monster trout.

[captbugger]

Other then steelhead I'm in for a challenge to find monster trout. Im not asking to give up your secret honey hole. More so just a direction for trout over 5 ponds or more. Im going to start locally in franklin county the venture out. Any locations or streams give me a shout.

 

[Fishidiot]

Five pounds? That's an ambitious goal.

If this is your genuine standard.... To be honest, your best bet for that would be to focus on stocked streams that are stocked by clubs or with PFBC breeder fish or private waters where fish are artificially fed.

Personally, if I may be so bold as to suggest an alternative, that you set the bar at 20 inches rather than five pounds. Twenty inch wild brown trout are a very real challenge but are common enough around here that you can set a realistic goal of catching them. A typical 20" wild trout in PA will weigh around 3 pounds by comparison. When you get the hang of targeting 20" browns you may eventually get a genuine five pounder.

With respect to where to go: focus on limestone streams or limestone influenced streams like Yellow Breeches or other medium to larger waterways; fish them at low light conditions in their lower reaches rather than headwaters; and stick to streamer flies. Have the discipline to ignore hatches and small rising fish and stick to big stuff. Rainy days and the colder months of the year can be your friend (esp in those downstream areas where bigger browns tend to reside). Skip those sunny days, however tempting, and choose to fish at night instead.

 

[bingsbaits]

Tailwaters of Kinzua dam clear to warren...

 

[Night_Stalker]

I agree with Fishidiot's post.

His suggestion to reach for consistent 20" goal is achievable. The larger fish will come. A five pound wild brown of normal proportions is 23 to 24". They are much less common than the 20".

I base my comments on a detailed log of my own catches "20-inches and over". I have only been learning about trout for 10 years. In recent years of non-stop hunting large browns, I have been getting a handful of 5 to 7 pound fish during the period of a year. That is fishing all seasons and even below freezing temps. Summer time tends to be an off season for me…but I continue to look. Learn the local waters and the behaviors of it's fish. This is key. Where I fish there are few fish of the size you seek. Persistence bordering on obsession gets the fish.

Here is a fish I recently posted in the fish gallery on this forum. Not your typical catch at 26" and pushing 8 pounds (in the day light).

You would most likely not need to leave your county to find the fish you seek, but it may take a while to learn where it is and how to land it…and lots of commitment. I believe there are places in PA where you can have better success due to larger average fish sizes.

 

[JG63]

Agree with all posts so far. You just have to believe the fish are there. Read up on George Harvey and even Joe Humphreys Trout Tactics For some good nocturnal techniques. Leave your 5 weight in the truck and think 6-7-8 depending on size of streamers/ buggers used. Winter flows on larger rivers can be deceptively dangerous. Neoprene waders make a big difference too in 40 something temps. Read the water then break some rules too. Very often large browns will be in shallow tail outs or edges as dusk settles. Working "holes" is good practice but large browns don't always feed where you expect them to be. Solitude on a moonless night - good luck

 

[sipe]

I want to be Night Stalkers adopted son.

 

[allan_s]

I agree with sipe. Night Stalkers photos of fish make my jaw drop.

 

[captbugger]

I really like the response and help on this. Will the lj be one of the big fishing spots?

 

[Fishidiot]

captbugger wrote:
Will the lj be one of the big fishing spots?

Yes.

 

[captbugger]

Big springs has produced some really nice fish. Matter of gact a guy caught a 15 lb brown out of there the pic is up in yellow breeches fly shop. I am very familiar with this stream but when it comes to monsters fish what is the ticket fly?

 

[Fishidiot]

captbugger wrote:
when it comes to monsters fish what is the ticket fly?

There is no "ticket fly." You're trying too hard to find specific, magic answers.

Pay your dues and remember: it's a puzzle - enjoy putting the pieces together.

See my post above: use streamers. Big ones with lots of movement. It is more important however to fish under low light conditions and in the best habitat (those lower river sections during colder months). Don't overlook lesser known waters as well. There are big trout in some places that aren't well known such as the streams you refer to above. Some big streams/small rivers that are better known for bass fishing in summer can be a good place to explore during the colder months. There's often what I call the transition zone in these rivers where you get bass in summer but after October there are some very large trout that start to show up. The upper Potomac River in Maryland is a good example. There are some other examples closer to you....but I'll let you explore and find them.

 

[Acristickid]

yough , clarion , allegheny rivers

I know a guy that caught a 12 and 14 lb brown out of the yough on spinning gear.

Fish of 10,000 casts

 

[tomitrout]

Pay your dues

This, is truth.

Big fish don't just happen, it's a process, or sometimes just dumb luck. Go to your local 'bridge hole' and look for the big breeder palimino they plopped in there, they like velveta, that's dumb luck, imo.. Or put in your time on the local beats that you already know hold big fish, and make your luck thru persistence and experience...or become content being a dry fly preferential fisherperson and be thrilled to catch anything over 14-16" on your 3wt.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

There are fish in your area in that class. As others said, it's a matter of finding them. Not only the right place but also the right time.

 

[Night_Stalker]

The 15 pound brown referred to by captbugger has been harvested by a group of guys. I was told they have also caught and kept several other large browns from the same place. We are speaking of "wild" 26 to 32 inch fish that would be possibly 15 years old or older. I'm not sure that Big Spring will continue to be an option for monster browns. Rainbows in Big Spring is a different story. I have not caught anything large there...yet. An adventure to look forward to. Big Spring is not entirely catch and release unfortunately. The Le Tort is a stream that could also that could benefit from additional catch and release classification of it's wild fish.

 

[CRB]

Lake Erie, Tribs of Lake Erie and PI Bay have your fish. Lot of water to fish. You may be better off using a boat and trolling. One can cover more water in a day that way. They are there. Remember the State record brown came out of a LE trib.

 

[RLeeP]

Often, another good bet for finding bigger trout can be the transitional sections of a stream where it is no longer good cold water habitat, but isn't quite decent warm water habitat yet either. I don't know enough about Franklin County to give you local examples, but over the years, friends and I have taken some really large browns out of a number of NW Pa. streams while fishing them for smallmouth. Usually, these fish will come out of the lowest stocked section of the stream or the next section below where stocking ceases. As a general rule, this sort of fishing is a closer cousin to musky or big pike fishing than regular trout fishing in the sense that there is a high hours expended to fish hooked ratio and in many cases, you'll locate the fish long before you actually catch him. I also tend to think that the more fertile the stream is overall, the better candidate it will be for this sort of big fish hunting. That is to say, the transitional water in a relatively fertile stream like Oswayo Creek or a large limestone like the Bald Eagle will provide better big fish hunting than someplace like lower Kettle, the Loyalhanna or the Loyalsock, etc. for example...

 

[pete41]

I was a big trout nut in Montana for 30 years.
Two things that are quite different are your trout back east are more obese as a typical four pounder not filled with eggs would be right around 28 inches.The other is my night fishing was Always done under quarter to quarter moon phases as I wasn't about to wade those big rivers during the dark phase.the trout would co operate but they tended to feed in fits and spurts rather steadily so i would go for hours with no action than bang,bang than stop…
No way am I suggesting the fish in the East would react the same as everyone seems to want to get the other guys in the dark.

 

[marcq]

If you want to catch big trout you have to change your whole understanding of trout fishing. Like they said night is right. I wouldnt say a trout becomes top predator until they get in the 20 inch class. They become meat eaters not to say that they will not eat bugs. A 20 inch fish has probably seen a few flies in its day so they get picky. Thats why guys thorw big streamers at them. The fish mike strike because it's hungry but I think its more cause they are annoyed by the fly. Like any other big fish they get lazy. They are going to eat maybe three for four times a week. Its usually something large like a smaller trout or other baitfish. They hide in deep pools or along banks where its easy to ambush pray.

 

[geebee]

as well as RleeP's suggestion, i'd check out junction pools where a coldwater stream meets another or flows into a larger warmer stream.

usually there will be a deep hole or seam where big fish will sit and wait for bait to be flushed down to them.

given the relatively spartan food on offer on Eastern coldwater streams, i think the access to warmwater streams plethora of baitfish - shiners, chubs, suckers has to be attractive to big trout.

so spring, fall, winter and night time is where i'd hit those spots.

GB