The great ‘troutdoors’: Pennsylvania streams stocked ahead of mentored youth day, season open
Lisa Stubbs of Unityville throws a bucket of trout into Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023. Stubbs was part of a group of about 2 dozen volunteers who helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Rowdy Harriman, 14 of Unityville throws a bucket of trout into Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023. Harriman was part of a group of about 2 dozen volunteers who helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A bucket of trout sits on the banks next to Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023 before a volunteer dumps it into the creek. A group of about 2 dozen volunteers helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A long convoy of volunteers follow along next to Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023. A group of about 2 dozen volunteers helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Lisa Stubbs of Unityville throws a bucket of trout into Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023. Stubbs was part of a group of about 2 dozen volunteers who helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Rowdy Harriman, 14 of Unityville throws a bucket of trout into Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023. Harriman was part of a group of about 2 dozen volunteers who helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A bucket of trout sits on the banks next to Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023 before a volunteer dumps it into the creek. A group of about 2 dozen volunteers helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A long convoy of volunteers follow along next to Little Muncy Creek Thursday morning March 23, 2023. A group of about 2 dozen volunteers helped the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission to stock a few thousand trout for the start of the fishing season. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
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Neil Gardner stood at the Route 118 bridge in Lairdsville watching volunteers toss buckets full of trout into Little Muncy Creek.
"My grandchildren fish," said Gardner, 89, of Unityville. "I like to see where they put them in."
Streams and lakes throughout the state are receiving hatchery-raised trout in preparation for the opening day of trout season April 1. Mentored youth trout day is Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Visit the Fish and Boat Commission's website, www.fishandboat.com, for more detailed information.
Little Muncy is just one of many streams in the area that are being stocked by the Fish and Boat Commission prior to and following opening day.
At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Fish and Boat Commission vehicles followed by a caravan of volunteers pulled from a designated highway spot near Hughesville to head to Little Muncy and begin the day of stocking.
Tony Parker, of Williamsport, said he often is on hand to help place trout in streams.
He's an avid fisherman and member of the Lycoming Creek Angler's Club.
"If no one comes out to do it, they put all the trout in the same spots," he said as he finished tossing a bucket of fish into Little Muncy.
Trout were stocked in at least three areas of Little Muncy Creek in the Lairdsville area Thursday as well as spots along Lycoming Creek.
And everywhere the Fish and Boat Commission trucks went, a long line of vehicles were sure to follow, despite the rain and otherwise dreary weather.
Parker said it appeared to him that more people than ever were following the stocking trucks on Thursday.
"We wouldn't be able to do it without the volunteers," said Hunter Shoemaker, Fish and Boat Commission waterways conservation officer.
Most of the streams are receiving brown and rainbow trout, he said.
Anglers will be permitted to harvest five trout on the state's stocked waters with a minimum size of seven inches from opening day until Labor Day.
Across Pennsylvania, a total of 3.2 million trout are being placed in the state's stocked waters, consistent with the numbers of the past decade, according to officials.
With a smile, Gardner said, "I don't think there are as many fish as last year."
Waters not managed as stocked waters are closed to harvest with fishing done only on a catch and release basis.
Lycoming County waters on this year's stocking list include: Hoagland Run, Larrys Creek, Little Bear Creek, Little Pine Creek, Loyalsock Creek, Mill Creek, Muncy Creek, Pine Creek, Pleasant Run, Rock Run, Spring Creek and White Deer Hole Creek.
Anglers at least 16 years old must have a valid state fishing license to harvest trout or other species of fish and are required to show it to an officer upon request.