On Saturday, March 28th, Troutbitten will host a live podcast at New Trail Brewing Company in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Join us for good times and an important conversation. With your ticket purchase, your first drink is on the house, and we have a sticker for you. Also, part of the proceeds benefit Clearwater Conservancy. Here are the details . . .
“Drought conditions. Pretty low. Lowest I’ve ever seen.” None of these expressions means much, and there’s a wide set of situations where casting a line into skinny water hurts nothing but an angler’s pride. Let’s get to that . . .
We want more anglers who appreciate the best things about fishing. We want anglers who fish hard for the experience, who reject fake fishing, who boast not about the numbers of trout caught but are proud of the miles of water they’ve explored and appreciate what they’ve been through to get there. We want wild trout advocates and woodsmen. We need knowledgeable teachers to inspire young people by revealing the complex mysteries of chasing river trout.
The Pennsylvania Fish Commission needs to hear your comments. And a simple, short email makes a BIG difference. Stop stocking over wild trout. Let’s support all policies that eliminate the stocking of hatchery fish over wild trout. Pass it on . . .
Is catch and release a good idea all the time or just some of the time? In this episode, we consider the ways that the practice of catch and release changes the experience of fishing for us — how our approach shifts when the goals are different.
Reviving a trout was once taught as part of the routine. But we don’t hear that so much anymore. Because the idea of playing a trout to the point of exhaustion, so much that you have to help it regain balance and breath, is mostly a thing of the past. And that’s a good thing . . .
At some point, our worry about the perfect protection of the animal we pursue becomes so involved, so extreme, so overbearing, that the only logical step is to stop fishing altogether. I don’t want that. And I don’t think you do either.
If we’re not careful, one thing will lead to the next. I think we’ve taken the safety of trout far enough. Let’s educate every angler to these standards and stop moving the goalposts.
Fish cold water. Fight ’em fast. Handle gently. Release quickly . . .
Fishing Creek is currently at risk for drastic increases in groundwater withdrawal by Nicholas Meats, LLC of Loganton, PA.
Troutbitten stands against this proposal and believes this operation will be detrimental to the sustained life of Fishing Creek, as well as the health and welfare of all living things that rely on it.
Please read and understand this dangerous issue, then do something to protect Fishing Creek . . .
It’s time for the fish commission to truly protect, preserve and enhance our wild trout streams, whether that is easy, or whether it’s hard. Stop stocking over all Class A wild trout stream sections.
It’s the right thing to do. And sometimes, that’s where government policy should start . . .
The best wild trout populations are specific to their own river systems, and they’ve adapted to the seasonal highs and lows, to whatever the decades of chance have brought to the collective population. The strength to thrive and persist is in those wild genes . . .
. . . Stocked trout are genetically different and conditioned to be different than wild trout. They feed aggressively and grow fast. That never changes. And this is nothing like our wary wild trout . . .
You can’t stop fishermen from holding their trout. All of the Keep ‘Em Wet campaigns and the Ketchum Release tools will not stop anglers from reaching into the water and lifting their prize. It’s a desire to complete the act, to finish the catch, an instinct to hold the creature that we set out to capture.
And why wouldn’t we want to hold a wild trout — to touch the majesty of Mother Nature — to feel a fleeting, darting, irrefutably gorgeous animal and admire it, and to look upon that which eludes us so often and for so long? No, you’re not going to stop fishermen from holding their trout.
Instead, let’s spread the word about how to safely handle trout without harming them. What follows is a real world, riverside understanding of how to hold a trout, all from a fisherman who’s held a few trout, large and small . . .