The total electrofishing distance was 1,383 meters. Our results this time were much better than during historic work. At all sites combined we caught 737 wild brown trout including 403 YOY. Wild brown trout ranged from 2 to 22 inches long (Figure 2). We also caught a single YOY wild brook trout and small numbers of hatchery brown, brook, rainbow, and golden rainbow trout.
The largest trout we caught was 22 inches long and weighed 2.9 pounds. There are two things to note about this. First, there are larger trout available in the river. However, these fish typically spend most of their time in the deepest pools where we are unable to sample even during low stream flows. Second, the larger trout we captured from this section were much lighter for their lengths than the statewide average (Figure 3). The reason for this was a long stretch of warm summer weather prior to the survey. We measured water temperatures as high as 78°F during our work. As a result, the larger trout had not been feeding well for some time. Warm summer water temperatures are the primary factor limiting wild brown trout abundance in this stretch of the Lackawanna. The river also suffers from combined sewer overflows, acid mine drainage, and litter. Nevertheless, wild brown trout continue to thrive.