Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014 - 37

photo-Deborah Weisberg

photo-courtesy of Justin Leventry

Sywensky fell in love with
the limestone streams
of central Pennsylvania
while attending Penn
State and decided to
settle in the area.
"Even though I'm
a dyed-in-the-wool
wild trout guy, I'm
not going to get on a
high horse when I'm 5
minutes from the best
wild trout streams in
the state. People who
live in Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh have to drive
hours to get here," said
Sywensky.
For them and most
An angler gets his opening day trout
anglers, scores of streams measured on Montour Run, a stocked
with special regulations,
trout stream near Pittsburgh.
such as Delayed Harvest
Artificial Lures Only, put trout fishing within easy reach
practically year-round, while stocked lakes are ideal for senior
anglers and children. "It costs a lot of money to stock them,
but they fulfill a role. In that regard, they're a positive thing,"
said Sywensky.
Still, wild trout enthusiasts say stocked fish pale in
comparison to those born in streams, which tend to be more
vibrantly colored and lack the scraped fins that sometimes
develop in densely-populated, concrete raceways.
On higher-quality waterways, wild Brown Trout can grow
to 20 inches long, and Rainbow Trout can grow 16 to 18
inches long. Even Brook Trout, the smallest of the wild trout,
can reach 14 inches on limestone streams.
Wild trout supporters claim they present a greater
angling challenge, although folks who target stocked fish
may not agree.
"Stocked trout don't associate people with trouble, so
when anglers walk up to a stream, they may not see them as
predators. That makes them easy prey," said Sywensky.
"They can be vulnerable to dry fly anglers, because they
are accustomed to looking upward to be fed in the hatchery.
They are somewhat surface-minded and adapt to subsurface
feeding, which is where most of the food is located. However,
they don't typically acquire the same level of stream smarts as
their wild cousins," said Greene.
Nemchik finds stocked trout to be exciting enough. "Come
out to Turtle Creek, (Allegheny County), after fish have been
hooked half a dozen times, and see what a challenge it is to
catch one," said Nemchik.
For Seaholm, it goes a bit deeper. "It's not really more
difficult to fish for wild trout. Stocked fish that have had a lot
of pressure several weeks into the season are plenty wary but
just not for the right reasons. It's an imposed, not a natural,
wariness," said Seaholm.

Justin Leventry, Cumberland County, holds a wild Brown Trout
he released on Spring Creek.

decisions by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection for natural gas drilling, coal mining and other
industrial activities.
Class A and Wilderness Trout Streams receive the highest
levels of water quality protection, because they are the
highest quality in terms of wild trout density and habitat.
About 70 Class B streams are stocked. On occasion, a "high
Class B" will transition to Class A status.
"The decision to remove or add a stream from the
stocking schedule is based on wild trout density, access, water
quality, habitat and whether the stream is open to the public,"
said Tom Greene, PFBC's Coldwater Unit Leader.
"We are currently evaluating some Class B streams
following the removal of stocking to see if the number of
trout rises to meet Class A criteria," said Greene.
Although closely tied to Pennsylvania's natural heritage,
wild trout today have a niche following, with just 1 percent of
licensed anglers targeting them exclusively.
Greene remembers when wild Brook Trout fishing was
more common. "When I was a youngster, a lot of people
talked about going Brook Trout fishing, but you don't hear
about it as much anymore," said Greene. "It is a lot of fun, but
in the last few decades, there seems to be less pressure on that
part of the resource."
Some of it has to do with where people live and how
much time they have to fish, observed Steve Sywensky, who
founded Flyfisher's Paradise, a State College area tackle shop.
PFBC website: www.fishandboat.com

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2014

37
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