[Wulffman]

the March stocking at stone was so-so, and by the end of the month there was a few pods left, but not too much to speak of. i have not been since the April stocking and was wondering if anyone has been there recently. looking to go on sunday to get into something with some weight. I spent all of last week in the GSMNP with my brother. we caught a few 9's, 10's and 11's but with all the storm fronts coming thru all week and the barometer going crazy, the larger fish in the streams we were fishing would not show up all week. I'm talking about consistent 7-9 inches, which I know are in those streams in good numbers. As a result, i spent a week catching a heck of a lot of 3-5 inch trout on dries. The scenery was beautiful and we had a great time, but after 5 days of fish that size, i'm craving just some foot-longs on the end of my rod.

[tw5270]

I gotta ask...
I know there is poaching, but during C&R at St. MT with almost 3000 fish stocked in March and again in April where could they have gone?
I have heard people say they get fished out, but that's a lot of fish for that small stretch of water (almost all of it roadside). Is the poaching that bad?

[Wulffman]

yes, poaching gets bad. there have been a lot of posts on here about that subject at stone and other creeks. some die, some get eaten by birds, some move downstream, but i don't buy the theories that those things take a majority of the fish. no way. those fish pod up and stick together and don't move. i have my primary reason there aren't as many fish in some dh streams a month after a stocking, but it's just going to get me yelled at by someone; i've fished stone and south mountain many, many times for 10 years, and noone will ever convince me that they consistently stock as many fish as they used to a few years ago. occasionally...maybe, but there have been many, many times the stream has been poorly stocked. years ago, i was never disappointed. those fish numbers that they put onthe stocking report haven't changed in forever and i have no confidence that they are accurate. that's my .02 cents. all i'm saying, is that while there may be a decent number of fish and some people may feel like there's a lot, it ain't like it used to be. if anyone has fished south mountain state park consistently for the last 6 or 7 years, you would know what i'm talking about. there used to be 3 or 4 solid, long stretches of water that always had fish, now there is only one and it's been that way for years. most of that stream is wasted and you have little hope of 'getting away from the crowd'.
by the way, i'm sure there are plenty of fish there right now...way more than one would need, it's just that when they used to put more in, more would spread out and there would be fish in any section you wanted to fish, and you could get away from people. while that plan can and does still work occasionally, it's often not fruitful. they put fewer fish in, and put them only in a few big holes, and there are less fish to spread themselves out in the water between the popular holes. i hate fishing big, deep, roadside holes. just my personal preference. and loading up a couple holes with 75 or more trout, which is absurdly unneccessary, makes bigger targets for poachers.

[Moby]

according to teh State, they stock 870 in East Prong dh, 265 in East prong, and 114 in Stone Mnt Creek dh, and 368 in Middle Prong...

[tw5270]

I have fished Stone a few times over the last three years. I always fish between the roadside holes. A five minute walk has put me spots with fish and no other people. I will be there next weekend with my wife, I hope to put her on some fish and may even make her walk "up" to get some little ones.