Email: "Fishing the Wilds"
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Trout season is a favorite past time of many anglers across the region both young and old. As the opener approaches, everyone is ready to wet a line and begin their search for the newly found favorite honey hole that is teeming with hungry trout. Brook, rainbow, brown, palomino, or even hybrid tigers are all fish that get stocked in the small streams of western PA. My personal favorite is the brown trout, both for it’s tenacity and it’s sharp contrast of yellowish gold to and red/black spots. While stocked fish are commonplace across the PA commonwealth, there are still some areas that hold both native browns and holdover stocked trout, and these are the fish that I love to chase.

It would be naïve for me to call every fish I catch outside of the normal stocking grounds a native fish, as stockings up or downstream can obviously contribute to a resurgence of fish in areas they weren’t common a few years ago. But, to me, a fish that lives two-plus years after being stocked in the swift current and rocky waterfall ridden streams I frequent are close enough. After a few years in the wild, these fish take on a new personality. They become aggressive to small spinners and Rapalas, they become very skittish to shadows and the sight of people, and overall they become a much harder fish to catch.

I remember my first experience catching native fish. Working are way upstream to avoid disturbing the mucky bottom, we quickly got into a narrow section of stream and passed a four-foot waterfall. Once above the falls, fish became scarce and almost nom-existent. After traveling another 500 yards upstream, a flash and sharp tug indicated a strike, and I softly set the hook. The battle was on, but the fish on the end of my line was a mere four inches. He fought with bitter disrespect for the hook that was firmly entrenched in his bottom jaw, and after a short fight, I had the little guy in hand noting a much more brilliant color than those we had caught 700 yards downstream. Too small to be a normal stocked trout, but a potential fluke so we pressed on. At the end of the day we landed 4 or 5 more of these little fighters, and had more fun doing so then we would have if we were catching 20” stockies.

We left the stream with a burning desire to find more areas that held similar fish, and what we found was there were more areas like this than one may expect. Over the years I have fished a dozen or so areas that held wild trout. Some old the same feisty tiny tyrants we had caught previously, and other areas held hooked jaw holdover monsters booming 20 inches or better. Refining our tactics by fishing the side of the stream that would not cast a shadow on the water, wearing camo or drab clothing to try and slip into the hole, and softly casting to the edge of the water or dragging the lure off the bank to avoid a major splash all helped to increase our odds. By doing so, we added some excitement to the game and extended our day in the turkey woods by exchanging our shotguns for fishing rods while slipping through the creekbottoms and listening to the gobbles of a late afternoon love triangle.

While fishing for stocked trout is still alot of fun, past the first day craziness on the stream, I have a dear place in my heart for these small less frequented waters. Practicing catch and release ensure that these big holdovers have a chance at becoming even bigger, and the legal native fish can breed and continue to flourish. Next time you are out, try fishing the fringe areas and see what you come up with, they may surprise you.

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