2024 Trout Stocking Schedule?

Rainier42

Rainier42

Member
Joined
May 26, 2020
Messages
82
Anyone know when the 2024 PA trout stocking schedule will be posted?
 
Usually by the end of this month or early February.
 
I think now-a-days they target Feb 1 as the date of release. Not certain, but it seems so and would make sense operationally. The schedules, preseason and inseason, and related load combinations/logistics, undergo substantial review and modification by WCO’s, their supervisors, and at least some AFM’s before being released.
 
Last edited:
The site appears to have the 2024 stocking schedule up now.
 
I looked at the stocking schedule and it is lot less user friendly than in the past, IMO.

But that being said, just my opinion, but I think Mike put a lot more thought in when and where stocking should be to maximize the opportunities of anglers.

Just one example is Tulpehocken Creek which has a C& R delayed harvest section very popular with anglers for both fly and spin.

In the past, it was stocked at the earliest date to allow anglers some decent winter / early spring fishing.

Under the current schedule, the first stocking is on 3/18 in the DH water and yet there is a scheduled stocking upstream just above the reservoir on 2/23 in the regular stocked water where no one can fish until April.

Further the section below the DH is "open to year round fishing" regs and it isn't stocked until 4/8 after the season opener. It's very purpose is to allow fishing when other streams and sections are closed.

Sorry to say there has not been a lot of thought put into stocking to allow anglers to get out there and fish when many other streams are closed to fishing.
 
The new layout is a total pain. I wasn't a fan of the last version, but getting an overview of what was happening in each county was easier. This new one shows the same info but requires much more scrolling and clicking.
 
Sheeezz, I wonder what chain of salaried State employee thought this complicated format was better than the previous easy to read version. In business, there would be impacts on one’s employment - I wonder if its the same with the state.
 
Updates to all state agency web pages and mapping in recent years all leave room for improvement. It's the fault of state contracts and the IT folks rarely having any inkling of understanding of how the information they are organizing is used.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CRB
In the other thread on this topic, I stated that I thought it looked like an improvement, but I never actually ran the stocking report. I thought county layout looked nice. Once you run the report, however, it is garbage. It is much more difficult to read and less user friendly than the old one.

I don't usually check it much anyways, however.
 
lycoflyfisher said:
Updates to all state agency web pages and mapping in recent years all leave room for improvement. It's the fault of state contracts and the IT folks rarely having any inkling of understanding of how the information they are organizing is used.
Click to expand...
The old saying “good enough for government work” hahaha.

Sub par websites starts from the top. Before the devs can even start to code out a website, the state has to submit a design request. Most likely working with the devs during the entire process. The issue is the state requirements are probably minimal and they most likely give the devs a “looks good to me”. Just glad I went the backend engineer route LOL, I feel for the web devs!!
 
afishinado said:
But that being said, just my opinion, but I think Mike put a lot more thought in when and where stocking should be to maximize the opportunities of anglers.

Just one example is Tulpehocken Creek which has a C& R delayed harvest section very popular with anglers for both fly and spin.
Click to expand...
I did put a lot of thought into it, but in the Tully DH case you may blame me. At a meeting it seemed to be the general consensus that fly fishing was pretty poor above 300 cfs in the DH Area, so I checked the historical flow data and found that on avg the stream didn’t get below that level until sometime in the first week of Apr. As a result, I set up a special remark in the hatchery system that the DH area stocking should be delayed until a certain date. I don’t recall the exact date now, but it was probably between March 21 and Apr 1. Last yr and this yr the stockings were planned and executed at about the same time I believe, which is still more than a week, possibly two, before flow on avg drops to 300 cfs in Section 06 where the USGS gauge is located. Also, the group seemed to focus on fishing when the hatches were occurring, which was later. If few people were fishing early in March, then stocking that many fish and having the daily natural mortality and movement reduce that number without many fishermen to enjoy those fish indicated to me that perhaps I should have the fish stocked when there was more interest and capability to fish effectively.
 
Last edited:
afishinado said:
I looked at the stocking schedule and it is lot less user friendly than in the past, IMO.

But that being said, just my opinion, but I think Mike put a lot more thought in when and where stocking should be to maximize the opportunities of anglers.

Just one example is Tulpehocken Creek which has a C& R delayed harvest section very popular with anglers for both fly and spin.

In the past, it was stocked at the earliest date to allow anglers some decent winter / early spring fishing.

Under the current schedule, the first stocking is on 3/18 in the DH water and yet there is a scheduled stocking upstream just above the reservoir on 2/23 in the regular stocked water where no one can fish until April.

Further the section below the DH is "open to year round fishing" regs and it isn't stocked until 4/8 after the season opener. It's very purpose is to allow fishing when other streams and sections are closed.

Sorry to say there has not been a lot of thought put into stocking to allow anglers to get out there and fish when many other streams are closed to fishing.
Click to expand...
I agree, a bunch of DHALO sections are stocked in FEB. not sure why the TULLY isn't one of them with it's popularity. Sorry I just saw Mike's reply above.
 
Parts of the Little Lehigh are getting stocked as early as Feb. 22. That's the earliest I've seen any stream getting stocked.
 
TYoung said:
Parts of the Little Lehigh are getting stocked as early as Feb. 22. That's the earliest I've seen any stream getting stocked.
Click to expand...
There are a couple of DHALO streams in central PA. getting stocked on the 20th of Feb. where they were previously stocked in March, a nice change.
 
Angler usage is definitely down when the Tully is above 300cfs… most likely due to wading. I definitely think the river is at a healthy flow from 300-400 cfs. I remember maybe 2017 or 2018, the Tully had much higher flows/cooler water than normal all through spring and summer. The amount of fish that held over the summer was pretty sweet. The past spring flows weren’t great with it being 70cfs the entirety of April.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top