the river, hatches and wild trout

[salvelinusfontinalis]

something i noticed before and again this week....
a wild trout stream that runs into the river that i fish has "bigger" wild trout down closer to the susq. river. got me thinking....do you think this might be because of the amazingly "large" mayflies that hatch off of the river? or at least the amount and differnt species that hatch off the river? i wonder how many brookie streams that drain into the river have larger wild brookies closer to the river......hmmm?
has anyone else noticed this.....or am i over thinking this one?

 

[Padraic]

I always thought those trout moved down into the river and fed there. The river would stay warmer later in the year, cool in the evenings etc. And it's certain that the Susquehanna is way more fertile, has bigger bugs and more fish and crayfish than any cold water stream.

 

[MattBoyer]

Padraic wrote:
I always thought those trout moved down into the river and fed there. The river would stay warmer later in the year, cool in the evenings etc. And it's certain that the Susquehanna is way more fertile, has bigger bugs and more fish and crayfish than any cold water stream.

There's a place where my brothers and I fished the river growing up that is downstream from 2 fairly large trout streams entering within 5 miles of each other with a few smaller streams in between. The water within 100 yards of shore is always significantly cooler than the rest of the river. When we were teenagers we made fun of a friend of ours who insisted that he caught a 20 inch brownie in that area. Then 4 or 5 years later my brother caught a 19 inch brownie there. A few years later, while fishing a Rebel Crawdad with my girlfriend at the time one evening I caught a 22" rainbow in the same stretch. Not what I would call a huge population, but enough to get me to the lower stretches of those streams every fall. I've often wondered what else is swimming around out there.

Boyer

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

well i meant more of the hatches coming inward to the stream they are already in. like adult mayflies you sometimes see mating over a road next to the stream. but that is an interesting concept. (the fish moving into the river to feed)
i bet the brookies dont though being that they just dont like that brand of dirty water.

 

[Chaz]

While brookies do have very tight requirements for their environment they are found in streams with less then ideal conditions. There is for instance a stream near me where the brookies are large, and I don't mean skinny little ten inch fish either. I'm talking the average fish is 13 inches. Anyway, they are block to going into the river by a farilry high dam, and they are limited to a very good population to only the lower reaches. But there are 2 sewerage treatment [plants on this stream and still a lot of farming acrerage.
As for the river thing, brookies like other salmonids migrate, I've seen it the fall, particularly on Fishing Creek where I once saw thousands of the buggers swimming upstream with one thing on their minds, spawning, and noting would slow them down. It was quite remarkable. Anyway they move in and out of Pine Creek during the year, I see no reason why they shouldn't or wouldn't use the Susquehanna River or it West Branch. We know other species of trout do this very thing, no reason why brookies shouldn't be any different.