Flathead fisherman have caught some hybrids in small numbers all the way down in wheatland this past week on bluegills.
 
Keep in mind..
 
1. wheatland is 10 miles of water down river from the outflow. People are catching them there right now and have been for years.
 
2. Hybrids are stocked in the beaver river near wampum 20 miles down from wheatland. They are either swimming up 20 miles or swimming down from the outflow 10 miles. Still a long way for a hybrids to travel regardless. If they swim 10 they will surely do 20.
 
3. The two dams people keep referring to in this thread must not know anything about their size. They are small and are completely covered when there are 7 gates open.
 
 
 They are not at the outflow because there is no bait. With all that high water I expected there to finally be whites and stripes there. Still none. No shad to follow up.
 
Regardless the place is nothing but amish and people who rope everything up they catch. Has actually alwaways been that way but now we have no stockings to back it.

CAPTAIN HOOK
So much for the Fish Commission worrying about PCB's in the Shenango River !  I guess 17,000 gallons of crude oil seeping in is trumped that problem. Those Trout are going to be slippery to hold onto now as well as wading those rocks ! Time to get the Dawn detergent ready ! Don't worry no Walleye were found dead ......... none left !!!
Maybe this is next..................

 
 
17000 gallons of oil leaking into Shenango....................?  Tell us more!
 

Looking at the PFBC stocking lists(the same one BeenThereDoneThat posted) they last stocked the Beaver River with hybrid striped bass back in 2001.
 
So.....
 
The fish are either spilling out of the lake, or making the very long journey(above 5 dams) up from the Ohio River. I have no doubt that fish can make it over the dam upstream of Sharon during very high water. I'm not sure of the dam near Farrel, I haven't seen it in person, but I take your word for it mike55
 
But, can they make it over the 3 dams in Beaver Falls and New Brighton??? I doubt it. Those are much bigger than the two on the Shenango.
 
If they're jumping over the dams in Beaver falls, then why aren't they jumping over the dam in Orangeville?? They're not, unless the dam is underwater of course(which it sometimes is when the lake is very high). Still doesn't explain why they chose to swim all the way up to Shenango, and not the Mahoning, Connoquesssing, Slippery Rock, Mosquito Creek, Neshannock, etc., etc....
 
And even this year when it's "slow" hybrids are still being caught at the Shenango Outflow. But not below Pymatuning(MUCH easier trek from Shenango Lake to Pymatuning, compared to the long rough journey from the Ohio River to Shenango Dam). Plenty of shad there too.
 
I'm still not convinced that hybrids are swimming up to Shenango from the Ohio River. But, ya know, anything can happen I guess.........

mike55
Regardless the place is nothing but amish and people who rope everything up they catch. Has actually alwaways been that way but now we have no stockings to back it.

Unfortunately true.....

Regarding the oil spill....
 
http://www.sharonherald.com/news/local_news/pungent-petroleum-flows-into-shenango-river/article_a60fa5f7-458c-50b0-b0d6-8fac61d93146.html
 
https://www.facebook.com/...verWatchers?fref=photo
 
It actually happened in Big Run, a tributary to the river just upstream of Sharon.
 

CAPTAIN HOOK
Don't worry no Walleye were found dead ......... none left !!!

 
Haha!!

Thanks troutguy............ now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go pout.  Stupid.... stupids!

The dam near farrel is not a dam. It is basically a slope of concrete. Regardless its covered with high water.
 
The fish in orangeville are caught well above the dam during very high water. The beaver dams heading towards kinsman will hold stripers when the water is above the dam and the stripers are in their spawning stage.
 
Right now stripes are non existent at the outflow and I have only seen two in the last 2 years of any good size. If they were shot through they would always be there in the same numbers as they used to be. I cant say or stress this enough.
 
The only other explanation I can accept is they are shot through stockie size and grow in the river. There is no way an adult striper is flying through that outflow and surviving. It is just not going to happen. In years past there were so many hybrids at that outflow it was ridiculous. I don't see 50 to 100 adults flying through there in one year.
 
Why would they leave the outflow anyways. The conditions at the outflow are perfect for hybrids.
 
We have spots way down river the stripers show up to at the same time every year. Cant say too much but we do know they swim up to these spots. We have followed them for years now. They will show up miles and miles down from the outflow one month then continue up and stay if there is bait later once they reach.

I never seen it at super high flow but that dam at the Aqua Water Works is fairly high. Always wonder if fish can get up that barrier at all. Too bad there is not some kind of lower        v - cut in that barrier it would no doubt help 100% for more fish to move upstream on high water and still hold back some water. Can't be much action at the outflows anymore it's got to be real slow fishing. No Stripers , no Walleye , no Channel Cats , very few Musky and Pike , Small Bass and Trout that's it..........what a shame ! Bet there's lots of room. I believe there are some type of fencing or guards around the outer sluices to keep obstructions out like floating timber and junk. I doubt bigger fish can get through at all and highly doubt they would survive . 

mike55
 
The fish in orangeville are caught well above the dam during very high water. The beaver dams heading towards kinsman will hold stripers when the water is above the dam and the stripers are in their spawning stage.

Correct. But during normal flows, they don't go over that dam. But they can get over the dams near Beaver Falls(much bigger) just fine?? That's what I'm getting at......
 
The fish shooting through the sluices in my opinion is still more believable than them swimming all the way up from the Ohio River. And again, if they are able to make that long journey, then they can go up all the other waterways in the Beaver River system as well. And they certainly can make it up to Pymatuning from Shenango Lake. But they don't(well, VERY few). 
 
Going back to the stocking lists, the numbers of fish stocked have been pretty consistent in both Shenango Lake and the Ohio River. So that's not to blame. The numbers/location of the baitfish is the next best theory. I agree with ya there mike
 
Fwiw, I caught a couple in the Shenango outflow last summer. And out of the few times I fished it this year I managed to hook into one good sized one. Didn't land it, but got a good look at the fish. That was back in May, before the high water events in June....
 

I see that ......Walleye stocking this year down 1 million fish due to bad Spring weather. Only 800,000 to spread around all lakes.... some will get none.  FLASHBACK / Does anybody remember the two huge Stripers that were taken out of the upper Shenango years ago ? I think I asked this question before (bad memory) the one was around the 20lbs. and was a record size at the time. I personally saw the photo at the Hot Spot Bait Shop in Jamestown Pa. near the river, she had it hanging up there for years . I'm taking 70's early 80's. Always wonder why Hybrid Stripers are not kept in any Pa. record categories in there own section. They lump them in with Inland Lake Stripers that get 3 to 4 times bigger. Doesn't make sense to me they are two different species.