Monday, April 30, 2018

Suburban Brook Trout

It is a commonly held belief that wild brook trout populations are uncommon, and that they don't exist in watersheds that are heavily developed. That's not really true. I've found that a disproportionate number of the wild brook trout streams on my list run through primarily suburban environments. One I fished on Sunday is an exceptional example of this. From source to mouth there is not one point where the stream is any more than 50 yards from a house.



Access is difficult, and the fish are very concentrated into small areas, but some are quite sizable so it is worth the effort.



Being well versed in biology and geology, it doesn't surprise me when I come across these streams any more. They still fit the parameters that are required for brook trout survival. Their existence in these places is a little more tenuous, because all it takes is one idiot to dispose of waste into a storm drain and a huge population bottleneck occurs. These streams actually come and go, populations rising and falling dramatically in a non-cyclical pattern. The problem with a rapidly fluctuating population is that it increases the likelihood that it will eventually hit zero. So, though it isn't surprising that these suburban and urban streams do have wild brook trout, I am not shocked when I run into one that has died. These are the streams on the edge, they will be the next ones to slip away. These are the ones that we hurt when we take too long a shower in late summer. These are the ones that we hurt when we wash our cars in the driveway. These are the ones that we hurt when we dump four bags of lawn trimmings in the ravine. It doesn't take much effort to keep these streams habitable.





8 comments:

  1. You are a fine angler, and an effective advocate for clean water. Thanks for your informative blog.

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  2. Cool stuff RM. One of my favorite streams fit's your examples here perfectly. It's literally across the street from my house, and much of it's length goes near factories or under 100yd long "tunnels" through industrial areas. It flows into a major river that 50 years ago varied in color pending what the paper mill's were making that day. Purple paper, purple river. But it has a good aquifer feeding it, good gradient, decent bug life and fish life. And thus, it survives, quite well...

    Amazing how these little streams pull that off!

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    1. Thanks.
      Streams like that exist all over the NE. It goes to show that it takes more than some think to ruin a trout stream.

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  3. I'm glad you can still find natives in your area. Parts of PA have lost the battle to mining, logging and bad farming habits. Streams in the Allegheny Forest have trouble holding stockers. Beautiful catches!
    Tie, fish, write, conserve and photo on...

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    Replies
    1. PA is both blessed and cursed by natural resources. The battle is not yet lost, streams the were dead have been restored. Don't forget, PA has 16,000 miles of wild trout stream... that's more miles than a man can fish in a lifetime.

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  4. This reminds me of the movie that Rich (FishAholic Fishing) made on youtube of his childhood trout stream.

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    Replies
    1. Jersey's wild trout are almost all urbanites!

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