Wild or stocked fish?

[Fish Sticks]

What is a commissioner's salary? What do you love more, fisheries science or the medical world? Those are just honest questions.

I ain't never wet a line in Falling Spring, but I think this year in the dead of summer Im'a gonna haf' to try. Maybe get em on an ant or something.

The answer of what I love more would be option 3 lol my wife, her sacrifice for my career has to bare fruit for us and the kids. But by socking away money/paying down debt more now I actually will have the opportunity in a decade and a half-ish for a second career in conservation where i could do what your saying if I felt at the time that was the most effective way to make change. However, the landscape will be different with more threatened species and the policy route would likely be of higher yield. I’d probably just do what silver-fox is going to school for now instead of commissioner.

 

[jifigz]

Hot Spot Foam Beetle/ Japanese Beetle or run tandem with Stimmy as point fly with hardshell epoxy/black bead ant dropper. You can thank me later

A parachute ant is my most favorite dry fly. Everyone talks of Adams, Elk Hair Caddis, etc, and I love em, but man, fishing terrestials in the dead of summer works just so, so well.

I have never tied a Japanese beetle patter, so to speak, or the epoxy ant but I will try them. If I am fishing a beetle it is the hackle-legged, foam body beetle with a bright sighter spot on it and my wet-ant is usually a dubbed body with a twist or two of hackle in the middle.

But man, I will ALWAYS sing the praises of a parachute ant. That fly just GETS IT DONE.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Many of the commissioners still work a day job. How you go about getting nominated to be on the board of commissioners is a whole different discussion.

 

[troutbert]

Many of the commissioners still work a day job. How you go about getting nominated to be on the board of commissioners is a whole different discussion.

Many or most of them seemed to be retired people. I don't know if they even receive a salary.

 

[jifigz]

I don't know if they even receive a salary.

They may not. I bet they get some sort of compensation, though.

 

[stephenb]

who in the PFBC makes decisions about this stuff and how difficult would it be to get to a position where you would have any real influence? I’m still in high school and have no idea what I’m gonna do after I finish school but something in that field of work is something I’d consider if I could end up making a difference. Fishing for wild/native trout is something I’ve become very passionate about in the past couple months and I’ve always been interested in it before that. You know something needs to change when your out fishing a brookie stream during the closed season and you have to pay attention not to wander into a stocked trout section because they stock fish over the native population. I’ve been reading a lot of forums about this topic on this site and I completely agree with guys like you, we need to prioritize brook trout like other states are starting to do

https://patrout.org/index.php/2023/02/25/trout-unlimited-is-in-need-of-summer-interns/ This may be a place to start, you may not get paid but the value to you could be in making contacts and friends with like minded people.

 

[sarce]

Wild. Dorsal fin is a little compressed by your hand but I see a clean white tip on it. Overall coloration and spot pattern look typical of a wild brown for sure, but as others mentioned, that can be highly variable.

I think the dorsal fin condition is one of the best indicators followed by pectoral fin. If either are deformed on the leading edge, you are looking at a hatchery fish. Those are rarely damaged in the wild. And those traits tend to stick around on holdovers even when the rest of the fin has grown out fully, you'll be able to still notice the kink on the leading edge for years (if the fish lives that long).

 

[lycoflyfisher]

https://patrout.org/index.php/2023/02/25/trout-unlimited-is-in-need-of-summer-interns/ This may be a place to start, you may not get paid but the value to you could be in making contacts and friends with like minded people.

Stephen,

I had the opportunity to work in one of those positions in college. They are paid internships, however it is typically quite competitive to be selected. You would need to be in college in a biological or fisheries based degree path to be selected.

 

[Fish Sticks]

They may not. I bet they get some sort of compensation, though.

https://patrout.org/index.php/2023/02/25/trout-unlimited-is-in-need-of-summer-interns/ This may be a place to start, you may not get paid but the value to you could be in making contacts and friends with like minded people.

yea I have made some good contacts through being a PA NFC board member, i sit for governors invasive species council meetings, I am in regular contact with fisheries scientists and helping with science communication, and engaging elected officials and members of the media. Its funny chatting on here is like the least I do. There is a clear plan to achieve stocking reform and better management and its public education with accountability of ecologically or financially FUBAR practices. Its literally all we can do. I thought like many that PFBC could be worked with or collaborated with when I started walking down this road. Now we just need people who want to help with that plan which is actually really easy, just talk to anyone that will listen and contact state government/elected officials about waste fraud and abuse at PAFBC.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

who in the PFBC makes decisions about this stuff and how difficult would it be to get to a position where you would have any real influence? I’m still in high school and have no idea what I’m gonna do after I finish school but something in that field of work is something I’d consider if I could end up making a difference. Fishing for wild/native trout is something I’ve become very passionate about in the past couple months and I’ve always been interested in it before that. You know something needs to change when your out fishing a brookie stream during the closed season and you have to pay attention not to wander into a stocked trout section because they stock fish over the native population. I’ve been reading a lot of forums about this topic on this site and I completely agree with guys like you, we need to prioritize brook trout like other states are starting to do

If you are still in High school, check out the Wildlife Leadership Academy. They have conservation based summer camps focused on particular species. Some of those species are whitetail deer, ruffed grouse and brook trout.

The camps are intensive and the students are exposed to a tremendous amount of information and get to interact with agency and academic professionals in the field.

 

[Bamboozle]

I vote stocked but for the record I don't know squat...

In regards to visual indicators, they are only evidence of a likelihood, not definitive proof of anything.

Definitive wild or stocked proof only comes from scale samples or other biological testing.

The good thing about that is until some wacky FF outfit starts selling streamside scale/DNA testing kits...

...you can believe whatever makes you happy.

 

[sarce]

The good thing about that is until some wacky FF outfit starts selling streamside scale/DNA testing kits...PAFF is here to help!

Fixed 😀

 

[rustbeltwilds]

I lean wild clean looking fish !

 

[krayfish2]

That there is a brown trout which happens to be invasive

 

[Mikey2006]

That there is a brown trout which happens to be invasive

Not trying to start a huge argument like the ones that usually happen on every single thread but yeah it is invasive and shouldn’t be there whether it was stocked or wild. I don’t think there’s any brookies in that section anyway so it don’t really matter

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Not trying to start a huge argument like the ones that usually happen on every single thread but yeah it is invasive and shouldn’t be there whether it was stocked or wild. I don’t think there’s any brookies in that section anyway so it don’t really matter

No brookies...just invasive rainbows too. Man, do I miss that place!

 

[Joe_P]

If i caught that fish in NJ while they were stilll stocking browns i would lean towards wild. There are other things that come into play such as what do the stock, do they stock fingerlings. I think this is all just a best guess though in alot of waters.

 

[jifigz]

Not trying to start a huge argument like the ones that usually happen on every single thread but yeah it is invasive and shouldn’t be there whether it was stocked or wild. I don’t think there’s any brookies in that section anyway so it don’t really matter

Whoa bud...now you're coming up short-sighted. Just because there are no brookies there doesn't mean it doesn't matter. Introduced species can affect a huge range of the "animal web," so to speak, and saying "ahh, the browns are fine because there are no brook trout there they can hurt" is overlooking all of the other species that browns being there can and will impact. That is fact. Now another fact is that 99% of the natural environments on earth are heavily altered by human activity. There are so many invasives and non-natives spread all over the world that things are really blurred. All of those people that think it is a one-way street (as if Asia also doesn't have invasives from us here in North America) is also so short-sighted.

Now, getting rid of those browns is practically impossible but....

 

[Mikey2006]

Whoa bud...now you're coming up short-sighted. Just because there are no brookies there doesn't mean it doesn't matter. Introduced species can affect a huge range of the "animal web," so to speak, and saying "ahh, the browns are fine because there are no brook trout there they can hurt" is overlooking all of the other species that browns being there can and will impact. That is fact. Now another fact is that 99% of the natural environments on earth are heavily altered by human activity. There are so many invasives and non-natives spread all over the world that things are really blurred. All of those people that think it is a one-way street (as if Asia also doesn't have invasives from us here in North America) is also so short-sighted.

Now, getting rid of those browns is practically impossible but....

I mean let’s be honest a good part of the reason we care about protecting brookies is for fishing, if there is no brook trout possible I think that brown trout shouldn’t be removed especially in a famous fishery like the falling springs

 

[jifigz]

I mean let’s be honest a good part of the reason we care about protecting brookies is for fishing, if there is no brook trout possible I think that brown trout shouldn’t be removed especially in a famous fishery like the falling springs

You missed the point again. We care about protecting brook trout because losing species diversity is what matters. If angling and what anglers generally want is the reason for protecting something then small 5-7 inch natives would be low on the list to protect because most anglers don't care about them. We are select bunch that care. To only protect things that provide a recreational angle for humans is, once again, so short-sighted. Plus, as humans who have altered so much we should at least try to save some things that our actions have ruined.

Case in point, DDT and the resurrection of bald eagles and California Condors. Why did we save those and ban DDT? Why did we save the bison? Sure, you can hunt them, but not really anymore, not like you used to. How about Polar Bears and Grizzlies? Why did we save these critters?