NC PA drought-- Brookies at risk?

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Sharknado5

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Nasty drought in north central counties. Streamflow gauge on main stem Driftwood Branch at Sterling Run currently 6 cfs.

I haven't been there for a month but the tribs must be barely flowing. This has gotta be one of the worst summers in that area. Are the natives at risk?
 
Native brook trout have an amazing ability to survive these types of conditions. as they have for millenniums. A really good example of this in one of Wild Trout Man's videos (Incredible BROOK TROUT Torpor: Miracle Life!!) taken during a two month post spawn drought, where he shows YOY natives actually surviving in only moist mud under leaves. Amazing to see that.

He has a great collection of videos that focus on native brook trout in Pa.
 
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Drought monitor doesn't register anything in PA above yellow (abnormally dry). Also, did you miss the like 6 feet of rain we got earlier this year?

Fish will be fine as they always have been.
 
I was up at Kettle this past weekend and the water was incredibly low, low enough that it really wasn't worth fishing since the fish could see you far before you could see them, but the water temps never exceeded 62F.
 
Was with the TU crew up there two weeks ago shocking a run. It was very low, but good temps, and impressive numbers of fish!!
I certainly would not even consider fishing for trout in these conditions.
Man… we need some rain.
As in the previous posts… that’s why it’s very important to have proper connectivity of those brookie streams. So the fish can escape to better holding water for the time being.
When you see it first hand, you get it.
 
Sharknado5 said:
Nasty drought in north central counties. Streamflow gauge on main stem Driftwood Branch at Sterling Run currently 6 cfs.

I haven't been there for a month but the tribs must be barely flowing. This has gotta be one of the worst summers in that area. Are the natives at risk?
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6 cfs that far down on the Driftwood Branch is extremely low flow.

If you have the opportunity, go walk along some of the small brook trout streams while they are in this condition. I did this during the severe 1999 drought. It's interesting.

If you go, take some photos.
 
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Nocktavius said:
Drought monitor doesn't register anything in PA above yellow (abnormally dry). Also, did you miss the like 6 feet of rain we got earlier this year?

Fish will be fine as they always have been.
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August was dry, so whether we got 6 inches or 6 feet of rain earlier won't sustain flows for a month-long lack of rain. The lack of rain won't cause the extirpation of brookies in PA, but it might impact the spawn and certainly impacts where they are at in a stream now. They won't be hanging in riffles when the riffles are completely underground...

Long term viability of the fish? Not an issue. Our ability as anglers to target them? Much diminished currently...
 
I was waiting for the annual Fall "worst I ever seen it" post! I do spec some rain is, indeed, comin'. We could use it down here as well.
 
The flows in the Driftwood Branch at Sterling Run are much lower proportionally than the other streams in the region.

If someone wants to see what real drought looks like, that would be the drainage to go to. I think you would see a lot of dry sections on the small brookie streams.

But go tomorrow because rain is forecast for Thursday.
 
section 1 thru 5 of the First Fork are dangerously low and temp in late july and early august checking up to 74 and 76 degrees this past week have been between 64 and 66 degrees with minimal water flows and tribs near dried up. Freeman Run is in a very very low flow condition and temps have been up to 71 deg in early august and dropping to avg currently of 62 to 64 deg with flow compared to a garden hose. hopefully these cooler nights will aide in temps to keep falling.
 
We were up at camp for two weeks in August to ride the Pine Creek Trail. Riding up to Wellsboro Junction the trail passes over Asaph, Straight, and Canada Runs. All were dry. The only streams with a little water were Darling Run and Little Four Mile. Pine was very low too.
 

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Asaph regularly sinks into the cobble down near its mouth at the rail trail. This happens most years. I suspect Straight and Canada are similar situations. If you follow them upstream, I’m certain you’ll find flowing water.

This is also relatively common on tribs in the canyon on The Pine.
 
Not many boulders in any of these photos. I would guess fishing rarely good in these sections. Apparently these streams provide no cooling to the creeks they feed.
 
riverwhy said:
Not many boulders in any of these photos. I would guess fishing rarely good in these sections. Apparently these streams provide no cooling to the creeks they feed.
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Actually the opposite. When the water sinks like that it actually does significantly cool the water. The water still enters the receiving stream, it just does so underwater in the receiving stream, like a spring seep basically. This is why you still see stockers stacked at the mouths of dry (at their mouths) tribs on The Pine in the Canyon all the time. They’re sitting in the outflow of colder water from the trib. You can’t see it, but put your hand down into it. It’s much colder than the water on The Pine. Pretty common occurrence.
 
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