# Little darby creek trout?



## thefraz44

Heard the little darby has trout. Do any of who know anything about it hatch, general spot, and fishing wise. 


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## thefraz44

Link is http://rockyriversteelieblue.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-could-be-top-5-cold-water-trout.html?m=1


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## Salmonid

Interesting link, thanks for that, from my time as the Trout Unlimited state council chairman for many years as well as the Mad River chapter President for over 15 years, I will tell you that Ohio indeed has hundreds of cold water streams suitable for trout, that's not the problem, the problem is access and since all or almost all are on private property, 

Do some research on Green Springs creek and some more on Cold Creek and youll be amazed at a how nice some of Ohio's waters are let alone a bunch of the tribs on the Mad River System. 

Many years ago the state did a big study on finding trout able waters within Ohio and finally came up with a list of I believe 20 top watersheds with habitable water. I still have that study from about 25 years ago somewhere

I also know of several streams in Eastern Ohio that right now, have a sustainable reproducing population of wild rainbows and browns. ( all private of course) 

The water is here, its just getting landowners to agree to have thousands of briars littering their banks and that's a tough sell. I know many of the Mad River landowners and the stories they tell of the good ole days would amaze you. and none of it was good.

Salmonid


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## thefraz44

Wow, I had know idea! I thought there was only cold creek, mad river, and spring fork(I believe that's what it's called). And yes it's a struggle with landowners I know from getting permission on a pond within walking distance of my house...


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## Salmonid

If you only knew the many little gems this state offers....

State stocks 3 streams
Mad River, Clear Fork and Clear Creek, there is also some quasi public fishing on Apple Creek

That about sums up your "public" access areas to trout fish in moving water within Ohio

Salmonid...


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## thefraz44

Salmonid said:


> If you only knew the many little gems this state offers....
> 
> 
> 
> State stocks 3 streams
> 
> Mad River, Clear Fork and Clear Creek, there is also some quasi public fishing on Apple Creek
> 
> 
> 
> That about sums up your "public" access areas to trout fish in moving water within Ohio
> 
> 
> 
> Salmonid...



I wish, where's clear creek?


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## fishinnick

Good stuff. Though, nowhere on that site did it say Little Darby did in fact have trout. It just said it has the potential....

You never know where you may find reproducing populations of trout though. If a watershed has a history of stocking, and it has some good quality streams, who knows.......a few little trout may be swimming around somewhere.


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## thefraz44

fishinnick said:


> Good stuff. Though, nowhere on that site did it say Little Darby did in fact have trout. It just said it has the potential....
> 
> 
> 
> You never know where you may find reproducing populations of trout though. If a watershed has a history of stocking, and it has some good quality streams, who knows.......a few little trout may be swimming around somewhere.



Now that you mention it, your right. Does anyone know anything about the big darby.


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## LearningtoFly

thefraz44 said:


> Now that you mention it, your right. Does anyone know anything about the big darby.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire


If you are asking if there are trout in the Big D the answer is no. Theoretically, one could dump browns or rainbows in the Big Darby's head water and expect some holdover.

Ohio's public trout waters have been mentioned already in this post. In addition, there are 10(+/-) small streams in NE Ohio with sustaining populations of brook trout but all are off limits. There are also two small tributaries of one of the main rivers that gets stocked with steelhead that are known to support reproduction of rainbows/steelhead; again these waters are private. 
There are approximately 1000 miles of cold water habitat in Ohio with the _potential_ to support trout although most of these miles don't offer the habitat to sustain reproducing populations. If you look at historical records of fish populations in Ohio's streams you'll find that various trout species have been surveyed in many of our streams from time to time going back as far as records are available due to groups dumping trout in our streams for various reasons but outside of the streams along the edge of the Allegheny plateau in the NE part of the state, where most of our historic native brook trout streams are/were found, and some spring fed ditches we just don't have much suitable habitat.

To put it in perspective, I believe PA has around 25 times the CWH as Ohio and more than 1500 miles of water that currently support wild populations.


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## fishfray

That was a very interesting read. I always wonder why the dnr stocks all their trout in to lakes. And why they never stock browns which are better suited to our warmer waters. If we do put and take stockings on lakes, why not try it on a river where there may be potential for a few holdovers. Every year they stock 2000 in a 50 acre reservoir near me. A few people (very few) fish for them and there is no way that more than 100 are actually kept before the spread out into the big reservoir then die. I totally understand stocking the smaller ponds/lakes for kids, but many of these trout are wasted.


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## thefraz44

fishfray said:


> That was a very interesting read. I always wonder why the dnr stocks all their trout in to lakes. And why they never stock browns which are better suited to our warmer waters. If we do put and take stockings on lakes, why not try it on a river where there may be potential for a few holdovers. Every year they stock 2000 in a 50 acre reservoir near me. A few people (very few) fish for them and there is no way that more than 100 are actually kept before the spread out into the big reservoir then die. I totally understand stocking the smaller ponds/lakes for kids, but many of these trout are wasted.


 
I know, I've wondered why they don't stock them in say, big walnut creek or great miami river. 



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## garhtr

fishfray said:


> That was a very interesting read. I always wonder why the dnr stocks all their trout in to lakes. And why they never stock browns which are better suited to our warmer waters. If we do put and take stockings on lakes, why not try it on a river where there may be potential for a few holdovers. Every year they stock 2000 in a 50 acre reservoir near me. A few people (very few) fish for them and there is no way that more than 100 are actually kept before the spread out into the big reservoir then die. I totally understand stocking the smaller ponds/lakes for kids, but many of these trout are wasted.


 I agree ! I always thought stocking some tail-waters in the fall with a Delayed Harvest until at-least early April would be a better use of some of our trout. Those fish could be targeted for several months. I personally hate to see thousands of trout dumped into lakes and thousands of anglers crowded around the truck on release day. Several of the public reservoirs in my area have plenty of public access and these fish could survive from Oct until May instead of a few weeks {at-best} in area lakes.


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## Salmonid

Lots of politics involved with trout stocking here and in most states. In Ohio some of the major problems we deal with is lack of access that is " public". For example lets use Ceasers Creek tailwater as an example. The state parks only own a hundred yards or so below the dam before it is owned by the states Natural and Scenic areas. Then it empties into s state and national scenic waterway. With that said the public access technically stops just below the dam because the natural and scenic area would prefer little if any public access to preserve the scenic area. Now add the politics if dealing with both the state and national scenic waterways groups when you start wanting to release cold water to introduce trout which are not native to the already fragile biodiversity. Make sense? Waaay too many players involved for it to happen. 

The state also feels they have an obligation to provide trout for as many people as possible and that is the lake stocking program. Often referred yo as a "quantity" program where as the inland brown trout and steelhead programs are referred to as a "quality" stocking program
Both are combined to keep as many folks as happy as possible. 

Salmonid



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## TheCream

I could be wrong on this but I believe I read/heard a while back that brown trout are more expensive for the DNR to raise than a rainbow.


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## HookBender

This is one of the most interesting threads I have ever read on here, Bravo!


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## EyeCatchEm

I know a little gem of a creek


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## thefraz44

TheCream said:


> I could be wrong on this but I believe I read/heard a while back that brown trout are more expensive for the DNR to raise than a rainbow.



That sounds like it would make sense, but I honestly have no idea.


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## thefraz44

HookBender said:


> This is one of the most interesting threads I have ever read on here, Bravo!



Thanks! 


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## crkwader

EyeCatchEm said:


> I know a little gem of a creek


same thing... its amazing what a gazetter, a 12 pack of beer and a friendly smile will get you.


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## Mushijobah

Little Darby, eh? interesting. borne in the same vicinity as the Mad. Similar spring creek features. I'd guess there is aprehension due to the sensitive nature of big and little darby. Introducing a new predator could effect things. Probably not by a lot, but it always depends on who you're talking to.

Anyways, I was fortunate enough to successfully catch trout in an "unknow" wild rainbow stream in East-Central Ohio. Nothing over 12", but the sense of accomplishment after finding and successfully catching them was great. Would love to find another!


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## Dillon.R.Nott

thefraz44 said:


> Now that you mention it, your right. Does anyone know anything about the big darby.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire


a month ago i was collecting stream fish for bait off a tributary of big darby in a town called north lewisburg, and had a little clear hole for baitfish. i looked down and found some black nose dace around my feet, but i also noticed 2-3 inch rainbow trout with them. so maybe there are bigger ones in the main tributary.


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## kayaker189

I was new to fishing at the time but I swear I caught a small brown trout on the scioto. I remember it making the same grunt sound that trout sometimes make while removing the hook. It could have been mistaken identity who knows.


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## Yakphisher

There are plenty of streams that can hold brown trout. Browns can tolerate a lil warmer water over rainbow so it's a no brainer but obviously the State DNR officials is lacking that brain that so costs is really a non issue. 

I was fortunate enough to fish a private unmentionable stream during the late summer and caught a nice brown.


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## Salmonid

just remember that for the DNR to stock a stream with fish raised on publics money, there must be a sufficient amount of "Public Access" on that stream, that is by far the biggest problem with adding more streams to the Inland trout stocking program.

Salmonid


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