Turtle Creek won’t get stocked trout, but Montour Run will

Posted on: April 10, 2018 | Bob Frye | Comments

Turtle Creek isn't getting stocked fish.

There will be no stocking of trout in Turtle Creek this spring.

Some anglers are going to have to make new plans for Saturday.

Turtle Creek, a popular stocked trout stream on the Allegheny-Westmoreland County border, isn’t getting any fish for opening day of trout season.

Pollution is the reason why.

At the start of this week, Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission biologists were monitoring Turtle Creek and Montour Run for different reasons. Turtle Creek was impacted by a slug of acid mine drainage, Montour Run by aluminum discharge.

The commission didn’t want to put fish in either if it was clear they wouldn’t survive.

And that, unfortunately, is the case with Turtle Creek.

“Due to water quality issues, the scheduled trout stocking for Turtle Creek has to be cancelled,” Tweeted Larry Furlong, assistant chief of the commission’s bureau of law enforcement. “We are working on a press release. Please share this with those you know so they are not standing alongside the stream waiting for trucks that won’t come.”

Whenever a stream comes off the stocking list, the commission moves the trout it was to get to other waters, said Dave Nihart, chief of the agency’s coldwater unit. They aren’t just lost.

And typically, they’re put somewhere close by.

“We don’t want to take fish from Allegheny County and move them to Philadelphia. We want to minimize the impacts felt by anglers when we remove a water,” he said.

But there’s been no announcement yet on where Turtle Creek’s trout are headed.

Meanwhile, the news is better for Montour Run. It’s been deemed safe for fish, and for anglers who might consumer its fish, said waterways conservation officer Matthew Raetsch, whose district takes in western Allegheny County.

Montour Run will get trout on April 12, then again twice after opening day. The first in-season stocking is set for April 17.

So that’s great news, he said, as Montour Run is the most heavily fished stream in his district.

“The ratings that we got, all the testing that was done, the results were well within the norms. The water is discolored, but we’re good to go to put the fish in,” Raetsch said.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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