Big Spring Cr - Spawning Brookies

[Fishidiot]

Walked Big Spring Creek yesterday looking for spawners. As many of you know BSC has been under a magnifying glass since the state run hatchery closed down several years ago. Many of us have hoped that a naturally reproducing population of brookies would emerge and this has slowly been occuring. I did see a group of about a dozen fish working a redd in the upper section. The brookies averaged probably about 7" long but there were a couple fish I saw today that appeared to be about 12 inches. I saw no spawning rainbows or browns. I did see a very large brown further downstream under a bush. I returned to my car and retrieved my fly rod and managed to catch him - at 24" he could easily eat brookies. I saw no large browns or 'bows in the "ditch" - only brookies and smallish rainbows. Anyway, it was great to see brookies spawning in BSC and recent threads about this creek, identifying redds, and wild brook trout sizes had me motivated to look for brookies here.

 

[FarmerDave]

Very nice.

I've never been there, but still love to hear about the Big Spring.

 

[wgmiller]

Where's the pic of the big fish??? :-(

 

[Acristickid]

Awesome!

 

[MKern]

What an outstanding picture!

 

[GreenWeenie]

If anyone is interested in learning more about Big Springs and the BS spewed by the PFBC, check out these websites:

http://www.limestoner.com/

http://www.flyfisher.com/

http://www.aquaticinstitute.com/

 

[JasonS]

Very nice pic. Would love to get a look at a pic of the 24" brown.

 

[Maurice]

Check out the photo page for the 24" brown....Nice fish. Looks like a female stocked trout. What did she take?

 

[JackM]

I hope you don't mind me displaying it here:

I have been wanting one of those miniature fly rods for a couple years. Where did you get yours?

 

[simplefish]

You made me laugh Jack. Thanks.

 

[GreenWeenie]

Sorry but this photo isn’t real.

My guess is this is about a 14” fish at most and that it was photographed in front of the reel/cork handle meaning the reel/cork handle in the original actual photo taken streamside is actually on the tail fin side of the fish and not on the nose side of the fish, as it is shown in this picture. What is shown here is a photo that has been doctored with the reel/cork grip being flipped and repositioned from the tail side of the fish to the nose side of the fish using photoshop or some other photo-cropping software to make the fish appear much larger than it actually is.

It is simple to figure out. Look at the fly line, especially the angle of the line in relation to the rod. In the photo the line comes out of the reel and angles towards the rod like it should (because of the stripping guide) and then is hidden by the anal fin. But when the line re-emerges on the tail side of the anal fin it once again angles away from the rod; however if the tip of the rod was on the tail side like this photo suggests, shouldn't the line closely follow the rod and not angle away? Why is it doing this? Because the line is angling to the reel, which has been cropped from view.

You can also see the outline of the rod and line beneath the tail fin but you cannot see the outline beneath the anal fin. Why? Because it’s been cut and pasted.

Also, the proportions are all off. Assuming the length from the rod butt to the end of the cork grip is about 9 inches long (rather on the short side - I would say 10 or 11 inches is more of a normal distance), the fish measures 3 grips making it a 27 inch fish. At a butt to handle tip distance of 10 inches (more realistic) it is a 30 inch fish.

This is no 30 inch fish.

Busted. Fake.

 

[jayL]

My favorite thing about the internet would have to be the "I can tell by the pixels" conversations.

Perhaps we should get snopes involved?

 

[JackM]

It looks like the line has wrapped around the rod, causing it to come off at two different angles.

 

[Fishidiot]

GreenWeenie,
Well my gosh. Aside from the fact that I'm not savvy enough to photoshop a photo - where is the claim made it is 30 inches? The fish is 24". My fly rod is a very small 5.5 Ft rod I built myself and the cork handle is very short and the reel is tiny. There is actually a 20" mark on my rod which can be seen as a white mark just to the left of the end of the tail. This rod can be seen with some other fish photos I've posted on this site. Anyway it was a beauty of a trout and I was delighted to see the spawning brookies.
Mo: I agree she looks like a female - ate what most of the large trout I have been fortunate to catch in limestoners fall for: a sculpin.

 

[jayL]

Fishidiot has a good reputation around here, and has always proven to be a good contributor. I say nice fish. I've only gotten a handful that big.

 

[GreenWeenie]

I sincerely appologize then.

 

[JackM]

Speaking of photoshop jobs, this is one of the better and funniest I've seen:

 

[tomgamber]

Almost definitely not shopped. I put it in photoshop and took the magic wand to the shadows. They overlap the background and the fish exactly. pull it up tight and all of the pixels are of the same size (although that CAN be fixed by flattening but its what everyone looks at first) Its a big fish, a little rod and looks like it was a lot of fun...

 

[Padraic]

I was going to say that if the photo was "shopped", the masterwork was to make the tail look like it is resting on (and propped up by) the rod. Nice fish!

 

[Fishidiot]

GW,
Apology noted and accepted - no hard feelings.
Dave