Minersville reg change

[Joe_Dizzy]

I was at Minersville over the weekend with my boat, launching was good but it was to see the deepest water I could find near the dam was 19' with surface temps of 72 I am no biologist but I cant see Rainbow trout surviving well as it gets lower, marked spots on GPS at 10am and same spots at 7pm were over 1 foot lower. I also noticed over a dozen dead good sized trout floating not sure if they were released fish that didnt survive or had died due to water conditions.

You are spot on. Surface temps of 72* F and only 19ft of water means very little coldwater refuge for trout. Will be a very difficult summer for Minersville rainbows.

Water starts to lose it's ability to hold sufficient oxygen for trout at 67* F... they can survive above that, but cannot thrive above that. Fighting trout on fly gear for example will stress them beyond repair in most cases. They simply cannot extract enough dissolved oxygen to recover. Even fish that swim off seemingly normal are already experiencing a glazing over of their gills and will nose-dive to their death.

Now more than ever C&R anglers need to be carrying/using thermometers to get readings on surface temps. Most stillwater anglers pull the plug at 65* F and give the fish a break. River anglers get away with slightly higher temps (67* F) as the riffle action helps with oxygen levels.