In Pennsylvania, March is known as trout stocking month. Because the annual trout opener is always in April, trout stocking is typically done 2 to 4 weeks prior to the season.
In 2024, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will stock approximately 3.2 million trout in 697 streams and lakes open to public fishing throughout the state. An estimated 2,357,830 rainbow trout, 702,475 brown trout and 131,695 brook trout will be stocked. Rainbow trout are most commonly stocked over other species of trout due to their higher chances of survival. Rainbows are also less prone to disease. Although the PFBC does most of the trout stocking just prior to the trout opener, these numbers are for other planned stockings throughout the entire year.
Since 1888, the Pennsylvania Fish Commission has successfully stocked trout in the Keystone State. The first recorded stocking included rainbow trout released in the Susquehanna River. Two years prior to that, 10,000 brown trout eggs received from Germany were hatched at the Corry Hatchery, which kickstarted the PFBC fishery program. To this day, there are at least 13 different hatcheries throughout Pennsylvania, specially funded for stocking trout. Just in McKean County, there are at least 15 different bodies of water that get stocked with trout every year.
I grew up right near Willow Creek and fished stocked trout in that stream since I was a young child. The first fish I ever caught on my own was a 12-inch rainbow that was stocked in Willow Creek. I used to also enjoy helping stock the trout. My grandfather would keep an eye on the stocking schedule and would take me quite often to help stock trout in both Willow Creek and Sugar Run. It takes many volunteers to assist with stocking trout. Most often, you’ll see a long line of vehicles following the stock truck just to help with the effort. I can remember hauling heavy buckets of trout several hundred yards down to the streams to particular holes that I thought would make great homes for the fish.
Trout stocking is much appreciated by trout anglers, due to the fact that most stocked trout don’t survive very long. The majority of stocked trout are harvested by anglers, but some that are caught and released do survive through the spring and live into the summer. The summer is the hardest time for stocked trout to survive due to decreased water and oxygen levels in streams. I’ve always believed many stocked trout eventually find their way into the Allegheny Reservoir and likely become a meal for northern pike or muskies. Several years ago, I was fishing along the shore of Willow Bay with a friend and he caught a stocked rainbow trout in late-summer. The trout had to have made its way from being stocked in Willow Creek sometime in the spring. Heavy rains and flooding conditions likely push fish downstream into the reservoir as well. There are likely stocked trout that get washed into the Allegheny River as well.
The goal for stocked trout is rarely to establish breeding populations. In fact, stocked trout can have a negative impact on wild trout populations and reproduction. This is another reason why rainbow trout are primarily stocked because they are least likely out of all other trout species to reproduce and establish wild populations. The biggest concern is to eliminate the possibility of introgression of hatchery genes into wild fish. Many biologists and fisherman argue that both brown and rainbow trout stocking does have a negative impact on the declining population of wild brook trout. According to research done by the Native Fish Coalition of Pennsylvania, it has been found that native brook trout grow at reduced rates in streams with stocked trout. Both brown and rainbow trout are non-native to Pennsylvania and likely create more competition with native fish for food and habitat. In 2023, a Pennsylvania Fox News station interviewed Millersville University biology professor Dr. Isaac Ligocki on the topic.
“Concerns about stocked fish are valid,” said Ligocki. “There’s some evidence throughout eastern North America that brook trout grow at a reduced rate when they interact with these other species. There’s also evidence that wild brook trout are shifting into small headwater streams where there is less competition.”
Raising and stocking trout is expensive. Back in 2009, the PFBC released a trout cost study which showed the agency spends on average approximately $2.17 to produce an adult trout. Around $12.4 million dollars were spent to produce fish for stocking. This is why buying a yearly fishing license is so important to the future of trout stocking as well as fishing quality for all species. License sales help support hatchery operations, fisheries management, law-enforcement and improvements to infrastructure.
The Pennsylvania trout opener will be April 6 and the single day, statewide Mentored Youth Trout Day will take place March 30.
