Traveling Trout Co. - Trout Towns

[Swattie87]

I look at this sort of thing kind of differently. TV is absolute trash these days. Other than sports it’s essentially useless in my mind. I enjoy watching things on YT that interest me…fishing, cars, lawnmowers, whatever. I appreciate the time and effort that people on YT put into making those videos, and I enjoy watching them, Traveling Trout Co. included.

As to the spotburning issue, get out there and fish more streams. If one of yours gets lit up, you’ll have lots of other options. Problem solved.

 

[caddisflyer]

I know a couple guys that kept posting videos of big trout they were catching. It wasn't hard for people to figure out the location. Now they regret it and whine about all the guys. The fishing has suffered too. They made next to nothing on their youtube channel but it was a big ego thing for them especially when someone recognized them on the stream. Phony and sickening if you ask me.
I still have my old battered Charles Meck book from years ago. That and a Gazeteer got me around to lots of places in PA. Quite a different thing than social media and youtube but it had a negative effect on some places I am sure. I can't stand watching trout fishing videos. They have zero to do with actual fishing for me.
Penns and Spring were very different places in the 1980s. Less pressure, less year round pressure, more consistent hatches and way more bigger fish.

 

[5footfenwick]

Where is Traveling Trout Co at to weigh in? When was he last on here? To be fair, the three worst spot burns IMHO were some of his favorite creeks and his cabin sits on one. So there’s that. He was figuring it out as he learned. He doesn’t spot burn small Brookie creeks as much anymore. I think it has been interesting to watch him develop as a fisherman. I can’t say I’m loving the new fly fishing and town videos as much as his old spin rod, spinner, and no net videos from several years back. He certainly gets more views now. But there is something about genuine, rough around the edges fishing videos that I find appealing. I don’t always want to watch a know it all do everything perfectly correct. I want to watch the struggle, not just the highlight reels. There are plenty of Orlando Wilson type shows. All the fancy editing and voice overs don’t enhance the experience for me personally. I’m with you Swattie. Yt fishing videos keep my interest far better than regular TV ever used to.

 

[TimMurphy]

After I clicked the link, I remembered that. You're right. I did know that.

For some reason, I was only thinking of the Joe Humphrey's book.

Dear jifigz,

Troutbert's book was the Holy Grail for people who drove around using their natural sense of direction along with a Rand-McNally atlas and all the State Forest Maps back in the day. Before that we had Mike Sajna's book. It was good, but he waxed poetic too much. Troutbert flat out got down to bidness!

When the DeLorme Atlas came out us old farts were literally in hog heaven! With the Troutbert book and the DeLorme you were hard pressed to get into too much trouble.

To me, and only to me, that is what is missing from the YouTube world. It seems that not many people just go out and drive around and explore anymore. It has to be easy, and easy isn't much fun to me.

For perspective, I come at this from a real flatlander who found himself in Colorado in the Spring of 1983 when I was in the USAF. There was a book about fishing the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, I bought it. I partnered with a buddy on a $ 400.00 1964 Chevy 2wd step side P/U that someone needed to sell to pay their weed dealer.

We bought the truck, with a 3 on the tree and only 2nd and reverse working and drove it across Denver. My partner on the truck, who unfortunately departed a few years ago, fixed the clutch in the squadron parking lot in an hour. The dude was literally the greatest wrench on the planet Earth.

We got the truck stuck on a mountainside leaving a bar on Lookout Moutain the night it was first road worthy. We jacked it up and knocked it down and jacked it up and knocked it down and got back for morning formation. With the fishing book in hand, we drove 11000 miles in three months of weekends seeing more of Colorado than many residents ever see.

I know it's a TL/DR post, but man what I wouldn't give to find a running buddy like Dan Wescott the wrench or my forlorn in Fargo ND brother Terry Murphy again. I had a wonderful week with my brother Mike when he came out over Memorial Day week. I miss truly the sense of adventure we all shared.

I'd still be old, but I'd go out blazing, instead of fizzling.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Swattie87]

I know a couple guys that kept posting videos of big trout they were catching. It wasn't hard for people to figure out the location. Now they regret it and whine about all the guys. The fishing has suffered too. They made next to nothing on their youtube channel but it was a big ego thing for them especially when someone recognized them on the stream. Phony and sickening if you ask me.
I still have my old battered Charles Meck book from years ago. That and a Gazeteer got me around to lots of places in PA. Quite a different thing than social media and youtube but it had a negative effect on some places I am sure. I can't stand watching trout fishing videos. They have zero to do with actual fishing for me.
Penns and Spring were very different places in the 1980s. Less pressure, less year round pressure, more consistent hatches and way more bigger fish.

What’s the name of their channel? I have some sleuthing to do. And I’m pretty good at it…

 

[Swattie87]

Where is Traveling Trout Co at to weigh in? When was he last on here? To be fair, the three worst spot burns IMHO were some of his favorite creeks and his cabin sits on one. So there’s that. He was figuring it out as he learned. He doesn’t spot burn small Brookie creeks as much anymore. I think it has been interesting to watch him develop as a fisherman. I can’t say I’m loving the new fly fishing and town videos as much as his old spin rod, spinner, and no net videos from several years back. He certainly gets more views now. But there is something about genuine, rough around the edges fishing videos that I find appealing. I don’t always want to watch a know it all do everything perfectly correct. I want to watch the struggle, not just the highlight reels. There are plenty of Orlando Wilson type shows. All the fancy editing and voice overs don’t enhance the experience for me personally. I’m with you Swattie. Yt fishing videos keep my interest far better than regular TV ever used to.

Agree - He seems to be doing better viewership wise with the Trout Towns segment, and I like it, but I liked his older videos and antics too.

Also, the one his cabin sits on isn’t that good. Has a couple big holes on the lower end that at certain times of the year (he is hip to this I think) hold some decent Browns that probably spend the majority of their life in the receiving stream. Otherwise, it’s just an average Brookie stream for the area with generally small fish. And for some reason that stream and a couple neighbors have the thickest black flies of anywhere I’ve been in PA. FWIW and YMMV.

I recognize a lot of the small streams he’s fishing, even the ones he doesn’t name. I don’t notice any increase in pressure on them since his videos have been around. Knowing where he’s fishing a lot of the time, the guy definitely knows what he’s doing in terms of finding good streams. He’s not getting all that info from YT. It’s not out there. He’s doing that the hard way. Just sayin’.

 

[ryansheehan]

I've watched a number of his videos and enjoyed them. I really enjoy watching others fish when I'm unable to do so. His fishing ability is definitely a little rough but he's improving. I have to admit most of the time I fast forward through the town information.

I use to be someone who would hate any mention of trout streams for fear of overfishing. This chatboard and some experiences have made me realize that trout streams need people who care to frequent them, if we want to protect them.

 

[jifigz]

I don't think that the vast majority of small streams will get much pressure, regardless. It takes a special kind of person to want to fish small streams. I know it is not for a lot dudes.

I have learned my lessons about being more tight-lipped regarding streams. Hell, even the stream I know intimately well that is not part of the "Big 4" but could be part of the expanded "Big 6" I don't even want to mention anymore. I have seen pressure expand drastically over the years.

For these reasons, the "Stream Reports" area of this forum is kind of dead to me. I would post about the Little J, Penns, the Juniata River for bassin, and East Licking Creek. I think those are the only streams I would name on there anymore. I would never, ever mention any lesser known streams. It just isn't worth it. That information is only reserved for people that you know can respect the resource, value the information, and share it wisely. There are only a few people I would trust with such information.

 

[wgmiller]

For these reasons, the "Stream Reports" area of this forum is kind of dead to me. I would post about the Little J, Penns, the Juniata River for bassin, and East Licking Creek. I think those are the only streams I would name on their anymore. I would never, ever mention any lesser known streams. It just isn't worth it. That information is only reserved for people that you know can respect the resource, value the information, and share it wisely. There are only a few people I would trust with such information.

I can understand this sentiment, and for that reason, tend to stick to stream reports from the more popular streams (LJ, Spring, etc.).

As far as TTCo goes, I've been watching his videos from the early days and have seen an improvement from a crude treble hook spinner to a fly guy. I don't make it through every video, as some of them can be a bit over the top. I appreciate his expanding into the "Trout towns" series, as it becomes more than just about the fishing and expands into architecture, history, etc.

Information and how we receive it has changed and embracing that can be difficult for all of us as we become set in our ways. YT content creators operate under a different set of guidelines than many of us are used to, which can make us uncomfortable. We can bemoan the medium all we want, but the reality is it's not going anywhere. The best we can do is try to educate the content creators (in whatever way we can) that not giving up every piece of information benefits everyone involved. In the case of TTCo, I know he has a regular fulltime job and isn't relying on YT content for sustenance. At best, it likely provides him an extra few thousand dollars per year in income.

 

[Kyle]

its the way of the world. the interweb. everytime i go fishing i see someone with a go pro strapped to their chest. is that wrong? no. i dont care what people do

 

[JeffP]

Dear jifigz,

Troutbert's book was the Holy Grail for people who drove around using their natural sense of direction along with a Rand-McNally atlas and all the State Forest Maps back in the day. Before that we had Mike Sajna's book. It was good, but he waxed poetic too much. Troutbert flat out got down to bidness!

When the DeLorme Atlas came out us old farts were literally in hog heaven! With the Troutbert book and the DeLorme you were hard pressed to get into too much trouble.

To me, and only to me, that is what is missing from the YouTube world. It seems that not many people just go out and drive around and explore anymore. It has to be easy, and easy isn't much fun to me.

For perspective, I come at this from a real flatlander who found himself in Colorado in the Spring of 1983 when I was in the USAF. There was a book about fishing the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, I bought it. I partnered with a buddy on a $ 400.00 1964 Chevy 2wd step side P/U that someone needed to sell to pay their weed dealer.

We bought the truck, with a 3 on the tree and only 2nd and reverse working and drove it across Denver. My partner on the truck, who unfortunately departed a few years ago, fixed the clutch in the squadron parking lot in an hour. The dude was literally the greatest wrench on the planet Earth.

We got the truck stuck on a mountainside leaving a bar on Lookout Moutain the night it was first road worthy. We jacked it up and knocked it down and jacked it up and knocked it down and got back for morning formation. With the fishing book in hand, we drove 11000 miles in three months of weekends seeing more of Colorado than many residents ever see.

I know it's a TL/DR post, but man what I wouldn't give to find a running buddy like Dan Wescott the wrench or my forlorn in Fargo ND brother Terry Murphy again. I had a wonderful week with my brother Mike when he came out over Memorial Day week. I miss truly the sense of adventure we all shared.

I'd still be old, but I'd go out blazing, instead of fizzling.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Man, as I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with Meck and Troutbert's books. Those books and the Delorme Atlas occupied a lot of my time. There was still an element of discovery in those days. I learned a lot and became concerned about the environment as a result. I love Pa geography! Now when a student tells me about their cabin, I ask where it is. All they can tell me is "it's pretty far away."

 

[poopdeck]

I use to share a lot of info online but not anymore. I even stopped posting simple fishing reports with no specific area because simply saying you had a great day and caught tons of fish will flood the waterways with anglers thinking the bite is on. Let’s face it, nowadays, everybody knows the fishing spots so one should start protecting the timing. I will post about the slow days but not the banner days. I keep them to myself or share them after the bite slows.

 

[wildtrout2]

Dear jifigz,

Troutbert's book was the Holy Grail for people who drove around using their natural sense of direction along with a Rand-McNally atlas and all the State Forest Maps back in the day. Before that we had Mike Sajna's book. It was good, but he waxed poetic too much. Troutbert flat out got down to bidness!

When the DeLorme Atlas came out us old farts were literally in hog heaven! With the Troutbert book and the DeLorme you were hard pressed to get into too much trouble.

This says it all. Very accurate!

 

[wildtrout2]

I don't think that the vast majority of small streams will get much pressure, regardless. It takes a special kind of person to want to fish small streams. I know it is not for a lot dudes.

I also agree with this thinking. For instance, even though Jeans and Stony are pretty well known here, they are still two of Pa's toughest streams to access/fish. Even with the internet and YT, that won't change.

 

[Prospector]

After reading the full thread, I have concluded that I am the perfect complement to the folks chasing wild trout since I don’t pursue them much. I’m sure if I grew up in central PA my mindset would be a 180 degree flip.

However I grew up fishing Western PA, NWPA and taking a couple annual trips to NCPA freestoners every year. Over 90% of my fishing is to stocked fish. I’m cool with that but I realize many folks only want to pursue wild trout. Their coloration is just so cool and I hold a wild trout a couple extra seconds to marvel at the pattern and brilliance before giving them a gentle send off.

I love to fly fish for trout mainly because of my upbringing and my father’s passion became one of mine. I love being on a stream and working up or down because the hole around the next bend is unique. Doesn’t matter to me if the fish is stocked or wild. It’s just a great place to be on a stream tossing flies.

My home is surrounded by Moraine State Park and Lake Arthur seems to always garner votes for best largemouth bass lake in the state. I have 4 boat launches within a few miles of my house, but I drive 30-90 minutes to fish for stocked trout as long as high temps hold off.

But now the stocked streams are getting warm so I’ll transition to small wild streams for the rest of the summer. It will be a nice to hold a few of those beautiful fingerlings and watch them scurry into cover once released. It’s time for a 60 yr old man to feel like a kid again.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Not that anyone really cares, but I'm all over the place with this. I also bought Dwight's book along with Joe Armstrong's Guide to PA Limestone Spring Creeks (still a fine book https://www.google.com/books/editio..._to_Pennsylvania_Li/mhRawG_jSJgC?hl=en&gbpv=0) and a Delorme. I used three different color highlighters to mark my Delorme after each exploration. For years, that's all I did was drive, explore and document so I had my own list of favorite streams. While I appreciate the Internet for many things, the ease with which you can obtain information is a blessing and a curse. I do like watching informational YT videos in my downtime or just to relax. I have no problem with someone who puts out a video like "Fly-fishing the Blue Ridge Parkway" where it's 469 miles long and they don't give away location specifics. Same with watching someone catching Trophy Brook Trout in Ontario. Many have already expressed their concerns with TT's videos, and I wholeheartedly agree so no need to rehash all of that. If I had a wish, I would go back to the pre-Internet days of the 80's using my methods described above as it was some of the best fishing in my life (also the most rewarding).

 

[wildtrout2]

If I had a wish, I would go back to the pre-Internet days of the 80's using my methods described above as it was some of the best fishing in my life (also the most rewarding).

I agree with everything that preceded this quote. But, I have to be honest, I learned about several of my favorite wild streams because of the internet. I'm sure I wouldn't have leared about them otherwise. Also, when the Class A list became available (which I printed) way back, that provided me with lots of fishing options that I wouldn't have had without it. The internet made all that possible.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I agree with everything the preceded this quote. But, I have to be honest, I learned about several of my favorite wild streams because of the internet. I'm sure I wouldn't have leared about them otherwise. Also, when the Class A list became available (which I printed) way back, that provided me with lots of fishing options that I wouldn't have had without it. The internet made all that possible.

Do you remember the old school Pennsylvania Angler mag with County stream sections and the PFBC Trout Maps where stocked streams were color coded red on the map and wild trout streams were blue, spec reg areas were green? I also used those too. Call me old 🤣🤘

 

[The_Sasquatch]

To speak to another difference between a book and this sort of thing, it's clear when you read TB's book HE had to do the work. He didn't just go on the interwebz, ask people what they thought, go to what he perceived would be the most productive places, and bank on that. There are streams in TB's book where I thought "I can't believe he even bothered!" but he did! It didn't come easy. It comes way too easy now.

 

[tomgamber]

To speak to another difference between a book and this sort of thing, it's clear when you read TB's book HE had to do the work. He didn't just go on the interwebz, ask people what they thought, go to what he perceived would be the most productive places, and bank on that. There are streams in TB's book where I thought "I can't believe he even bothered!" but he did! It didn't come easy. It comes way too easy now.

Your saying this guy didn't actually go to these streams to make these videos. How does that work?