Why?

[Sparce]

Why haven't States such as PA and WV done what Montana has in reguards to stockings (fingerlings only)? I believe PA and I know WV has hundreds of miles of great trout water. Yet we dump gray trout into many of these waters. I understand stocking adults in "marginal water", but when we know it's bad for a stream to put adults in........why do we do it.

 

[cdogedoger]

I would take a guess and say that fisherman complaining about catching small fish has something to do with it. I know a few people who fish the Tully often and always complained about catching fingerlings. I don't think they stock the tully with them any more. That's just my guess.

John

 

[Wulff-Man]

According to the PFBC they stopped stocking fingerlings in the Tully because there was a very poor suvival rate. I have no reason to doubt that. Actually, I think it fishes much better now that they started stocking adults again. Some of them might grow into some very nice holdovers.

They have alkso stocked fingerlings in the Little Juniata and Penns Creek, and there was a lot of opposition, more because it was seen as polluting wild trout fisheries more than it being a nusiance, I think. And the fingerlings just ended up being brown trout food and didn't survive well.

 

[Chaz]

First of all fingerling stockings of trout in PA have met with little success, they juat don't survive well and make it to adulthood. The practice seems to have greater success in tailwaters, however not in the Tully. Anglers are very finicky by nature and complain that there aren't enough fish, when there are they complain about the small size, if it isn't that then it's they didn't put any in my favorite hole and on and on ad nauseum.

 

[afishinado]

I realize that fingerling stocking was halted on the Tully. My fishing experience has been that the fingerlings were surviving quite well. I live fairly close to the Tully and fish it quite often. It was my favorite non-wild trout place to fish. I would catch the smaller fingerlings along with holdovers winter and spring. By late summer and fall even the fingerlings were great looking fish. I found under the fingerling stocking program, both the number of fish and size distribution was very good in the Tully. I regularly caught some hefty, well colored rainbow and brown holdovers.

Last year was the first year that the stream had both holdover fingerlings and stocked adults, so the fishing was good. I believe that stocking adults only, will decrease the overall number of trout, since far more fingerlings were stocked than adults. I’m not even sure if the size will necessarily increase either by stocking adults only.

I was disappointed when I recently fished the Tully and caught some pale, wimpy freshly stocked fish. The Little J is a great example of the success of the fingerling program. I know it doesn’t work everywhere, but I believe it worked at the Tully. Just my opinion.

 

[vcregular]

Re: The Tully trout management...see the link. Reading Eagle.

Throw your voice into the mix. Actually, does anyone even know about this request? Sorry to hijack.

 

[afishinado]

Thanks VC,

I wasn't aware of the article. I'm sending an E-mail to voice my opion right now.