Class A Wild Trout Streams

  When I was a teen I used to fish all of the same streams that I fish today. Back then when I would catch a trout it was an unusual experience, usually happening in the spring right after the state stocked the stream. More than likely any catch I made would be a rock bass or creek chub or an occasional smallmouth bass. 

   I moved to northern Delaware in the 80’s and for over 30 years the only trout I caught were stocked fish that weren’t supposed to make it all year round because the water would get too warm. When I moved back to the area in 2021, I began working in Bethlehem. I discovered that I was right in the middle of three sandstone spring creeks. The Monocacy, the Little Lehigh and the Saucon. I started exploring and reading about these streams. They are still stocked by the state but also have healthy populations of wild brown trout. 

   After fishing in these streams and having good success, I started wondering about the streams right around my house and decided to explore those as well. I stopped a few times on my way home at the west branch of the Perkiomen. I was shocked to see wild browns jumping all around the hole I was at. They were on the small side but they were there. I had honestly never seen that many trout in one hole. I also stopped by Swamp creek in Bechtelsville and looked around . I saw a few sunfish and caught a creek chub but no trout. I read that from the dam in Bechtelsville north to the headwaters of Swamp creek it was designated a Class A Wild Trout Stream. I fished upstream a little but still nothing. I also noticed a small tributary of Swamp creek that looked interesting. 

   I made up my mind that I would check it out in April on the first day of trout season. While I was waiting around for the first day, I looked for as much information as I could find on local streams. I also noticed that where I was fishing the west branch of the Perkiomen was actually below where the state had designated it as Class A Wild Trout. That gave me some ideas about Swamp creek that I would check out when I had some time. 

   The first day of trout season was finally here. I headed to the little tributary stream and cast a small spinner across the hole I was at. After three additional casts I was getting discouraged. I cast up the middle of the hole and I got a hit from a small brown. I didn’t catch it but that verified that there were indeed wild browns in Swamp creek. 

   After a few more casts I decided to head over to the west branch of the Perkiomen. I started at the bridge at rte 100 and headed downstream. By the time I went about a quarter mile I had caught 10 browns, each one bigger than the previous one. I started thinking how strange it was that it was the first day of trout season and I was the only one around. My theory is that because it’s a catch and release only area people just aren’t interested. 

   A few weeks later I stopped on my way home further north on the west branch near Bally rocks. My first cast I caught a beautiful large Brook trout. Now that was totally unexpected. I had never seen a brook trout around here before and haven’t seen any since. 

   When I finally made it back to the dam in Bechtelsville, I decided to go downstream and all of the sudden I caught a decent brown. There’s definitely not as many of them in Swamp creek but they are there. I caught a few decent sized ones since then and all of them below the dam.

    I’m going to post a bunch of pictures of browns and the lone brook trout that have all been caught within 5 minutes of my house. I love living so close to this kind of fishery although I do miss the rock bass once in a while.