Apologies. I changed some of my comments based upon seeing this report for the first time. I stand corrected at least pertaining to (2021’s) overall abundance and biomass, which I did not comment upon. That’s impressive. Per Fish Sticks it will be interesting to see what happens with year class strength in the future. Could be natural variation at play, not only a sign of population decline. Have to wait and see.
You have a point to a degree, but Aquetong’s spring was much larger than average, giving it an advantage for potential downstream success following dam removal. One would have to look at ponds on a case by case basis…for one, by checking summer discharge volume at base flow.
I figured it would vary. Did the stream the OP mentioned have ground water influence or was that a free stoner. I had not been familiar with it
I noticed a lot a vegetation with bait fish darting in and out. Something relatively big (6-8 inches so nothing spectacular, but more than anything else I had seen). Maybe I'll take a chance with a dry dropper and hope I cast accurate enough to avoid spooking.
Yes, could be. It’s now wait and see. It would be interesting to learn what the 2022 yr class or 2023 yr class was/is like and what freestone source fish geographically removed can do in a limestone stream.
Limestone, as I recall. There’s a “belt” of it in the general area.
Yes, you have a point now that I have seen the report.
I'm really curious about this too. Mostly with taking fish from a freestone stream with a relatively low pH and transplanting them into a limestone stream with high pH. I'm sure the habitat is similar enough, but would the chemistry cause them to try to leave?
Well it's been since 2017, so Im going to suppose it didn't, at least for now.
Honestly, I am surprised by the 2021 data. From my understanding, they transplanted 50 brookies from a stream after the dam removal but before they started doing the actual stream restoration work which is kind of wild. They were dewatering parts of the stream to work on it and the stream was totally open to any predators. Obviously, brookies are some resilient creatures and I hope they keep it up. I wish the stream that flows in less than a mile from the spring wasn't in such rough shape in terms of temperature but hopefully they can at least keep inhabiting the stretch above that. I have spent many an hour fishing that beautiful body of water and I hope it keeps improving.
Cool! That is more than I observed. I would have expected that at least a stocker or two would seek thermal refuge up there, too. Nothing in some of those great pools between the river and the first home by the bridge and def a few stocked and formerly stocked cricks within a short swim.
Actually tried fishing it today. Saw a large sculpin but only caught a minnow. I couldn't really cast though with my 8ft 4 wt. I'll try again sometime. The weed beds looked promising as shelter.
I worked at the Mill from 2003 until 2015ish. I would walk down there all the time and look for trout. Sometimes I would see a few. Then I could go a long while without seeing any. I tried tossing rooster tails now and again. I would go over in my work clothing and come back muddy and covered in stickers. I would clean up the trash every once in a while. If you go down river there are a few more streams that hold trout. I suspect a lot of fish are stockers that move from Norristown (Stoney) and the Wissahickon too. In fact, one day I was down at the Waterworks in Philly fishing for stripers and i kept seeing fish taking bugs on top. I walked back got my fly rod and ended up landing several trout on Griffith Nats. They were definitely stockies, and probably became dinner for bass. It would be great to see fish restored to the creek in Conshy
