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Volunteers help keep Pennsylvania's lakes, streams stocked

Rick Prutz describes the trout nursery’s operation


About one-fourth of the trout and other fish stocked in Pennsylvania's lakes and streams come from volunteers who spend their own money to raise the fish.

It's a tradition that dates to 1932 and currently involves 149 organizations, mostly sportsmen's clubs, operating 165 cooperative nurseries to raise 1 million fish annually, said Brian McHail, leader of the Fish and Boat Commission's Cooperative Nursery Unit.

The groups typically stock streams that the state doesn't stock or, in some cases, increase the number of fish in areas the state also stocks. They also often hold derbies for children to encourage an interest in fishing.

One of the newest groups is the Gen. Braddock's Fish Club in Connellsville, which started raising trout in 2016.

“We thought it would help bring people into the community, to come in and fish from out of town and fill up our hotels and restaurants,” said Tom Murphy, club president.

In its first year, the club raised and stocked 6,000 brown trout. This year, it's preparing to release about 8,000 brown trout and 50 Palomino or golden trout into the Youghiogheny River.

“We stock at the Memorial Bridge and the Crawford Bridge in Connellsville,” said Richard Prutz, club vice president.

The club plans to hold back about 800 or so fish so that it can hold a fishing derby for kids in late April or early May. Area businesses are already donating fishing rods that the club plans to raffle off during the event, he said.

The club plans to include some of the Palomino trout in the derby because the larger, golden trout stand out among the brown trout.

“It gives them something to try for and hopefully gets them interested in fishing,” Prutz said.

In 2016, organizations like the Gen. Braddock's Fish Club devoted 127,441 volunteer hours to raising and stocking fish across the state. That's a typical number for the amount of work involved, McHail said.

“Some of our nurseries, there's one or two people who help out, others there are 15 or so people helping,” he said.

Many of the people operating nurseries today picked it up from their parents or grandparents, he said. The oldest existing nursery, operated by the Windber Sportsmen Association in Somerset County, has been around since 1932 and was one of the first ones established in the state, McHail said.

While some of the volunteers raise other types of fish, the majority raise trout.

“We're a trout state,” McHail said. “People like to catch trout and fish for trout.”

State fish hatcheries provide the volunteers with fingerlings every spring or summer. The volunteers then grow the fish and release them into public fishing waters the next spring.

The volunteers build the nurseries, which typically consist of concrete canals or “raceways” that are fed either by springs or streams. Most are outdoors, which presents a problem with ice in the winter.

“A lot use a spring close to the nursery so the water itself stays in the 50s,” McHail said.

Others use roofs or even heaters to keep the water above freezing. The commission provides grants to help them make improvements, but all the other costs are on the volunteers, he said.

“It's on the sponsor organization to pay for all the feed, the electricity,” he said.

The Gen. Braddock's Fish Club operates a nursery in Bullskin on land owned by Eutsey Lumber. It's fed by Mountz Creek through a 15-inch intake pipe. The strong flow of water has kept the stream from icing over even during the recent cold snap, Prutz said.

The commission has authorized a $2,700 grant that will allow the club to install electricity and aerators, and the club is also working to replace a foot bridge that was washed out so that Boy Scouts and other groups and individuals can visit and help with the nursery.

The volunteers handle all maintenance of the nursery as well as feeding the fish. The club spends about $2,500 a year on fish food.

Taking care of the fish requires a lot of knowledge including how much feed to put into the water each morning and afternoon.

They use an infrared thermometer to measure the air and water temperature before feeding the fish, club member Larry Anderson said.

With the water running about 35 degrees, the fish are sluggish and giving them too much feed would kill them, he said. As the water warms up, they need more feed.

“When the water temperature gets up in March, they really put some weight on and size,” he said.

The cooperative nursery unit provides technical support as well as semi-annual inspections of the nurseries. The commission also provides experts to handle any health problems with the fish such as fungus outbreaks.

“If anything happens at the nursery, an emergency, we help them with that,” McHail said.

Brian Bowling is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-1218, bbowling@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TribBrian.


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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Tom Murphy, president of General Braddock's Fish Club in Connellsville, feed nearly 8000 brown trout, at the clubs co-op fish nursery in Bullskin Twp., on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Palamino and brown trout feed at the co-op nursery of General Braddock's Fish Club in Connellsville, in Bullskin Twp., on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Snow covers the fish pen of General Braddock's Fish Club in Connellsville, at the clubs co-op fish nursery in Bullskin Twp., on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
General Braddock's Fish Club's co-op fish nursery in Bullskin Twp., on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Rick Prutz, vice president of General Braddock's Fish Club in Connellsville, talks about why the club was started, at the clubs co-op fish nursery in Bullskin Twp., on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
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Dan Speicher | Tribune-Review
Tom Murphy, president of General Braddock's Fish Club in Connellsville, take care of the fish at the clubs co-op fish nursery in Bullskin Twp., on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018.
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Christian Tyler Randolph | Tribune-Review
A selection of fly fishing lures for sale at Ligonier Outfitters in Ligonier, Pa., on Saturday, April 15, 2017.