Montour run brook trout?

[BS21]

First of all I wanted to say hello! I have been lurking around here fora while but never registered. Also I am relatively new to fly fishing. I used to do some fly fshing for panfish when I was younger(24 now) but am now trying to teach myself over again when I can.

Anyway to my question. I caught what to me is a brook trout on montour run. However the people I fish with, some of them old timers who have fished this stream forever, say that it can't be because they aren't stocked and they wouldn't hold over. I have no idea when the last time this stream would have been stocked with brokk trout but I have one.

p.s. tried to post a pic but guess i'll have to resize it...photobucket IMG tag doesn't work here.

 

[BS21]

ok pic worked this time.....sorry not my best photography

 

[MKern]

It looks like a wild brookie to me. So they could be there without stocking -- they live there year round.

P.S. be ready to duck and cover.....

 

[JackM]

My work blocks some images, so I can't see yours, but assuming it is a brookie and that PFBC stocks some trout on Montour, then it is not surprising or unusual that a stray brookie could have been in the group of other fish, even if the intent was to stock only browns and rainbows.

 

[BS21]

well i normally catch an release but this is a stocked stream in allegheny county in an urban area. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with this area because its not what i would call a mecca for fly fisherman. I only keep one here and there so if thats the issue i'm sorry. I assumed it was a stocked fish that wouldn't survive summer anyway.

Jack: That sounds like a solid explanation. I was jsut surprised to see one there i guess.

 

[Meangreenstick]

my guess is it slipped into the batch of fish that went into montour. it gets stocked heavy, so who knows maybe they ran out of rainbows and browns and tossed a bunch of brookies in.

no way would a brookie be able to survive motnour year round.......

 

[tomgamber]

Just a regular brookie...

 

[ryguyfi]

Meangreenstick wrote:
my guess is it slipped into the batch of fish that went into montour. it gets stocked heavy, so who knows maybe they ran out of rainbows and browns and tossed a bunch of brookies in.

no way would a brookie be able to survive motnour year round.......

I completely agree that there is a very very very small chance that is wild. Most likely it slipped in with the brownies or rainbows. I fished montour run once two years ago in the fall after the stocking. It was blistering hot, close to the 90's. I got more mosquito bites than fish bites that day. Doesn't seem like a stream to me that would hold wilds. I'd rather spend 30 min at Gander Mountain on the hill there, than fish that stream, but that's just from my past experience. All in all it is a nice fish, but if you're going to find wilds, go northeast my friend.

For a short fishing day I'd fish there, but there's better water 30 min from me than that up north... Slippery Rock, Neshannock, Shenango River. Farther north is even some more good streams.... tough fishing in the Pittsburgh area, too many put and take places.


I live about 30 min north of there, so if you ever want to fish just ask, be more than happy to help you out.

 

[Acristickid]

There is a sportmans club that stocks the stream in addition to what the state puts in.

 

[BS21]

thanks for the replies....I was not familiar enough with fisheries to know that species could get mixed in. I just assumed that they would be seperated all the time. Montour run isn't as isolated or pristine as streams in other places i guess but for the area there is enough room to get away from people for a while. I do some fishing for bass and other species in this stream all year. Its close and I've walked it from the mouth up to where stocking begins so i'm comfortable here.

Forest Grove sportsman's club does stock it sometimes. I'm not sure if they did this year or not though.

I would like to get out on some other water though....I was on a bike run to cooks forest to get wings at vowinckle and crossed the clarion. I was thinking about trecking up there one day.

 

[Chaz]

The idea of stocking only rainbows and browns in a particular stream is very iffy, because if you've ever seen a hatchery you'd know that the fish are usually all mixed in together. It is a brookie. It could be wild, just do some exploring and find out for yourself if there are more further upstream.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I love wild trout fishing but i also do other kinds of fishing. Stocked not stocked....hey who cares. Thats a pretty fish. If you consistently have nice days catching beautiful fish, why question it. Its a beautiful thing :-D

 

[Maurice]

Since its already dead....what color was the meat? My guess is impossible to extremely unlikely that it is wild based on where you caught it. Its not wild trout water by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[BS21]

meat was white. I knew it was stocked i just didn' tknow fish got mixed in sometimes. There were a couple other brook trout in there also. I coud see the pattern on their back.

Anyone fished clarion river or another stream in cooks forest?

 

[Maurice]

Like Acristickid said it could have come from a club. Still it was a good size and had clean pectoral fins....was the caudal *tail) fin rounded or sharp on the corners? It may have been raised in a pond if the fins were clean.

 

[pcray1231]

2 things.

First, as everyone else said, a few get mixed in. I remember helping stock a few streams and there was always a fish or two in the bucket that wasn't "supposed" to be there. If you go to the hatchery its like this too. The raceways for brookies, browns, and rainbows are separated, but there's always one or two brookies and rainbows in the brown raceway, for instance.

Second, how far is the nearest stream that is supposed to be stocked with brookies? I fish several streams that aren't supposed to get them, yet I frequently catch them, perhaps as many as 20% of my catch in places. I'm assuming they come from tributaries that are supposed to be stocked with them, or else up from somewhere downstream. Fish do move, many times many miles. For example, I catch numerous stocked brookies in Tionesta Creek, its tribs are all stocked with them but it isn't. I've caught them in Spring Creek (likely hatchery escapees) and in Penns Creek (come out of Big Poe) too. Even caught one on the Tully last year, where he came from I've no clue.

 

[Maurice]

Montour run flows into the Ohio River....Yer talking locks and dams, and alot of un-trouty water in the pittsburgh area. My money is on the club stocking.

 

[jaybo41]

MMMMMMM Vowinckle Hotel wings 😛int: No need to beat the dead horse on the explaination. Most important thing about fishing is to enjoy doing it and appreciate the resources that provide you the ability to do it.

 

[BS21]

Maurice: tail fin was rounded on the corners. fish was 14-15 inches so pretty big fish for being stocked.

Jay: yea vowinckle wings are good stuff. I wish i got up there more often but only once a year in october.

 

[Meangreenstick]

i think we all can assure you that trout came out of a truck.....i must solve the late evening emergers down there.....that is the fourth or fifth night i havent been able to get a bite with fish breaking the surface everywhere.