Spring Creek, Centre County, 8/1/24

[vern]

Spring Creek does not have a brook trout population.

Someone I knew a long time lived downstream of the Paradise and though told me about some RT population in Spring Creek, he only mentioned it a few times; and then never.

The wild rainbows I caught in small streams in the Cascades seemed to be similar in regular size as the small stream brookies that remain in Pa.

Back before all the stream and river changes during the harvest trees and coal of the entire state, there were large brookies in streams such as the main Kettle Creek.
History I read years ago said that they were a larger variety of brook trout adapted to a larger flow of cool water.
Though the diet seems similar, the Kettle Creek brookies were larger than those in the tribs. I always figured that meant that trout varieties exist according to the niche they occupy.

Small streams support small fish. Food and cover and spawning.

Larger waters have more food, more cover (especially with depth providing cover) and perhaps even more of a consistency in repeating proper sized benthic stone stretches and water coming up through the bottom of the stone to ensure proper egg survival and early-stage survival.
The larger waters provide habitat that should be expected (in my rationalization) to support and provide a stream that reflects the evolutionary sized fish that correlate to flow, food and fear.

As well, the larger flows host a great range of other fish species and crustacean populations and insect larvae and pupae and nymphs. That diversity of food should seem to support the creation of a more predatory and thus larger Brook Trout ... maybe?

(For drinking thinking, the Cascades and other streams on those mountain ranges that host rainbows have a very, very narrow pathway. It's still in an earlier stage of erosion than currently for brook trout. Perhaps that explains the adaption to needing colder water?
Maybe it's a feature of the whole Pacific salmon/rainbow trout locations and genetics. Although I never thought I would see that many different salmon species coming up the Skagit to spawn that September. I did actually catch a bull trout. And yes, I know Bull Trout are one of the Salvelinus, as well the Lake Trout. However, I feel that they were split off from the Eastern Brook Trout by glacial effects.)

 

[sarce]

Gap Run has its brookies, but before it dumps into Spring Creek it goes underground. I don’t know if they are able to get to the main stream.

I think that same scenario happens for all the brook trout streams in the Spring Creek watershed (stretches that typically run underground), at least the streams I am aware of.

I've seen brook trout in two unusual places in the watershed. One was a large brook trout I caught (twice) in Slab Cabin. Having caught probably 100 browns there over many outings that was the only brook trout I ever encountered there. I suspect it came from a trib that runs off the ridge - the first catch was a week after a major flood which overlapped with the post-spawn period for brook trout, when they are weak and can be pushed around easily by strong flows.

Another time, I was exploring a park near the headwaters of Buffalo Run and found a dead brook trout in the stream. I caught a couple browns there, didn't find any other brook trout. That one has always been really puzzling to me.

 

[troutbert]

I think that same scenario happens for all the brook trout streams in the Spring Creek watershed (stretches that typically run underground), at least the streams I am aware of.

I've seen brook trout in two unusual places in the watershed. One was a large brook trout I caught (twice) in Slab Cabin. Having caught probably 100 browns there over many outings that was the only brook trout I ever encountered there. I suspect it came from a trib that runs off the ridge - the first catch was a week after a major flood which overlapped with the post-spawn period for brook trout, when they are weak and can be pushed around easily by strong flows.

Another time, I was exploring a park near the headwaters of Buffalo Run and found a dead brook trout in the stream. I caught a couple browns there, didn't find any other brook trout. That one has always been really puzzling to me.

I once caught a large brook trout in Slab Cabin Run, just below the spring at Pine Grove Mills. It looked like a hatchery trout. The one you caught in Buffalo Run was probably a hatchery brookie also. People stock trout everywhere.

 

[sarce]

I once caught a large brook trout in Slab Cabin Run, just below the spring at Pine Grove Mills. It looked like a hatchery trout. The one you caught in Buffalo Run was probably a hatchery brookie also. People stock trout everywhere.

The one in Buffalo was found dead. It was only 6-7" long and did not appear to be a hatchery fish. I wouldn't argue there is some secret population where you could actually catch them with any consistency - just some interesting stray brookies. I bet other anglers have randomly found one or two in the valley streams of that system.

We have a few streams with spring influence here in MD that are regarded as entirely brown trout streams but every few years someone will turn up a stray brook trout. They can go relatively undetected in very low numbers for a long time.

 

[wildtrout2]

... just some interesting stray brookies.

There's a remote unstocked stream I fish that is 99.9% wild browns. Over roughly 22 years and 40+ trips, I've only ever caught maybe five small natives. Always found that interesting. This stream has two tiny tribs, so tiny and so tight, I never attempted to fish either of them. If these tiny tribs were where those few natives came from, wouldn't there be more of them in the main stream?

This stream dumps into the Lehigh, so I guess it's possible they came from there?

Edit: Giving it more thought, they couldn't have come from the river, because they were upstream of an impassble waterfall.

 

[sarce]

There's a remote unstocked stream I fish that is 99.9% wild browns. Over roughly 22 years and 40+ trips, I've only ever caught maybe five small natives. Always found that interesting. This stream has two tiny tribs, so tiny and so tight, I never attempted to fish either of them. If these tiny tribs were where those few natives came from, wouldn't there be more of them in the main stream?

This stream dumps into the Lehigh, so I guess it's possible they came from there?

Edit: Giving it more thought, they couldn't have come from the river, because they were upstream of an impassble waterfall.

Given the barrier, I would interpret those random brookies as remnants from a time before the browns. At the risk of going further off topic I would say the browns have likely pushed them into the last niches of the watershed...those ultra tiny tribs may be the only place left that isn't suitable for browns. The brook trout population could be supported by one or two spawning pairs of fish in some years.