Stop stocking over wild trout. It’s been my conservation message for eleven years. When Troutbitten started, I wanted a simple statement that summarized one of the most harmful situations of our time.
Stop stocking over wild trout.
This is a message for state agencies. Your hatchery fish do not belong in wild trout waterways. You are altering not only a wild population but a wild experience that the public deserves. You are harming something rare and authentic to make it artificial. You’re pushing a message, saying that what is wild is not good enough. You’ve built hatchery projects that are consuming your agency, but that is not license to continue degrading the public resource. Necessary change is due. Chart a new course to protect, preserve and enhance wild resources. Follow your mission statement, and make difficult decisions.
Stop stocking over wild trout.
This is a message for the pay-to-fish clubs that stock waters already holding a wild resource. Your artificial trout migrate and pollute the entire watershed for every other angler, upstream and down. Stop stocking and feeding fish to create and sell an artificial setup. Rather, teach your guests about the special wild trout in your stream. Stop planting and feeding fish for profit. It’s shameful. It’s self-serving. It’s wrong. Instead, sell the wild resource right at your door. Believe that all of this can change, and it will.
Stock stocking over wild trout.
This is a message for the guides. It starts with you. Take a stand and refuse to support the ruination of wild resources. Teach your clients the value of wild trout. Help them refine the skills to catch wild fish. Be honest with people about what they catch. And never accept a contract to guide where wild trout are replaced with stocked fish. Some of you are part of a lineage that has supported and propagated this farce for decades. Have the courage to draw a new line. Draw the right line.
Stop stocking over wild trout.
This is a message for you, the common angler. State agencies and clubs stock over wild fish, but you can stop them. Take a stand for what you love, for the woods and the water, for wild places and wild experiences. Demand that state agencies do better. Tell a guide that you value real trout more than an easy catch or artificial size. Tell the same to the fly shops, to the fish commission and to anyone who will listen. Wild places are slipping away, and you’re the only one who can stop it.
Wild Trout. Photo by Bill Dell
Context
I’ve published on the topic of wild vs stocked fish for eleven years. The subject is nuanced, but my words above are not.
I grew up fishing for stocked trout, and I’m thankful they were planted, because the waters of my youth were often too warm, or they suffered from acid mine drainage.
I am not against stocking trout. I’m against stocking over wild trout. I’m for the preservation of the wild, wherever it exists.
Here’s the Sticker
Put this on your truck window, your cooler, your boat or the nearest telephone pole.
BUY the Stop Stocking Over Wild Trout Sticker HERE
Troutbitten Resources
READ: Troutbitten | The Mismanagement of Class A Wild Trout
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Wild Trout vs Stocked — The Hierarchy of River Trout – S1, Ep4
READ: Troutbitten | Does a Stocked Trout Ever Become Wild?
READ: Troutbitten | What happened to Laurel Run? The story of a stocked trout stream and a fisherman
READ: Troutbitten | Why Wild Trout Matter
PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Troubles With Club Fishing — S11, Ep7
READ: Troutbitten | Posted | Club Fish | 2065
Fish hard, friends.
** Donate ** If you enjoy this article, please consider a donation. Your support is what keeps this Troutbitten project funded. Scroll below to find the Donate Button. And thank you.
Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Absolutely, totally, well said!
Catch and release wild trout! Stop stocking over wild trout! And for crying out loud, stop voting for politicians who are turning your trout streams into bass streams.
YES YES YES.
I repeat myself to friends and family every time we are fishing together in a stream or river. The wild population of browns in a nearby stream always amazes me with their resilience. Up higher on the mountain those rascally brookies are making life a bit difficult for the little more native cutthroat but for the most part they each have a stretch of water to call home. When there’s not enough water who knows. I enjoy catching them all.
The Little Juniata River Association has advocated for wild trout only in our watershed for more than 20 years. The PFBC stocked hatchery fingerlings in the “j” for many years until we succeeded in getting all fingerling brown trout fin clipped so that a proper survey could measure their impact on our fishery. In 2010 a state survey that found that more than 96 percent of trout captured by electrofishing were wild. The survey was conducted only in sections stocked with marked hatchery trout. We were also instrumental in the discontinuation of stocking over wild trout in a designated DHALO section in 2016. We are currently pressing for C&R regulations to be extended from the current 14 miles to all 32 miles. The entire river. http://www.littlejuniata.net
Stocking is well ingrained in PA and there is going to need to be a lot of education done to change minds on how this practice can be more effective and efficient. Ultimately I believe even better manage financially. With the few posts I have put on line regarding this topic there has been quite a bit of push back regarding it. Ultimately this will be the battle that will make PA Trout fishing even better.