Fishing high flow: Trout anglers may need to adapt their tackle, techniques due to downpours
Ben Moyer
The past week’s endless rain threatened some of our neighbors’ property and homes — even some lives. Let’s begin by hoping the water drops quickly and everyone stays safe.
For thousands of others, high water merely posed uncertainty about one of the region’s biggest days outdoors — the opening day of trout season, April 6.
If you run into a similar situation in the near future, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has a message for you.
“We’re encouraging anglers to monitor the streams they plan to fish and be aware of conditions,” said Mike Parker, communications director for the Commission. “We are not discouraging people from fishing but know that it could be more challenging than your typical opening day. Put safety first, then adjust your fishing techniques for high water. You are not going to catch any trout if you don’t go.”
Wading and boating should be avoided if waters are running high and muddy and the streambed is not visible.
Nearly five inches of rain fell across southwestern Pennsylvania between April 1 and April 3, swelling streams over their banks. The Youghiogheny River gauge at Ohiopyle rose from 2.5 feet on Monday, April 1 to nearly 14 feet at noon on Wednesday. Conditions were similar across the state.
Trout anglers who look forward to opening day are naturally wondering what the extreme conditions mean for their fishing prospects this spring.
“The majority of our preseason trout stockings have already occurred,” Parker said. “But because of current conditions we are not doing any additional preseason stockings this week. Those will be rescheduled. It just doesn’t make sense to stock right now.”
It’s hard to predict how trout in the stream will react to extreme high water. Some anglers think all trout wash downstream, but that could be a faulty assumption.
The New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) studied movement of stocked trout in the Beaverkill River during high flows. They’d fitted some trout with radio-transmitters and stocked them just before a major flood event on the river.
“All the fish remained within a relatively short distance of where they were stocked,” said David Lemon, fisheries manager with the New York DEC. “Maybe one was a mile downstream. The fish tend to hunker down. They get behind current breaks, in deep pools or sit on the bottom.”
Pennsylvania’s Parker agrees.
“Our studies show that trout acclimate to high water quickly,” he said. “They’ll be fine. It’s not as if there’s this massive washing downstream as some believe happens. Trout will often move upstream in search of refuge from the current. You can still catch trout if you look for pools, add more weight to your line, or fish the edges where current is less strong.”
Other studies have found different results. In New Zealand, biologists censused trout in seven rivers by snorkeling before and after a widespread flood event. They found that small trout (described in the study abstract as “fork length”) declined after the flood by 90-100%. “Medium” trout declined by 62-87%, and “large” trout by 26-57%, suggesting that larger trout are less likely to be moved by high water.
The researchers found however that trout did tend to accumulate in areas of low gradient with less current.
Streams in this area present a range of variables that may influence fishing. Dunbar Creek, for example, does not get as muddy during flood events as other streams because its upstream watershed is so uniformly forested. And Dunbar’s minimal turbidity tends to clear quickly after rain stops.
Dunbar’s downside is that its high-gradient flow (steeply falling) within a confined mountain corridor concentrates a flood’s energy right where trout live, instead of dissipating across a wider floodplain. So, the long-term impact on Dunbar Creek’s trout and trout habitat can be greater.
Another popular area stream, Meadow Run, has a wider valley floor in some reaches, but it stays muddy longer because of more human disturbance in the watershed upstream.
Another option for opening day is to fish one of the region’s lakes stocked with trout. Dunlap Creek Lake and Virgin Run Lake in Fayette County, Laurel Hill and Kooser lakes in Somerset County, Lake Wilma in Greene County, and Twin Lakes in Westmoreland County are all impounded waters where conditions will be less influenced by the heavy rains.
Parker said one of the best things anglers can do to cope is to adjust their attitude toward opening day.
“People look forward to opening day but it’s just one day, and we’re going to resume stocking trout through April and May. One of the big attractions of opening day is its social aspects, fishing with family and friends, and that won’t be affected by high water.
He said anglers might even expect better fishing after the high water recedes.
“There can be an up-side to this,” he observed. “Those fish are not feeding during this high muddy water. Once it drops and clears it’s a great time to fish because they’re ready to bite.”