FORBES TRAIL CHAPTER TROUT UNLIMITED
Westmoreland County Pennsylvania
Westmoreland County Pennsylvania
It’s that time of year, leaves are turning shades of orange, red and yellow, the nights are turning cold, and brook trout are pairing up to spawn.
When water temperature drops and the days grow shorter, it’s a signal to brook trout that it is time to reproduce.
Watch where you step if you’re out walking along streams that harbor wild trout, gravel areas sometimes close to the bank may be the site of a redd or nest of trout eggs.
Click the link below to see a short video of trout preparing to spawn in a Laurel Highlands stream. In the video you will see the larger female brook trout chase away a second male suitor.
David Argent, a biology professor and fisheries scientist at PennWest University’s California, Pa., campus and his colleagues recently published a study in the journal Environmental Management that compares the temperature changes of streams on Laurel Hill, a mountain in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, and the impact on native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). They found that while trout in groundwater-fed streams did better than in surface water-fed streams, there was a widespread decline in populations of brook trout across the study area.
By an 8 to 2 vote, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commissioners gave final approval to make a special exemption to allow stocking rainbow trout over a class A wild trout population in Potter County’s Freeman Run.
The Commissioners made the decision despite public comment opposing the stocking 96 to 13.