Camp run and Indian Creek, Westmoreland County, 3/31/21

ryanh

ryanh

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Got out today before the cold front hit. Worked about a half mile of camp run and never bumped a brookie. I’ve never gotten the skunk on this mountain stream before which concerns me. Threw caddis dries and nymphs to all the likely spots.

To salvage the day hit Indian creek special regs on the way home. Got several on suckerspawn. The water was slightly off color which helped in this tight quarters stream.
 
Camp Run gets too much pressure for a small brookie stream. All it takes is one guy ahead of you to put the fish down for a bit, even brookies. I rarely go there anymore.
 
greenghost wrote:
Camp Run gets too much pressure for a small brookie stream. All it takes is one guy ahead of you to put the fish down for a bit, even brookies. I rarely go there anymore.
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The one guy ahead of you putting the fish down scenario applies to most small wild trout streams. The early bird catches the trout.
 
Camp Run is a special regs area brookie stream. It really does get pounded.

People always say that brookies are easy to catch.

But where brookies are fished over a lot, their behavior changes. I've seen this several places, and definitely at Camp Run. They get far more skittish.

But there could be other factors too, such as when you fished there, the water temps, bug activity or lack thereof, etc.

This time of year, it's usually cold in the morning. The afternoon is typically much better.

And you don't need a heavy hatch. But if you are seeing NO bugs at all, the dry fly fishing is often slow.
 
I caught this Brook trout in the delayed harvest area of Indian Creek on 3/30/'21. I've never caught one with crazy lines instead of spots.
 

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Arminacast wrote:
I caught this Brook trout in the delayed harvest area of Indian Creek on 3/30/'21. I've never caught one with crazy lines instead of spots.
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That's a Tiger trout--brookie x brownie--probably stocked.
 
I don't think that's a tiger.

It's a brookie with some blended spots. There have been some other pics of STs with this coloration pattern posted here in recent years, mostly small, wild fish. It's usually the red/orange spots that are blended into funny squiggles.
 
Appears to be the "patriot" strain of brook trout being raised by Laurel Hill..... these worry me if they start to intermix with wild brook trout populations. They look cool, but their impact on wild populations is unknown. I would rather not see them spread to the rest of the state.
 
The elongated spots on the back and the large spots by the tail still look tiger-ish to me. It's obviously not a pure brookie. What other species are they going to cross with? It's definitely not a splake.
 
lycoflyfisher is correct. It's a patriot trout from Laurel Hill hatchery. Coming to, or already in a brookie stream in the Laurel Highlands near you!! Maybe throw some lightin' trout in there to really set the mood. This same hatchery was featured on the Travel Channel's Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods show, Pittsburgh edition. It describes the hatchery as the source for Pittsburgh's "pristine" trout on their menus. I guess if you are going to charge $25 for a pellet head, at least it should be raised near naturally reproducing trout. Same thing amirite??? "Farm" to table at its finest.
 
https://www.laurelhilltroutfarm.com/stockinginformation

They do not have any info on the "patriot" strain, however at the link above another one is pictured. Theres been quite a few pics of these fish shared on Facebook in the last year or so. I do not know the specific genetics or cross breeding involved to develop this coloration and spot pattern.
 
wildtrout2 wrote:
That's more conclusive. Just a weird brookie.
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Yep. It is odd for sure.
 
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