Somewhere Near Gettysburg: Tracer Trout along the Mason-Dixon

Words:Ben MarcusPalomino trout are a rainbow/golden trout hybrid that shine like koi in the rivers, runs and creeks along the Mason-Dixon Line. There is nothing stealth about palomino trout and they are now in my personal Top Three Worst Camouflaged Wild Animals: 1. Black bear in fall color. 2. Garibaldi in the kelp beds of California. 3. Palomino trout—which Cory Bluemling dubbed “tracer trout” on a fine spring day, standing on a bridge over White Clay Creek—about a mile down Creek Road from the University of Delaware (U of D) and a few miles south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Cory was overlooking the creek as it filled with fresh stocked trout courtesy of the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. Initially stunned by their new environment, after a few minutes they got their troutwits about them and began exhibiting classic behaviors. The palomino trout did indeed look like tracers—one golden bullet clearly visible for every three or four stealth rainbows.

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Left to right, top to bottom

Sunday, bloody Sunday. A mass of fisherman attend Easter Sunday services below the damn dam on White Clay Creek, DE. Photo: Cory Bluemling

So that’s why they call ’em “tracer trout.” Overlooking a pod on White Clay Creek, DE. Photo: Cory Bluemling

Hooray! The trout bus is here! Delaware Fish and Game stocking White Clay Creek, DE. Photo: Cory Bluemling

Begging for a 3-weight and a handful of caddis flies – a panorama of Meadow Run Creek in prime fishing shape in Ohiopyle State Park, PA. Photo: Michael Marks

Back to the studio, Corey Bluemling and Michael Marks collaborating on a trout-inspired project. Cory is a ceramicist and Michael is an artist, both are graduate students in art at the University of Delaware. Photo: Ben Marcus

See, they do exist! Mike Marks with evidence that the elusive White Clay Creek trout are not merely figments of the imagination. Photo: Michael Marks

Will bike for fish. Cory Bluemling pedals through the University of Delaware campus on the way to White Clay Creek. Photo: Ben Marcus

Go here. Stand on this rock. Tie on a fly. Cast. The fishing may not be stellar, but you’ve got a better-than-average chance of spotting some Civil War reenactors. Photo: Ben Marcus