Moores Run Fish and Game Preserve
"God never did make a more calm, quiet recreation than angling."-Izaak Walton 
3100 Big Moores Run Rd
Austin, PA 16720
570-490-7603

The Preserve


Big Moores Run is a secluded freestone stream in the mountains of North Central Pennsylvania. We have wonderful Mayfly and Stonefly hatches, and Caddis are present most of the year. Over the last 25 years we have stabilized the stream, deepened the holes and installed stream improvement devices. Our efforts have preserved and enhanced this pristine habitat. These conditions allow natural reproduction of Brook, Brown and Kamloop Rainbow trout. Preserving our wildlife habitat is very important to us and we have been involved in many initiatives to protect the environment.


This is one of the few places in the East where you can expect to get into really large trout in a natural stream environment. These fish are wild and during major hatches they can be caught one after another. Most of the time they can be very challenging to hook and land. First time guests would be well advised to hire one of our guides. The preserve is divided into four stream sections: osprey beat, brownie beat, kamloop beat and little moores run.


Interested in learning more? Send your questions to maureenmagarigal@pa.metrocast.net.

Osprey Beat
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Brownie Beat
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Kamloops Beat
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Little Moores Run
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Trout

The preserve has several varieties of trout including Kamloops Rainbow trout, Brown trout and Brook trout. Descriptions by Roy Magarigal.
Roy Magarigal Jr. with a trophy-size rainbow trout.

Kamloops Rainbow


This trout is from the upper Columbia and Fraser Rivers of British Columbia. It was first classified in 1992 as Oncorbynchus Kamloops under the mistaken belief it represented a landlocked species of Pacific salmon. It is now known as Salmo Gairdneri which also includes Steelhead and Redband trout of the upper Columbia. We have used the Gerrard strain from Kootenay Lake in British Columbia, which live twice as long as most rainbows and can exceed 50 lbs. They are spring spawners and meet the small window of opportunity available in eastern streams to produce viable eggs. I have traveled several times to British Columbia to fish for these trout. They are exciting to catch and fight like steelhead. Here is your chance to land one in the East.
Brown

Our Brown trout come from two strains.
The native Brown, of which there are large populations in area streams and Brown trout which were imported from Germany in the early 1980's. You can catch both in the streams here. Many are 10 years or older and have gotten enormous. Although the larger fish are notoriously nocturnal, with sufficient skill and a little luck (I'll take luck any day) you can hook into Browns that are 10 and even 20 lbs.
Brook

Pennsylvania Brook Trout.