The recovery of Lititz Run over the past several years has been dramatic, to the point that wild stream-bred rainbows are sometimes caught. The work done on the Banta property provided an opportunity for an experiment to see if a wild population of brown trout could be established in the run.
Accordingly, fingerling brown trout were purchased by DTU with the intent of stocking them on this section of stream. To identify them in later shockings, their adipose fin was clipped.
The fish were then left on their own, with no fishing and no artificial food provided.
A subsequent electroshocking only revealed a few adult fish, but they were quite sizeable and in good health. Since it was felt we might have been precipitate in stocking so soon, before sufficient cover for protection had been established.
The stretch was once more stocked with 1500 fin-clipped fingerling brown trout in the Fall of 2009. In May 2010, Matt Kofroth of Lancaster County Conservation District, with several aides and DTU members, electroshocked the stream.
The habitat is now remarkable, and several fin-clipped trout were catalogued, along with a rainbow trout and a few carp. All were fat and sassy.
In late September 2010, PA Fish & Boat Commission shocked an 1184-foot stretch of the property with better equipment. Twenty-five trout were captured in this study.
Photos courtesy and © Josh Slaymaker & Bob Wyble.