Surprise Brook Trout

Barleywine · May 6, 2013

Fishing yesterday in a Pocono wild trout stream, I caught a good number of the usual suspects in 50 degree water using a soft hackle beadhead PT nymph for the most part. A few took a dry a little later in the day, but the action on top was fairly slow.

This stream is not stocked, and the PA biologist report shows nothing but browns from this water.
Here's one of those browns from yesterday:

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But the surprise of the day came when I hooked this brook trout (first one I've ever caught here) in a pool more than 1/2 mile from the confluence with the Delaware river. I'm wondering where it came from. I'd be pleased to think that it's wild, but I don't think that it is. The fish was about 11 inches and the colors just don't pop like they should on a wild brookie.

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I'm wondering if it's plausible that this is a stockie that came out of say Flatbrook, swam quite a distance in the Delaware, and ran up this stream. It would have needed to leap over several plunge pool drops of about 3 feet or more to get to the part of the stream where I caught it.

Any thoughts?

lightenup · May 6, 2013

Barleywine said:
I'm wondering if it's plausible that this is a stockie that came out of say Flatbrook, swam quite a distance in the Delaware, and ran up this stream. It would have needed to leap over several plunge pool drops of about 3 feet or more to get to the part of the stream where I caught it.

Any thoughts?

I have met guys here in NJ that catch stocked fish and move them somewhere else.....Not quite sure why they do it.......but one guy would catch trout in the Pequest and drop them in a small creek near me...the state stocked it anyway...maybe someone is doing the same.....or it accidentally got mixed in at the hatchery.....nvm on the second thought...you siad it wasn't stocked...

Nice fish Barley..

Catskill Mountain Man · May 6, 2013

why are you posting pictures of 12 inch fish?????

jk nice fish

Broadheadscreek · May 6, 2013

Could be from the Flatbrook and came in on a high water event . We stocked the Little Bushkill a couple of years ago the biologist came in along with the Pa. fish and game and electro fished it. They discovered a 30 to 40 %loss of fish in the stretch we stocked a week after we put them. It appears as though the brook trout didn't like that particular water. Nice fish though Barleywine !

Catskill Mountain Man · May 6, 2013

btw if you look at the gill plate. it looks a little worn (and possibly healed)

fish was stocked a year to 6 months ago i'd say

Corndog · May 7, 2013

Hard to tell BW. I've caught brookies in the Del while winter walleye fishing that looked greyish silver. Almost no color to them. Some brookies lose their color over the winter and this may just be one. Plus, when you tell the story it's much better if you say it was a wild brookie where no wild brookie has ever been caught before. It's not the fish that matters...it's how good the story is.

A few years back I caught this brownie in the EB. Researched the tag and found out it was stocked 3 years prior in the BK. It had to travel 60+ miles to get to the spot I caught it in.

Cdog

JeffK · May 7, 2013

It goes both ways. When I was a kid a classmate caught a huge tagged trout in Pohatcong Ck that was stocked as a regulation fish in the Monroe Co Bushkill a few years before. When the Musky Hatchery lost their tiger trout a few years back in a flood they were caught from Trenton to Hancock. There are a lot of Delaware R tribs in NJ, PA, and NY that are stocked and those fish can move quite a ways. The Walpack Bend in the Delaware holds lots of trout and they could come from the Flat Brook, Bushkill, or somewhere further away.

As for waterfalls, I was reading a paper on invasive brook trout in the West and the researcher had falls up to 6 feet tall that the brookies could jump over (were doing research on barrier design to keep brookies from moving into Rocky Mtn headwaters). In Cayuga Inlet in the Finger Lakes the spawning rainbows go over a couple of 6 foot falls to get to some spawning areas. 3 foot falls aren't much of a barrier to trout.

Oliver10 · May 7, 2013

My surprise brookie from some general regs water that I didn't know had wild brookies

JeffK said:
It goes both ways. When I was a kid a classmate caught a huge tagged trout in Pohatcong Ck that was stocked as a regulation fish in the Monroe Co Bushkill a few years before. When the Musky Hatchery lost their tiger trout a few years back in a flood they were caught from Trenton to Hancock. There are a lot of Delaware R tribs in NJ, PA, and NY that are stocked and those fish can move quite a ways. The Walpack Bend in the Delaware holds lots of trout and they could come from the Flat Brook, Bushkill, or somewhere further away.

As for waterfalls, I was reading a paper on invasive brook trout in the West and the researcher had falls up to 6 feet tall that the brookies could jump over (were doing research on barrier design to keep brookies from moving into Rocky Mtn headwaters). In Cayuga Inlet in the Finger Lakes the spawning rainbows go over a couple of 6 foot falls to get to some spawning areas. 3 foot falls aren't much of a barrier to trout.

Rusty Spinner · May 7, 2013

Oliver10 said:
View attachment 9146 My surprise brookie from some general regs water that I didn't know had wild brookies

That's a wild fish. Many NJ general regs streams have lots of wild trout including native brookies. If you seek them out as JeffK and I did earlier today (work, not fishing), they are many and some have only wild brookies and some nice ones at that.

mob201 · May 7, 2013

They stock brookies in the Lackey, possibly other PA tributaries to the Delaware. No reason why it had to come from Jersey necessarily.

Oliver10 · May 7, 2013

Rusty Spinner said:
That's a wild fish. Many NJ general regs streams have lots of wild trout including native brookies. If you seek them out as JeffK and I did earlier today (work, not fishing), they are many and some have only wild brookies and some nice ones at that.

Yeah but the river I was in and have fished a lot is not known for them nor are any of the above stream Tribs. I would love to see the electrofishing results of the stretch I was in. There was one pool where I counted 13 fingerling browns and at least 3 little rainbows. I also caught one at least 14 inch brookie that had almost perfect fins. It had been stocked at some point.

Oliver10 · May 9, 2013

Went out today same place. High water. Caught a very nice sized wild rainbow. Very excited

Corndog · May 11, 2013

If you guys keep talking about these streams, you can count on NEFF stalkers. :hubbahubba:

Cdog

Oliver10 · May 11, 2013

Corndog you are probably correct. Let me add a little color. I had to hike I. Through horrid brush at least 30 minutes. I found 3 ticks embedded in me the day after and I lost a bunch of flies do to all the over growth and downed trees. It was worth it to me and I am sure others on the board but for the general worm drowners my fish are safe

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