Youth Derby for Hog Trout

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Gremcat

Well-known member
Thought it would get better visibility here vs. the sub-forum. We have a public Fb page with pics of last few years. Biggest hooked and lost was 18 lbs range. We put 900 fish I believe in a dozen sections. You can see in pics it’s one side only fishing and even with 150 participants it fishes like 1-2 families per stretch. We had record high water last year though so maybe a little different this year with turnout and how bait drifts. All were quick to help out and was the nicest kids derby I’ve seen all around honestly. Can’t use jigs, can’t release fish, meaning holes/runs turn kids instead of campers hogging better stretches. We don’t have quite the number of true hogs this year but I think the ones we have remaining will be exclusively kids derby fish. Probably 1k or more in the 10 lbs+ range still. Even last falls fingerlings are 15” and 2 lbs or more.

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G

Gremcat

Well-known member
Should add, lots of prizes, trophies are huge, even 4-6th place get very nice medals and prizes. Top fish in each category get free mounts. We put it all into this event. My kids only fished the last few hours of day 2 so I wouldn’t get complaints a board member had his kids there. Long story but my son caught the 4th place fish on his own entirely. He won a nice medal and a high quality Bubba fillet/pliers set. I’d never heard of Bubba brand and thought maybe it was Walmart special. It’s in my office as I type this and I’m always tempted to use it. I’ve a St Croix trout UL and a President XT 15 series I’m donating.

There’s also a nice grant tied to remediation so I’ve high hopes for this group. It’s the second oldest state co-op, 67 years or so. Full disclosure, I’m on their Board of Directors so I’m a little biased.

Other note, the state has supplied Brown fingerlings but last year decided a 10 year old private study was sufficient to reclass the stream as Class D Wild Brown stream. They let us stock all remaining browns though. This year we’ve Kamloops, Donaldson, palominos, and a handful of remaining browns/tigers. Donaldsons are a fun one to catch and sadly the 31” brightly colored Kamloop wasn’t caught by a youth last year. I’ve not caught one myself despite best efforts. They are distinctly baby blue back with pink sides.

After the kids derby I avoid the creek honestly. I was exhausted last year but did stop quick that Monday. It was overrun with adults and I went to the Lehigh confluence to get a breakfast sandwich then went home.
 
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Gremcat

Well-known member
The 18 lbser I couldn’t net it was so big. I honestly forgot about it after kids derby and then saw the news when someone caught it. Had two massive ‘Loops we almost lost when our generator kicked out on trek from hatchery last stocking. I put them in with Float Stockers and asked them to camp until they recovered. 30 mins but they did. I forgot about them for months then a local kid got one. I’d tucked them into a tiny trib like I do in other spots, under logs, hidden channels, makes them tougher to catch.
 
troutspinner

troutspinner

Nuts & Bolts Guy
I remember seeing that post last year of the adult that caught the Rainbow. I believe they purposely mislabeled the reported stream. ;)
 
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