** Link to the LIVESTREAM is below. **
On Wednesday June 5th at 8:00 p.m. EST, the next Troutbitten LIVESTREAM Podcasts features Tom Rosenbauer as our guest.
Join us live.
Help us out, and be part of the conversation through the live chat box. Or just kick back and enjoy the discussion
This LIVESTREAM is a conversation around stocked trout and club water.
The livestream is easily accessed at the link below. Check it out ahead of time, and click on “Notify Me,” for a reminder.
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https://youtube.com/live/3J6w_IEva9w?feature=share
We hope you’ll join us and be part of the conversation.
As our buddy, Matt Grobe, would say. “This is fishing. So don’t be late.”
See you Tuesday, February 27 at 8:00 p.m. EST.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Give me a Walt’s worm and we can clean up the brookie water.
Nice
Now I know that because I have to fish waters with stocked trout except for one special creek, I’m not a “real angler”.
I don’t know what kind of angler you are. When you are fishing for stocked trout that are fed multiple times each day, then it’s not a real situation. That says nothing about you as a person or even an angler. It’s just the truth. It’s fake.It’s not natural. The facst about that cannot be any different.
Cheers.
Dom
I rode my bike for 6miles on a rail trail in Pennsylvania, got off fished had lots of fun in a wilderness setting. I did not feel dirty at all catching stocked trout I felt lucky the resource exhists.
In fact I did not see another fisherman all day, Much more enjoyable than fishing many Montana rivers with boats everywhere and fisherman cramped at every pullout even though they are stream bred fish todays experience was superior. I fish many of our streams with stream bred fish, and I enjoy that also. My point is, stop this judgmental nonsense and stick to the joys of fishing. This sense of implied superiority does nothing but enhance the elitist opinion that many people have of fly fisherman we need all fisherman to protect our resources. I also belong to a club we have 5.5 miles of trout stream that we do not stock and have stream bred brook and brown trout. We have installed several limestone devices to enhance the invertebrate populations. We also have 4.5 acre pond which we do stock and my 4and 6 year old grandsons can catch trout and builds their enthusiasm for the sport. I want these resources to remain for perpetuity so all of us must work together and not fragment our ranks with some self designated pecking order. all the best Dan Alleman DDS
Thanks for your comment, Dan.
In your text, you have voiced many misunderstandings of our beliefs. The trouble with a one hour Live Stream like this, or with any single resource, is that people often don’t have the full context of things. How could you, really, if you just listened to this? I’m going to assume that you didn’t listen to or read the other resources that we mentioned. They put a lot more detail into the nuances of things. Here they are:
https://troutbitten.com/2016/04/19/wild-vs-stocked-the-hierarchy-of-trout-in-pennsylvania/
https://troutbitten.com/2021/10/12/podcast-ep-4-wild-trout-vs-stocked-the-hierarchy-of-river-trout/
https://troutbitten.com/2024/05/26/podcast-the-troubles-with-club-fishing-s11-ep7/
If you look at these Troutbitten articles and podcasts, and you become familiar with the body of my work, you will not find the superiority or pecking order that you are accusing me of here.
I grew of fishing for stocked fish. I still fish for stocked trout. I could tell you the same story about fishing a stocked river, no one on it, enjoying the heck out of catching a mix of rainbow trout and small mouth bass. I did that just last week.
Those stocked trout are not being stocked over wild trout.
The superiority of wild trout themselves should not be confused with the anglers who pursue them. Fish what you like to fish for. But it’s silly to think that a stocked fish is anything close to a wild trout. They are different, just like a bluegill and a largemouth.
I never said I feel dirty when fishing for stocked trout. Tom said that.
Every state is different in the way they stock. PA is more complex than what Tom is talking about.
No. We won’t stop talking about stocked vs wild trout. And we will continue to press on the absurdity of stocking over wild trout with hatchery plants. Nearly all of the problems in the trout angler community stem from stocking and/or club setup scenarios. We cover a lot of that in the other podcasts.
You are used to the stocked trout culture. But it is not a natural situation. Stocking is fine in some places, but our fish commissions and private entities have too often chosen fake, manufactured scenarios over what is wild. This must change. Most dedicated anglers see this, and they are ready for a change. It’s already changing, and we will continue pushing.
But calling that view elitist or superior is unfair.
Lastly, your club sounds great. It is a very rare exception, as most clubs have stocked trout and/or fed fish.
Thanks again for you thoughts.
Cheers.
Dom
you are correct wild trout are preferable , but my point is we need all anglers to preserve habitat arguments on how to manage are complex and fly fisherman have done more than their fare share to help . I am in support of the good instruction you have provided great one one on emergers etc. I worry we sometimes alienate or fragment support for habitat preservation with our natural enthusiasm for our craft. I would love to see a more intense program in Pa. for wild trout management but most important is the water quality and habitat for without it everything else is irrelevant. I grew up talking to (at his meadow) and learning from Vince Marinaro and others along our limestone streams here and I witnessed the decimation of the letort springs creek from an insecticide spill . The stream has never fully recovered.
Thanks, Dan. Of course I agree with all of that.
” we need all anglers to preserve habitat.”
I agree. And one of the best ways to manage wild trout habitat is to properly manage the trout themselves. If a wild population exists, take care of it. Don’t stock over it. If a wild population COULD exist, manage it for wild trout as well.
The stocked trout angler culture teaches a variety of unsustainable things to new anglers. Why not highlight the value of wild trout whenever possible? Why not teach people the difference between real and wild vs manufactured and man made? That’s what we will continue to do, and we won’t shy away from this truth.
We aren’t fragmenting anything. Speaking the truth is necessary. Making the distinction between wild vs stocked is important because managements of these rivers — even the fishing of these rivers is different. And it is folly to pretend otherwise. We’re already too far down the path that the hatchery systems have taken us. Hatcheries are a fine solution where wild fish cannot exist. But that culture has branched out to take over watersheds and provide hatchery fish simply to create easier fishing and entertainment. THAT is not preservation.
So we will continue highlighting these mistakes.
Cheers.
Dom