Your largest wild/native trout?

[pete41]

wasn't meant to be a shot- a pound is a pound,the world around.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

Largest wild brown 18" from Spring Creek. Largest native brookie from a local freestoner 11". Last fall I caught a Brookie out of Spring Creek that measured 12". Nice,mature,colorful male that I'm almost sure was wild. Only one of two Brookies that I have ever caught in Spring Creek. Anybody else here ever catch a Brookie out of Spring Creek? I have also caught 2 different wild Tiger trout from a nearby unstocked limestone stream. The largest of which went 14". What a trophy he was. No matter how many trout I catch in my lifetime he will surely remain my top trophy.

 

[bam]

No brookies on Spring, but I did catch one on the Little J that went about 10 inches. Caught it my first time there and within the first few minutes on a mickey finn.

There has to be some brooktrout water around Rothrock St Forest... my guess is he came from there.

 

[renegade]

No pictures but I caught an 18.5 inch rainbow on penns this year. First time I fished the green drake hatch and I caught him on a fly I tied.

Also caught the largest brookie to date... It was about 12 or 13, I don't rememeber exactly. Caught him in mid summer so I sent him home as quick as possible. I caught him in a local stream I've grown to love. Took a dry fly and put up quite a fight on the 3 wt.

 

[pcray1231]

21" brown from Spring Creek is my largest that I'm fairly sure was wild. I got a 22 incher at the papermill pool on the Tully, right at the confluence with Cacoosing. I've caught wild browns in that pool and the Cacoosing is known to have plenty. I felt that this fish was wild, but I admit it could have been a holdover that was there a while.

Of course, I've caught plenty of steelhead bigger than that, and there is a small percentage that are wild, and I'd never be able to tell the wild ones from the 99% that have hatchery origins.

As far as brookies, 12 1/2" is my biggest wild fish, though I've got quite a few stocked fish larger than that, including an 18 incher.

Wildbrookie - I've caught a few brookies in Spring Creek, all of them presumed to be hatchery escapees. For instance, "the woman's section" at Paradise always has a few of various sizes, and I'm sure a few filter on out into the stream, some of them start pretty small so they can essentially be "fingerling" stocked there.

I've also caught lots of wild brookies in the Spring Creek watershed, in the headwater tribs.

 

[midnightangler]

A couple of 20 inch browns in Spring, that I thought to be wild, one 20 inch brown in fishing creek, I'm sure was wild!

All were beautiful fish.

Go steelers!

PaulG

I bet that BFC brown was a beauty!

I actually caught a 13" tiger trout in spring creek a few years ago around the paradise. It was definitely not wild.

 

[jdaddy]

pete41 wrote:
When did the standard switch to inches and not pounds and ounces-just curious?

My guess would be that the measurement "standard" went from weight to length when C&R became so popular. Referencing a fish against a rod or net takes seconds and no equipment on stream, whereas weight requires more equipment, longer handling of the fish and likely more invasive handling of the fish (think scale where you hang a fish by its gills).

 

[pcray1231]

When did the standard switch to inches and not pounds and ounces-just curious?

It's just a much easier measurement. Many ways to measure length with instruments that you're carrying anyways, or a small inobtrusive device, and it only takes one measurement. For weight, you'd have to carry a scale or else estimate it from a larger number of measurements.

Edit: JDaddy, you beat me to it.

 

[pete41]

Easier butt;

 

[pcray1231]

If I was trophy hunting and expecting to catch a monster, I might take a scale. I have one. I agree its a better measurement for the monsters.

But usually when I catch one I'm rather surprised about it. And I am not going to carry a scale all the time.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

My biggest wild brookie is 14in. An a acouple of wild browns around 14 from Spring creek nothin special there.

 

[BPS]

I caught a 26 in. 9 lb. brown that was def. wild in a place where most people would never even consider fishing. I wanna go back this year and see if he's still there, and how big he is.

 

[boychick]

My biggest wild brown was an 18 incher. I really thought it was 20" so I measured and was dissapointed to find it only taped out at 18". It's girth was the size of a 1 liter pop bottle. It was still one hell of a wild fish.

 

[stevehalupka]

lot of browns and brooks, but my most notable is this bow from a wild stretch... fins sharp enough to cut glass

took a dry as well... easy fight in a freestone wild bow/brook stretch though

 

[bam]

That bow is freakin sick... regardless of how many times you post it

How long was it anyway? Looks to go a good 16... enormous for a small freestone.

 

[stevehalupka]

haha yea i know.. it has been posted a lot...

I'm not sure how big it was, but I would put right around your estimate, I have some other pics that are blurry of me tailing it in the water. will dig them up at home tonight.

 

[jdaddy]

I got a pretty good chuckle looking at the OP, with skin mounted wild brown and signature line "Protect the resource, let them go".

 

[wildtrout2]

jdaddy wrote:
I got a pretty good chuckle looking at the OP, with skin mounted wild brown and signature line "Protect the resource, let them go".

You're easily amused. That's one of a total of 2 (both worthy of mounting) wild trout that I've kept in 30 years of fishing. Do you find that contradictory to my sig to the point that it's necessary to mention?

 

[MKern]

What if it was a reproduction?

 

[osprey]

Wild.....it's your God given right to kill and have mounted as many wild trout as is legally permitted that you want to........but.......protect the resource , let them go.