Trout Season Opening Day 2007--The Little Schuylkill River.

For the first time in state history, the 2007 Pennsylvania trout season began two weeks earlier than the rest of the state in the 18 county region of southeast Pa. We took advantage of the head start, as well as the weather, and headed out to the Little Schuylkill River in Schuylkill County in search of the bigger stockies that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission promised Pa anglers this year.



The overcast conditions were excellent, and stream flow was at a perfect height as well (some holes between 4 and 5 feet). We fished section 7 of the Little Schuylkill, which spans from the creek's mouth into the Schuylkill River upstream 1.1 miles. This specific stretch runs parallel to Route 61 and is characterized mainly by fast riffles and deep runs. Current breaks were provided by large boulders and deep cuts under channels in the stream bed where trout could congregate for a rest from the swift water (on the section we fished, there was virtually no blowdowns or deep bank undercuts). Keying on those structures that were availalbe though was one of my main focuses in fishing this stretch of the Little Schuylkill. In other words, the closer I got to the bottom, the better.






For most of the day I used a beadhead Hare's Ear nymph pattern--trying to imagine it working through the cuts of the stream bed past the waiting eyes of a bomber brown. Mike Hronich and John Zeiler (pictured above), two very good friends of mine and diehard Pa anglers, fished live bait (red worms and waxies), which proved to be much more effective than my not-so-enticing flies.



Here's Hronich with a 16-inch tiger trout he landed only after about 20 minutes of fishing. Mike definately got off to a good start, and then earned bragging rights for the day about 45 minutes after his first fish by pulling in this beautiful rainbow.





From what I've seen on the first and second days, and judging by the two fish that Mike landed, trout are definately bigger in overall size compared to last year. Not surpisingly, the Fish and Boat Commission kept their promise as they said they would--that promise of course driven by the desires of anlgers across the state who agreed that bigger is better through public feedback to PBFC.

I didn't have the chance to speak with many anglers on the first day simply because, aside from our fishing outfit on the creek, there were only two other fly fishermen about 200 yards downstream from me. Which, as most anglers would agree, was rather nice. And even though Zeiler and I couldn't hook into any, I think we still might have Hronich beat on the overall career count of fish caught. Which, as most anlgers would also certainly agree, is the only statistic that really matters anyway.