The Riverkeeper and a Trout Stream

I'm a riverkeeper on a private trout stream. The club has about 70 members. The anglers are from all different walks of life but get a long very well. I manage the stream with the best science that we can find. The stream is unique because it's part of geologic anomaly and looks basically like a mountain stream in northern Pennsylvania or upper New York State. It's not a rich stream and its channel often changes from year to year when the spring floods hit.


Each year we do some stream improvement but we know most of it will be wiped out when the floods come. The stream has some natural reproducing spring spawning rainbows. These fish are from fingerlings stocked years ago. It appears there are a few wild browns also. We stock a few brookies and some other age classes each year. Many fish hold over and become wild. This year we put brookie fingerlings in as well and they appear to be surviving. It's possible we may see spawning brookies this coming year.


Recently, we've noticed some fall spawing rainbows. Evidently from another strain in the stream they have begun to spawn. I watched them the other day and caught a male over 5 pounds. I watched the male and female on a redd. Unbelievable to watch the male and female go through their gyrations.

There are many lessons to be learned from this stream that are adaptable to our public waters. Unfortunately, most of public waters are managed by politics instead of the best science. The stream has proven a number of things including that if you stock trout below 3 inches and they survive you have a good chance of wild populations. We believe this because these fish in order to survive learn to feed on the smallest of life in the stream and thus are on their way to surviving the winter and summer conditions. This one of the most important things in survival for a trout and is the main reason most hatchery trout fail to survive in streams where they are stocked if other environmental conditions are favorable.


It also shows what can be done when the amount of fishing on a stream is limited to the environmental well being of the stream. The stream is not pounded like many public waters are. The stream is work in progress. Each year I learn something new and hopefully I will be able to transfer that knowledge in saving our public waters.

Contact me: guido@flyfisher.com
and stop by all our websites: www.flyfisher.com; www.riverandgamekeeper.org; www.eugenemacri.com