring the trout just seem to be gone, and the stream is ignored after Memorial Day for the most part. The problem with the stream is there are several miles of the upper drainage that are channelized, and a couple short sections in the lower drainage that are also. The speed of high water going through the un-channelized areas washes all the fish away.
But go ahead and spread the trout out some it will make fishing better if you meet the stocking truck.
 
a walk down the middle of the stream or some "clumsy wading" when no one else is fishing would help
 
I know this is off topic for this thread, but since it's referencing Dunbar, I thought I would share...

I fished Dunbar yesterday morning for a few hours. One of the two popular pools has about half of the fish in it that it normally does. I've heard rumors that people poach there, but I suspect there is another culprit that is responsible for the decrease in numbers...

That stream is so low it almost looks to be dried up. That and add in the fact that I saw a heron take off from the middle of the stream and it looked twice as big as I thought herons could get! I also saw a few spots along the stream that were coated with giant coatings of dried up bird droppings - that heron is clearly taking advantage of the easy pickings! You could almost make out fish scales in its poop!

I went upstream a bit and the few spots I have had luck at have a fraction of the trout or none at all... But, I am sure the extremely low water is at fault for this.

There is so little water there that there relocating the trout (which I didn't do) would primarily make the fishing more interesting for the heron!

SW PA needs rain bad!
 
MathFish wrote:
I know this is off topic for this thread, but since it's referencing Dunbar, I thought I would share...

I fished Dunbar yesterday morning for a few hours. One of the two popular pools has about half of the fish in it that it normally does. I've heard rumors that people poach there, but I suspect there is another culprit that is responsible for the decrease in numbers...

That stream is so low it almost looks to be dried up. That and add in the fact that I saw a heron take off from the middle of the stream and it looked twice as big as I thought herons could get! I also saw a few spots along the stream that were coated with giant coatings of dried up bird droppings - that heron is clearly taking advantage of the easy pickings! You could almost make out fish scales in its poop!

I went upstream a bit and the few spots I have had luck at have a fraction of the trout or none at all... But, I am sure the extremely low water is at fault for this.

There is so little water there that there relocating the trout (which I didn't do) would primarily make the fishing more interesting for the heron!

SW PA needs rain bad!
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You're 100% correct there. We need rain bad. I was up at Loyalhanna delayed harvest looking around and it's still holding trout, but they are barely hanging on. The bad thing is the delayed harvest streams are scheduled to be stocked in the next two weeks. I'm hoping this rain we're supposed to get this week helps or the fish commission delays the fall stockings. I think it'd be a complete waste to stock these streams with as low as they are now. Keep our fingers crossed for some rain this week.
 
Not allowed to harass fish. Also, my opinion is I am waiting till we get rain to fish.
 
acristickid wrote:
Not allowed to harass fish.
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What about steelhead fishing in low water?

Rain on the way this week. trout streams should get a drink.
 
i think it would be best to leave them alone where they are stacked up in the pools.. it gives the wild trout in the stream their food and space to do what wild trout do. just my opinion.

im more concerned with wild fish over stocked fish any day of the week these days after fishing, learning, reading, talking with other anglers..

i certainly don't mind fishing for stocked trout, but lessons learned after this past spring helping stock what i saw in the creeks as far as wild fish, and we basically put stocked fish in to compete for food over top of them.

my guess on a C&R would be immediate release.. i think on some regulations it actually states immediate release no harvest..

but i dont know much of anything besides just going out to fish so take my thought and opinion with a grain of salt
 
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