Bigger trout being stocked

Longer, heavier trout are being stocked by the Pa. Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) this year, in preparation for the April 14 season opener. Volunteers are welcome to help with the stocking.

Here's the local schedule:

Cameron County:

--Saturday, March 24: Driftwood Branch, meet at Driftwood Bridge on Rt. 555 at 11:00 a.m.;

--Wednesday, March 28, Wykoff Run, meet at Sinnemahoning Post Office, 11:00 a.m.;

--Friday, March 30, Brooks Run, meet at Sinnemahoning Post Office at 11:00 a.m.; Cowley Run East Branch and West Branch, meet at Old Tannery Inn, Costello, noon; George B. Stevemson Dam downstream in First Fork of Sinnemahoning, meet at dam, 11:00 a.m.

Potter County:

Saturday, March 24, Pine Creek, meet at Galeton Centertown Park, 9:30 a.m.;

Monday, March 26, East Fork of Sinnemahoning Creek, meet on Rt. 872 in Wharton, 9:30 a.m.;

Tuesday, March 27, Elevenmile Creek and Oswayo Creek, meet at Oswayo Fish Hatchery, 8:30 a.m.; Bell Run, meet in Myrtle, 8:45 a.m.;

Friday, March 30, Cowley Run and Freeman Run, meet at Old Tannery Inn, Costello, noon;

Saturday, March 31, Allegheny River, meet at Alliance Church in Coudersport, 9:00 a.m.

Although this year's trout are bigger, the PFBC has cut the number of trout to be stocked by about 20%.

Of local interest, the agency will resume trout stockings on Sinnemahoning Portage Creek, Section 3, and Driftwood Branch, Sections 4, 5 and 6. The waterways have been recovering from the sodium hydroxide spill last June 30.

The agency will stock some 3.4 million trout in Pennsylvania waters open to public angling. They come from state fish hatcheries, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and through a purchase contract with a commercial hatchery.

Overall, there will be a 30 percent increase in the weight of these fish over last year's, and the average length will increase to 11 inches, compared to 10 inches last year.

Since the commission's hatchery system production is capped at 1.9 million pounds of trout, statewide the number of individual trout produced was adjusted accordingly. By making the change to raising fewer, but larger trout, the commission is responding to the preference expressed by anglers.

"We think the response is really going to be positive when people start catching some of these fish," said the PFBC's Dan Tredinnick.