Thompson Run,Centre County,10-20-13

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mario66pens

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Fished Thompson Run today a tributary to Slab Cabin Run and Spring Creek. I was surprised at the size of some of the fish that I caught. The majority of my catch was in the 7 to 13 in range Had an exceptional time with a good deal of fish of all sizes. Lost probably the largest wild brown I ever hooked in a plunge pool. Size 18 simplified olive hares ear (Just a dubbed noodle of olive hares mask) seamed to work well. What I thought was interesting was my catch ratio seemed to 80/20 in favor of rainbows to browns.

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This one was close to 17 in

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That place got hammered by flash flooding this summer. Obviously the trout are still doing fine! That last rainbow is gorgeous. I got skunked last time I went and haven't been back in a month or so, but used to fish it once or twice a month.

Last year I caught tons of 7-9" rainbows in there. They're all 12"+ now, must have been a great year class because I don't catch too many in other size ranges. And I hear you about the big brown...hooking them there is one thing, landing them is another!
 
Very nice fish! I recently read about that stream somewhere and I've had an urge to give it a try. Is it a limestone spring or a freestone?
 
Limestone. It's on the small side though. You can fish the whole length of the open water in two hours. Fished it today briefly and overall it seemed pretty dead. Fishing there is very hit or miss and will be mostly miss until we get more rain.
 
Joe Humphreys used to fish that steam as a kid. Brookies back then.
 
Anybody have theories about where all those rainbows are coming from? Not many years ago it was all browns in there.
 
TB,

If you look at some satellite imagery from the early 2000's, it looks like the upper part of Thompson run used to split into two channels, one right along 26 and one behind the YBC and car place. Now all of the water goes in the channel right along 26. That means 2X the flow, but with riprap banks the channel can't widen to match the extra flow=deep, fast water. My theory is this faster water favors the rainbows. There are at least as many rainbows as browns in the channelized section. Above and below, there are some rainbows but browns still dominate. I've only been fishing it for 3 years so I don't know what it was like in the past, but that's my best guess as to why the 'bow population has taken off.

As for where they came from originally, JH told me that a long time ago a stocking truck full of rainbows broke down right near Thompson Run and they decided to dump them in right there instead of letting them die. Not sure when this happened.

I'm sure some also originated from hatchery fish that escaped into Spring Creek and started swimming.
 
Nevermind about that theory- I looked a little closer and what I thought was a split channel was another branch of the stream entirely (walnut springs).
 
sarce wrote:
I'm sure some also originated from hatchery fish that escaped into Spring Creek and started swimming.
Click to expand...
This would be my guess
 
the number of bows in the major unstocked streams around center and adjacent counties have exploded over the last 3 years. The last 2 were especially productive. We have had two "mild" summers in a row and spring flows manageable. My theory is that the rate of reproduction has been constant, but a larger number of fish are surviving. The number of YOY stream-born rainbows I've seen and caught this year has been downright impressive. I fear a really dry and hot summer will drop the population again.
 
nymphingmaniac wrote:
the number of bows in the major unstocked streams around center and adjacent counties have exploded over the last 3 years. The last 2 were especially productive. We have had two "mild" summers in a row and spring flows manageable. My theory is that the rate of reproduction has been constant, but a larger number of fish are surviving. The number of YOY stream-born rainbows I've seen and caught this year has been downright impressive. I fear a really dry and hot summer will drop the population again.
Click to expand...

Interesting!
Down here in center state in the Cumberland Valley wild trout of all species are doing very well. There are some exceptions IMO......but generally things are very good in the limestoners around here for brooks, browns, and bows. However, the spring creeks around here, I think, may be more stable with respect to flow and temp than the spring creeks in and around Centre Co. Would be interested to see some sort of monitoring of situations like this - ideally through electrofishing but anecdotal accounts from fishermen about rainbows and weather conditions over the years would still be interesting.
 
Rainbow trout have been stocked by the millions ever since the PFBC was formed in the late 1800s.

But until recently there were very streams with wild rainbow populations.

So the explanation of the explosion in recent years has to be something else.

Namely the stocking of rainbow trout of different genetics than has been stocked in the past.

So, is the stocking of rainbow trout with different genetics coming from private parties? Or the PFBC? Or both?
 
troutbert wrote:
Rainbow trout have been stocked by the millions ever since the PFBC was formed in the late 1800s.

But until recently there were very streams with wild rainbow populations.

So the explanation of the explosion in recent years has to be something else.

Namely the stocking of rainbow trout of different genetics than has been stocked in the past.

So, is the stocking of rainbow trout with different genetics coming from private parties? Or the PFBC? Or both?
Click to expand...

I think a case can be made for both. Think of this stream (possibly stocked, or escapees), and the little J (almost certainly privately stocked). Both resulting in reproducing populations that were not there, or at minimal levels, even a few years ago.
 
I assume you guys are accessing this stream behind Hickey's and the Marriott hotel? Between 26 and Slab Cabin.
 
FWIW, I get the impression these rainbows were fairly well established before I started fishing it. Some of the first rainbows I caught there were pretty big, probably 4-5 years old, and their parents must have been there a few years before that...I'd guess they've been there at least ten years. Obviously I don't know if there were as many in the past, but there must have been some.

I caught a rainbow at Fisherman's Paradise a few weeks ago that looked (and fought) identical to the wild ones in Thompson and Slab Cabin. Have also caught a few small ones at Spring Creek Park. I think they are pretty widespread. I even caught what i think was a wild rainbow in a Centre County freestone stream, but that had a completely different spot pattern from the ones in the spring creek watershed.

BrookieChaser wrote:

I assume you guys are accessing this stream behind Hickey's and the Marriott hotel? Between 26 and Slab Cabin.
Click to expand...

Yes. Plan on dodging lots of traffic if you want to fish above there and try not to hook cars or a catabus on your backcast, lol.
 
Thanks sarce! I was thinking about the layout when reading this and that was the only logical place I could come up with.
 
A prof told me about this report that was recently published. Maybe a little heavy on the tech side but very interesting, especially page 33. At the very end are some pics of the flash flooding this past summer. Worth a read if you are interested in the history of this stream.

link
 
Interesting report.

Is that you in Figure 11? 🙂

Interesting that the bulk of the runoff from the campus proper ends up in the Duck Pond sub-basin. No wonder floods blow Thompson Run out, given that 50% of the surface is impervious.
 
Lol! I don't dress that well.

I think I almost snuck into fig 64- I fished that exact pool (which was two pools the day before) after the flood and remember the water clarity and level were almost exactly what is shown in that picture.

I noticed from the one table, 4 of the 7 highest flow events since 2007 occurred in a one-month span this past summer. Ouch.

And take a look at figure 52- is that our answer for why there are more rainbows? It shows the flow from the main spring basically doubling starting in 2011.
 
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