White Deer Creek, Union County, 6/28/14

[PennsylvaniaJesse]

My friend fished the fly stretch on White Deer last night. I fished it all morning today... sad to report few fish, far and few between. I caught a few natives, but I only saw one decent trout, a brownie at maybe 15". I have caught several fingerlings, I have been told that the state put a bunch in there. They are about 4" long, just big enough to be a pest and eat my flies.

So, what happened to the trout? Did the state cut back that severely on the stocking at White Deer that we see almost no fish? I can remember just a few years ago, we could fish all summer long and catch nice trout, but not now.

Terrestrials rule the game here, ants and beetles brought the most hits for me.

Can anyone enlighten us as to what is going on here? Thanks.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I too have had the same experience there, from what I have heard the state is trying to return it to a wild trout fishery. So they have started stocking brown trout fingerlings because they feel they have a better chance of developing into a reproducing wt population. They claim brookies were given a fair chance, but IMO with the state stocking it every year the natives didn't have much of a chance.

 

[Mike]

Your poorer fishing success in comparison to the past may be related to the discontinuation of adult trout stockings in the fingerling stocked C&R FFO Areas. You may have better success in the portion of the stream that is not under special regs if it is stocked adult trout that you seek.

 

[OldLefty]

The C&R section of White Deer Crk is now under a fingerling stocking program which will continue for 3 yrs. This is the 2nd year. 5000 fingerling browns are stocked in the fall and before the stocking the stream section is surveyed to determine survival rate of the stocked fish. I learned that success would be a minimum of 25% survival rate. That would translate to 1250 browns from the most recent fingerling stocking.

I was able to accompany the PFBC folks when the survey was conducted last fall. There were not many trout electroshocked throughout the entire C&R section and, of all the trout brought to net, only somewhere around 20 were from the fingerling stocking. That's not 20%, that's 20 individuals. Not good.

 

[PennsylvaniaJesse]

I have fished the open water as well, I have caught a few better fish there. The open regs water sections are much more difficult to fish with a fly rod. I guess I need to change creeks for a bit...

 

[afishinado]

PennsylvaniaJesse wrote:
My friend fished the fly stretch on White Deer last night. I fished it all morning today... sad to report few fish, far and few between. I caught a few natives, but I only saw one decent trout, a brownie at maybe 15". I have caught several fingerlings, I have been told that the state put a bunch in there. They are about 4" long, just big enough to be a pest and eat my flies.

So, what happened to the trout? Did the state cut back that severely on the stocking at White Deer that we see almost no fish? I can remember just a few years ago, we could fish all summer long and catch nice trout, but not now.

Terrestrials rule the game here, ants and beetles brought the most hits for me.

Can anyone enlighten us as to what is going on here? Thanks.

Given that the fingerlings were stocked in the fall, and from what I've seen, the "fingerlings" stocked by the PFBC are usually a lot larger than 4" long, one might assume the 4" fish were wild. Maybe there is some hope for the future.

 

[troutbert]

There are wild trout, brookies and browns, all through the state forest section. They are not great in size and numbers, but they are there.

The stream has been managed for hatchery trout all along. If it was managed for wild trout, its wild trout population would probably be much better than it is now.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I learned to flyfish on the FFO section of White Deer Creek. I don't even bother to fish it now. This experiment with fingerlings is a lost cause and a BIGGER waste of money. I remember fishing there when you were lucky to find a spot to park. No longer, very seldom do you see anybody flyfishing it. The word has gotten around and people no longer go there. Another success story for the PFBC :-x

 

[Foxgap239]

WildTigerTrout wrote:
I learned to flyfish on the FFO section of White Deer Creek. I don't even bother to fish it now. This experiment with fingerlings is a lost cause and a BIGGER waste of money. I remember fishing there when you were lucky to find a spot to park. No longer, very seldom do you see anybody flyfishing it. The word has gotten around and people no longer go there. Another success story for the PFBC :-x

Ed, I remember being on that section the year before the fingerling stocking program began. I met a gentleman who Id'd himself as being with the TU chapter that covered that water. He told me they had petitioned the PFBC to go with that program to see if they could put an end to the poaching they contended was rampant there. That was in late June (I think they stocked in March) and I had a stellar day for catching fish, so I'm not sure how much poaching really occurred. He never mentioned they wanted it done to get a wild trout population established or enhanced. I also remember Mike sending me a PM asking me how I knew White Deer was going on this program when I mentioned in it a thread yet to his knowledge it hadn't been publicly announced yet. That led me to conclude the TU guy was giving me the straight scoop which of course doesn't mean he was giving me the "exact" scoop.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I too cut my teeth flyfishing the special regs area, I really hope it gets straightened out in a few years because it really is a beautiful place to fish.