Wild browns and a stocker bow in Dunbar Creek

[chuckyblack09]

Meant to write this up some time ago. I'd like to see what others have to say, theories, and personal experiences while fishing Dunbar.

Last August (2016) I was out at Dunbar doing some fishing for wild brookies above the parking lot. Right where the parking lot area is I was surprised to catch a little wild brownie.

Up until this point and still I have never heard of anyone else reporting any brown reproduction, only brookies.

Has anyone else landed any wild browns this far down or up further on Dunbar?

Then in October I happened to catch a stocker bow which I was surprised from as well. To my knowledge they don't stock rainbows in Dunbar, so how did it get there?

Here are pictures of both: http://imgur.com/a/gmFeb\

Thoughts, opinions, and experiences would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[dryflyguy]

Not surprised to hear of a wild brownie - although I can't recall catching any there. But I have caught them in other brookie streams in the laurel highlands.

As for the rainbow - they used to stock them in there. I remember a few days catching brooks, browns, and rainbows. And for a while, I was even getting a few tigers. ( all stocked)

Another possibility - that rainbow may have swam up from the yough river. I don't believe there are any dams on the creek to block them

 

[Acristickid]

Used to fish there a few times a season about 10 years ago- never caught any wild fish. But not surprising, as there are many stream in the Laurels that harbor wild browns and bows.

 

[fayettenamese]

I live in Dunbar and have caught a few thousand fish out of the stream over the years. I've caught a lot of rainbows in there. Out of literally over 3000 trout I've caught from the stream, only two have been wild browns. So yes, extremely limited reproduction does occur but my guess is that its just from a few lucky stockers. I don't think there is any sort of sustaining wild brown population in there. They also stock browns that are very small (6-7") in length that resemble wild fish.

 

[steveo27]

Man, Ive been trying to find a wild brown or 2 in there for a few years now with no luck. As mentioned I think the reproduction is VERY limited. I imagine its one of those streams that would do much better if they stopped stocking it.

The 'bows get mixed in when stocking and a few do come up from the Yock. I remember reading a survey where they were finding sub legal wild looking 'bows down in the lower section.

 

[fayettenamese]

The sub legal bows in the lower section come from fingerling plantings in the yough. I caught a golden rainbow last year over a mile up one of dunbar's tributaries. It was above a few waterfalls that are impassable to fish. I was out for a jog in the game lands and crossed a stream that has no fish in it (due to waterfalls further down) and I saw a 14" golden rainbow there. There are no drivable roads within a mile either. I'm thinking somebody trespassed with a quad (which is quite common) and for some reason dumped one fish way up there. I ran back home, got my gear, and removed the fish as there is a small native population below the falls. This one situation shows how people go to great lengths to move fish around illegally for no apparent purpose. Situations like that help explain why we catch fish that are impossibly out of place.

 

[steveo27]

Not surprising for that area. Always seems like something weird is happens down there like that.

im trying to place which waterfall youre talking about, but there are too many of em in that watershed that fit your description

 

[fayettenamese]

It was this waterfall hole where the golden rainbow was released, but there are many other falls like this on the same stream. You can see the fish in the lower right corner of the picture.


Wow I forgot how difficult it is to upload pictures here compared to other sites.

 

[steveo27]

so weird someone would go so far out of their way to put a stocked fish up there. Only in Fayettenam.

 

[troutbert]

I've seen this kind of thing in NC PA also. Hatchery trout showing up in stretches of stream that have no roads crossing or coming close to the stream.

 

[724flyfishing]

There's been quite a few reports of small, fingerling sized, wild looking rainbows being caught there. I know someone that has pictures of a couple he caught. It almost would have to be fingerlings that swam up from the Yough, or some very limited natural repo going on in the watershed somewhere. I think they stock full sized rainbows below the FFO in the regular put and take section.

I've never caught a wild brown there. I could never understand how native brook trout seem to do pretty well there but the brown trout don't. I've caught little gemmie brook trout the whole way down by the rifle range. It's not that fast of a gradient, which favors brown trout more. Plenty of slack water and undercuts that brown trout love. Maybe it has to do with water ph favoring brook trout more?

Regardless, nice catch. That little wild brown trout out of that creek would be more of a trophy to me than any of the football sized stocked brook trout or any of those picky brown trout that have saw every fly known by May.

 

[chuckyblack09]

I have a proposal, but the chances of this happening are so slim that it's probably me being very creative. haha

What if it was up as far possible as it could get on the stream as it could get by itself and then maybe a bird snatched it and dropped it above?

Just making other proposals. Not saying that this actually happened.

 

[chuckyblack09]

It's not that fast of a gradient, which favors brown trout more. Plenty of slack water and undercuts that brown trout love. Maybe it has to do with water ph favoring brook trout more?

I've literally thought this same thing. To me Dunbar would be a perfect wild brownie stream. More so than for brookies. Like you said thought maybe it has to do with the PH.

Also, someone else mentioned the fact that it gets stocked. Maybe browns do worse in regards to reproduction when they are stocked over top of.

 

[steveo27]

At one point they may have stocked 'bows below the FFO section. PFBC website only shows brooks and browns on the stocking list currently.

I think the PH has a lot do with the lack of brown trout reproduction on that stream. I know that the CRTU does alotta AMD remediation work in that watershed.

 

[Zak]

Everyone is forgetting about Coops. Fayettenamese would know but I'm sure there are a few clubs that stock that place. The rainbows come from them I'm sure. That's an extremely popular trout stream.

 

[Steeltrap]

I was fishing at Dunbar a few days ago, below the top parking lot and was surprised to catch a rainbow fingerling on a small black nymph.

 

[Dubtheflyfisher]

That is very odd. Brookies and browns for me at dunbar

 

[greenghost]

I've been fishing Dunbar for 35 years. I've caught probably a dozen or so wild browns (rough estimate based on a deteriorating memory 😀 ), countless brookies, and a few tiny bows... well, not 100% sure on the bows being wild but they were very small with parr markings and could've either swam up from the Yough I suppose or stocked by local clubs.

SIDE NOTE: Because I'm such an old cuck, I've seen a solid change in this stream. When I first started fishing it, it was an acid bath. Some fish managed to survive, mostly brookies, but it was in bad shape. What a difference a few decades make. Today, there're many more fish and the bugs are there... including green drakes. The only negative i think is the poaching and disrespect given to this beautiful area by some of the locals. This is a pic of a pile of trash in the upper parking lot last year. I find bait containers, beer cans, litter, etc along it the creek every trip. I always take a trash bag with me when I go to Dunbar.

 

[JackM]

It's not all bad, I once found half a joint on a streamside rock. 😎

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Jack-

I'm assuming you smoked it, but did you inhale?