Rattling Run - Schuykill County

[Barnuba]

Looking for some feedback on this stream as I am heading past there in a few days and plan to stop. Any feedback appreciated - you can PM me if you don't want to post on the forum. Thanks!

 

[Mike]

Which Schuylkill Co Rattling Run?

 

[Barnuba]

Based on the PA Game Commission map it is the Class A that begins in Port Clinton.

 

[Chooch]

Check your PM

 

[steveo]

PM sent

 

[mikephl]

The lower end, I believe, is on private property owned by a Sportsmens Club. Upper reaches can be reached via a side trail off the AT or off the forest road, a half mile to mile hike downhill from the trails. Stream is a couple-three feet wide there, mostly shallow with a few 1 foot deep runs, and some small brookies.

 

[Mike]

Even when the entire stream was open to fishing, the most accessible, lower end with few natural obstructions for anglers (rhodo, etc) supported the largest brookies in the stream and they were present in good numbers. At the same time the brookies farther up, perhaps a mile to 1.5 miles were smaller in the hemlocks and rhododendron. Another example that contributes to shooting down the ideas that brook trout harvest is a problem on accessible wild trout streams and that cropping is taking place statewide.

 

[Chaz]

IT ends in Port Clinton and begins way up on Blue Mt.

 

[riverwhy]

Mike,
Not necessarily doubting you but more information may be needed to prove your point. Which years, what time of the year, and how often were the samples taken to back this conclusion?

One factor could be recruitment from upstream areas if the bigger ones are taken from the lower reaches. This could be especially plausible if there is efficient reproduction in the upper streches. That may not be true on all freestone streams. And it also could mean diminishment of the better fish from the upstream areas as they move to the downstream areas (better habitat?)

Another factor could be transient fish that move up from the Little Schuylkill. If the survey was done in summer many fish could have moved from downstream in the river to the cooler waters of Rattling Run.

 

[troutbert]

As a visiting angler who "ain't from around there," I thought the access at the lower end of Rattling Run was very poor.

I couldn't see any good place to park, that didn't look like someone's residential lot. And then you had to walk up through a section with a line of houses alongside the stream. There was at least one no trespassing sign, which may have been for the adjacent residential property, not for walking up and fishing, but it was hard to tell.

And Mike, in 2004 you made a post telling anglers to take great care about respecting property, not littering, slamming doors etc, "or it might get posted, AGAIN!!."

It seems to me those kinds of access problems would be very discouraging to anglers, and therefore greatly limit the number fishing it. It was certainly very discouraging to me.

If anything, the access situation at the lower end of Rattling Run supports the opposite thesis, that the access limitations resulted in low angler use, allowing the brookies to grow to adult size, rather than getting heavily cropped off.

 

[albud1962]

It is my understanding that you can't fish the stream unless you are a club member. I have fished it several times in 2010 after joining the club.

 

[pcray1231]

You can access the public part fairly easily without being a club member, and without breaking any laws. The posted stretch at the mouth is very short, but it does effectively cut off easy access and forces you into doing a lot of work for what amounts to an average stream.

If, going north, you pass the stream, there is a forest road angling up the hill to the right, which curves around to the north ridge above the stream. Google maps calls it "state game lands dirt road". The road comes to a T at the ridgeline. If you park right there, and dive down over the mountain, you hit the stream right at the upper end of the posted stretch, i.e. the bottom end of the state owned land. You can see the signs when you get down there, just stick to the upstream side, and go up from there.

Not that hard going down, but the walk out does suck, it's a real mountain, with lots of rocks and so forth. Wherever you quit, just go straight uphill and hit the road that runs the ridgeline, and walk that back to the car. Not an easy day, but it is all public and legal that way.

It fishes ok. It's kind of a straight shot, not much in the way of meanders and such, and the stream structure is unimpressive. There are a few plunge pools. It's also thick as heck with rhodo, one of the thickest I've fished. And watch out for rattlesnakes on that hillside (not joking). I never catch huge numbers there. As a basemark, I typically get into double digits, but I'm not sure I've topped 20, which is average at best for me on brookie waters. The stream is small but the fish size has been respectable as brookies go.

 

[Chaz]

The access problem at Rattin Run is because of 2 issues, first is that landowners are fed up with hikes trashing the area. The second is that the Co-op hatchery that was in-active for years is now active again, and they are a landowner on Rattin Run. I just hope they aren't stocking Rattin Run.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, on the game lands there, there are some pretty obvious spots where people have camped, and they left a bunch of crap ranging from standard trash to old tents and pans and such. I usually pick up some of the smaller stuff and take it out, but it'd take a day devoted to just that to really clean it up right.

Still, as I said, you can get there without crossing private land. It's state forest. It's just a little harder to do it that way.

 

[Troy]

Chaz wrote:
The access problem at Rattin Run is because of 2 issues, first is that landowners are fed up with hikes trashing the area. The second is that the Co-op hatchery that was in-active for years is now active again, and they are a landowner on Rattin Run. I just hope they aren't stocking Rattin Run.

I was there about two months ago and was at the old hatchery. There were no hatchery trout in the dam. I don't know where you heard that, but I think someone gave you bad information. I could be wrong if they started doing that after I was there.

 

[Barnuba]

Thanks for all of the responses!!

I hit up the stream the other day and had a great experience. I started at the BOTTOM and hiked up to the dam area. When I pulled into the lower lot I saw all of the signs that indicated you needed to be a member or a landowner to fish the lower section. Fortunately, there was a very nice gentleman hanging out in his garage and I asked him if it was ok to fish. He was very cool and let me park in his parking area, gave me permission and also gave me some general "tips".

The hike up was fun - hot, humid and buggy ...and I can see what you mean about the rattlers pcray - I was VERY careful. The stream has a ton of ferns, rhodo and other growth but there are some nice open spots as well. I fished for about an hour and a half and caught 16 natives most in the 3-6" range and two 8" fish - they were all beautiful.

I did see the old campsites as well - it looked like they were getting the area cleaned up as someone ran a tractor across the bridge and through the woods clearing a path up to the dam. There was minimal trash from what I could see.

All in all it was a great experience - thanks again for all of the feedback!!

 

[pcray1231]

Cool. I've never actually seen the dam, as it's in the posted stretch, and I never fished there. It can't be too far up where I typically hit it, though. When you quit, you were likely getting up to about the area where I start.

 

[Mike]

Troutbert,
The situation that you describe did not always exist. Access was readily available. You could park across from the homes and if you wanted to verify that it was ok somebody was almost always at home to say yes. Access was not a problem.. And there was never a time when you could not park immediately across Rt 61 from the area you describe and then just walk up. As for fishing pressure, given the sensitivities of Pa brook trout streams and their supposed harvest problem, just the local anglers in town should have been all that was needed to crop off the legal fish.. But, the stream was well known by many more within a thirty mile radius, including me as a child, and this still did not happen anymore after stocking was terminated in the early 1980's.

 

[troutbert]

The situation as I described it was from a 1998 visit. That type of access is very intimidating to anglers. It was really the opposite of good, easy access. The great majority of anglers who would drive into a place like that, hoping to fish, would just leave, and go somewhere else.

If you want a good example for a place with easy access, and the fish not being cropped off, you should choose another location.

There are hundreds of streams on public land, that actually have good access. You drive in, you know you are on state forest or gameland, there is a parking area or obvious parking pulloff, and you park, walk and fish. There is no uncertainty at all about the access. And the PFBC has electrofishing reports from those places.

 

[Mike]

From a north central Pa perspective I can see your point, but when a creek like this is in a town and people are used to fishing it, people feel comfortable with doing so. Likewise, when a stream like this has a long history of being fished, especially if there was once a stocking program there, anglers are more comfortable with asking permission. The stream had a large pool of anglers from which to pull prior to the more recent club membership requirement. And let me point out that from the small pool of anglers on this thread, there was one who already asked permission to fish and permission was granted. Intimidation? It's a matter of perspective.