Opinions on the Brown Trout stockings

I sorta don't think they should stock the brown trout in the Erie tribs for the opening day of trout season in the spring and they should stock them elsewhere since the state is stocking lesser and lesser fish it seems every other year. To me its a waste of fish, why would you wanna catch 6-12 inch browns when you can be catching 5-6-7 and so on pound steelhead. I know most run into the lake an such in the summer an grow pretty nice sized but honestly stock them elsewhere since theirs already a nice gamefish present, we could really use them on the nice less stocked waters down here in the south. What do you folks think ?
 
Ronnie

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Personally I would like to see a few additional browns stocked in the tribs.  Mostly for the variety and the thrill of  catching them.  Also, I find that the browns tend to be better eating (my opinion), and a bit more agressive fighters.

    How many other streams do you think they have to fish in Erie??  I have caught many big brown trout in the fall that swim into lake with the steelhead and  caught 2 over 10lbs in previous years in the fall. You should fish the upper Yough from Confleunce down to Ohio Pyle! Me and friends ride bicycles in and catch some really big fish.( this is trophy water from the bridge below Confleunce to Ohio Pyle and only 2 fish over 14 inches per day. I have caught 40 plus fish many days, but alot are smaller even sub legal fish. The Commission stocks fingerlings that grow over the years. And fish come down from the Casselman and Laurel Hill creek when it floods into the Yough.  This trophy water is not just fly fishing as also bait allowed !!!
     This section of stream was one of the top 10 in state back in the 1970*s when I was in high school. There are trout every year caught in the 7-10 lb range in this section of stream! So if you vere want to catch some trout here drop me a line as I go here at least 20 plus times ever year and it is a 1 hour drive for me.  All you need is a bike to ride the bike trail in a mile or 2  and you will have most the stream to yourself except for the occasion rafters that come by you. I also always  use this site  before I head out to check conditions of the yough river
     http://wmw.lrp.usace.army.mil/current/yc.html
    Thas my story and I*m stickin to it!!
     

I think they should stock more browns in the erie tribs.  I would love to see a more plentiful brown run in the fall.

Yes please stock more brown trout my 10-12lb walleyes love them much rather eat a slimmer then a spiney perch. LOL

Bug, I do not think my new rod could handle a coho.  I would go back to my browning.!

I agree with bughawk, a big brown in Erie is a real treat to catch.  I landed and released 26 in brown out of the chutes a few yrs ago, wonder if hes still alive.

Flash, you hit the nail on the head with stocking the Browns in the bay. N.Y. does this in some places I know of and it works. Not that I don't appreciate catching the Steel, but catching an incidential Brown while fishing for Steel lodges firmly in my memory bank.

im all for stocking more browns primarily because they are more resilient and they can tolerate warmer water than the rainbows and brookies.  I live on an east side stream and i've caught held over browns and even rainbows in the summer, fall, winter.  Guaranteed all these fish were'nt "held overs", in any case I believe the commission should pay more attention to habitat restoration and so forth on the east side streams.  They already hold, probably more fish, than most people think year round.  I believe the stockings of more brownies and restoration (similiar to the walnuts projects) would make the tribs more attractive to the occasional fisher person. The fishing pressure wouldn't be too heavy and the local bait shops might see a few extra bucks.

Paliminos are a joke , we stock a lot of them in McKean Co. and they stand out like a pig at a horse race. They don't stand a chance if they won't hit anything tossed at them they become a easy target for the snaggers.

It wouldn't hurt to stock more browns. 

I would love to see what size brookies lake Erie could produce? My largest ever was 3.5lbs how big could they get? Our state fish & my opinion the most beautiful . Love to see some variety , palominos , browns , brooks . Would they come back though????

the number of browns are fine, they will continue to be stocked because they sell licenses. since there are fewer browns stocked those who get lucky enough to catch one out of the tribs it becomes that much more memorable. i have caught one before, many many years ago, but i still remember that fish. ask me to remember all the steelhead i have caught. umm, can't remember.

ORIGINAL: Stillhead

ORIGINAL: Sculpin 14



I'd rather catch native browns on Central PA's Limestoners, far away from the battlefields of Erie....

Now lets see if anyone can figure out why the statement I just made is false, by looking at the picture.............

Well, by looking at the picture,  I'm not sure. It could be that perhaps that's not a "limestone" stream. I'm not sure.

I can tell yo the statement you made is false because there is no such thing as a "native" brown trout in PA. There are "wild" browns, but none are native to anywhere in North America.

 
No its a limestone creek and your right I said native and I should have said wild but not what I was looking for............Here's a hint its on the Little J.........