Brooks with a Kype... put to an end.

[stevehalupka]

Figured I'd give a little back since I've been a pest full of questions lately...

I threw up a stream report yesterday on a local fly project that just got a dose of 500 fish, the majority of which were brook trout. After pulling an all-nighter, I decided on going back this morning, and am glad I did. I think I caught or hooked every fish in each stretch I fished stripping and swinging streamers.

Enjoy the pics... this was my first outing with my Olympus Stylus Tough 6000. The underwater photos may be sketchy, but hey, it was my first attempt.

pocket water:

The morning's ammo:

3rd drift... pig on. Check out these colors and the kype on this male:

All fish could pass for wild's if you ask me:

These are seriously all different fish, I only took pics of the hogs

beard is a-growing:

great day on the water... all the fish I took pics of (bigger ones) were sluggish at release, but were back to feeding after a few minutes, so no harm done.

Not many females to answer your question Jack, but i did see a female brook trying to pair up with a male brown... brown wasn't having it.

Class at 5, still no sleep, I'm thinking a vicodin or three for this back... going to be a loopy lecture.

 

[govtmule]

damn those are nice...never saw a stockie look so good. great pics.

jeff

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Classy shots Steve.Really nice brookies.sounds like a fun outting.GG

 

[Fishidiot]

I agree. For fresh stockies those brooks are colored up nicely and have a healthy look to 'em. Nice.
I'm curious, might the source of these stocked fish be a private hatchery or do you know if they are PFBC fish?

I remember many years ago, 1983 or 84, the PFBC developed problems with brookies in their hatcheries (seems to me it was a brain worm but I can't remember). They stocked lots of big, really good looking, kype jawed fish into the local ATWs here in the southcentral. It was a blast. Until recently, I still had some mounted fish from that one year when so many big brookies were available. I remember watching a guy at Allenberry land a fish that had to be 5 or 6 lbs and I remember thinking it might have been a state record had he kept it.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Looks almost as pretty as the biggest brookie I ever caught in a trickle that was damned up by beavers, except for that big nasty mouth.

They got some color.

 

[DaveKile]

Steve,

Nice photos and update. I know that rock!

Dave

 

[wsender]

great shots, gorgeous looking brookies.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

I hope you get some good use out of that Olympus. I've had mine for a while now and I really like the convenience and size and the fact that they're waterproof. Image quality isn't awful either.

Great pics.

 

[crangler]

Awesome pics stocked or not those are some hogs for brookies

 

[stevehalupka]

Fishidiot wrote:
I agree. For fresh stockies those brooks are colored up nicely and have a healthy look to 'em. Nice.
I'm curious, might the source of these stocked fish be a private hatchery or do you know if they are PFBC fish?

Surprisingly, they came from the local Pfbc hatchery, and one that never, ever, ever delivers fish like this. In fact, this is the only stream in the county that gets brooks, and this is the largest they have EVER been.

There is known poaching at the project from Amish and spin fisherman, and accordingly, the new commissioner, a young buc, was out doing his job. I got checked for my license for the first time in my career.

As I was leaving today, an older fisherman and I got to talking. He told me how this place used to be chalk full of brook trout like this in years prior. He then started talking about the absence of fish in a trib to this stream, and was upset that it doesn't receive fish anymore. I'm sure he knew there is natural repro in it, but he didn't care. He wants and is pushing for the re-addition of it to the stocking list. I took my klonopin the night before and was mildly sedated, so I didn't want to burst his bubble educating him on
the reasons we shouldn't stock it. What baffled me however, was the commissioner's lack of response as to why the stream doesn't get stocked. He said the dude just shrugged his shoulders and said they didn't have enough fish haha.

 

[jayL]

The beard pic looks like a shot of a satisfied fisherman. I can picture a short nod and a "yep".

 

[Squaretail]

Maybe back in '05 Clarks recieved a batch of brookies much like these. For stockies they were in fact something to behold.
Nice brookies.

 

[PaulG]

Squaretail wrote:
Maybe back in '05 Clarks recieved a batch of brookies much like these. For stockies they were in fact something to behold.
Nice brookies.

Your right it was 05, I was still keeping records then and recorded many nice brookies being caught.

Steve

Nice pics..thanks!

PaulG

 

[CathyG]

On Monday I helped stock 2 truckloads of Benner Spring hatchery trout. The truck of brookies looked like the photos, large and colorful. The truck of rainbows looked like your typical stocked fish, dark, not too colorful, average size.

 

[3wt7X]

Wow...pretty stockers with some size to them!!! Looks like a great outing. I've seen a couple fish like that in Big Hunting Creek. Similar colored stockies, but maybe a little smaller. Keep up the good work and happy fall fishing.

 

[TossinFlies15]

Maybe back in '05 Clarks recieved a batch of brookies much like thes

Did they put em in down stream because I've noticed that the larger fish I catch there are downstream threw the woods and to grandmothers house.

 

[stevehalupka]

I took a friend who hasn't got out in some time after these elusive suckers... we were skating caddis last night when a hatch stgarted and bringing them up. Didn't bring any to hand... were bending out 18's.

seriously in love with this camera. recommend for those in the market.

 

[tomgamber]

The local club used to stock fish like that. Remember having a similar day several years ago. I still like that creek a lot. Just don't get there often. You should take Jack there. The time I took him the place was barren.

 

[jayL]

They put a bunch of them in a SEPA stream too. I found that out today. Thought of this post and threw streamers to them all day. They didn't have all that much fight in them, but their weight alone made it decent.

I wanted to go to check on the wild trout after this summer, and they are alive and well! Good day all around.