17 Inch Wild Brookie in Maryland???

yeah, I think it’s best put that way. I know it’s a “popular” stream, but still don’t want to say where.
 
He also caught a King Mackerel at Walking Fish Pond. That's an amazing journey for a saltwater fish.. /s

I'm sure there's quite a bit of disinformation on that site, but just for fun, I looked at some of the catches logged locally and on some of the popular streams I fish that have mixed stocked and wild populations. Based on the stream background, I can say that some of them definitely are accurate locations. There's quite a few wild fish posted and there are quite a few people who don't know the difference between brook and brown trout (or other fish - someone labeled a northern pike a common carp...).

It puzzles me the need some people have to lie. I recall a post on here from many years ago - the story the poster listed checked out with the description of the stream, but the picture of the "big brown" he caught from the waterfall pool was a fish caught in WI and wasn't even his photo (it was even directly linked from another angling blog). The angler had a WI fishing license on his vest which was the initial giveaway for me. The poster made apologies for the "date" on the photo, as it was two years before he allegedly took it but if you looked at the data embedded in the photo proper, the actual take date was a year earlier than the apologized for date.
 
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Haha yes, better not say the name of the stream in the first place than make a fool of yourself claiming something preposterous as a shark in loch raven lol (yes, that legitimately happened…) and also, what “clout” do you get from fish brain anyways lol
 
That doesn't look like a wild fish to me, there are probably a handful of those size brookies wild in the mid-atlantic anywhere; I doubt they're in Maryland there simply isn't the habitat to support that size of fish, IMO.

There may be some areas in VA, WV, NC where you may find 12-15 inch brookies, I've caught a few in the 10-11 inch range.

Unfortunately here in VA they stock brook trout in some of the same areas as the wild fish, so it may be sometimes hard to tell if you got a stocker, or a wild fish.
 
Not spot burning as it is well known but the savage could have brookies that big anywhere in either the upper or lower. Above the res has pretty good sized fish, below the res is a tailwater with alot of brookies and i have caught a bunch in the 10-12' range. there have been brookies that big in NJ, but it is my understanding that the genetics are not of eastern US strain. It was a stream that was repopulated after it ran dry with a diff strain of brook trout. That stream though is on the decline and we are waiting on electroshocking results next year to see what is in it, if anything, anymore.
 
Joe_P said:
Not spot burning as it is well known but the savage could have brookies that big anywhere in either the upper or lower. Above the res has pretty good sized fish, below the res is a tailwater with alot of brookies and i have caught a bunch in the 10-12' range. there have been brookies that big in NJ, but it is my understanding that the genetics are not of eastern US strain. It was a stream that was repopulated after it ran dry with a diff strain of brook trout. That stream though is on the decline and we are waiting on electroshocking results next year to see what is in it, if anything, anymore.
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the thing is, this creek is not the savage watershed, and not really western Maryland either. Seventeen inches for a brookie is a monster anywhere, let alone MD. Most fish here never get bigger than 8 inches, savage definitely has some bigger fish, but a 17 is almost impossible.
 
TheBluegillMaster said:
the thing is, this creek is not the savage watershed, and not really western Maryland either. Seventeen inches for a brookie is a monster anywhere, let alone MD. Most fish here never get bigger than 8 inches, savage definitely has some bigger fish, but a 17 is almost impossible.
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I have seen a photo of an approx 18 in NJ, not in the spot i posted above, from a kid who had no reason or means to fake it. I don't want to say it is real or fake because i have no clue. If someone asked me if i think this photo was possible, i would think it is. If someone asked me if it was probable, i would say no. If someone told me it came out of the savage, especially the tailwater, it becomes more probable.
 
IMHO, there is no way to look at the photo and determine whether it is a wild fish or not. You can guess, but that's about it.

My guess is that it's not.
 
Definitely believe that there are monster brookies out their (albeit INCREDIBLY rare). I guess a brookie that big is technically possible in the lower savage, but this is a freestone stream. Like some people said, this post was most likely caught somewhere else and logged here for some reason. And the person didn’t enable the catch location either so even ig you have premium, you can’t find it. I wouldn’t doubt a brookie this big in the Potomac or savage, but kinda skeptical in this area.
 
troutbert said:
IMHO, there is no way to look at the photo and determine whether it is a wild fish or not. You can guess, but that's about it.
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With absolute certainty, no. But there are multiple tells that work more often than not, and when they all line up, you have yourself a solid educated guess.

The tells on that fish say wild.

But being in another state adds a wildcard, as my brookie "tells" are to distinguish PA wild brookies from PA PFBC strain fish.
 
I am suspicious of where that fish came from, and I don't think it's Maryland, VA, WV, or PA.
 
I’d agree with that, it’s logged in MD, but they most likely caught it somewhere else and logged it here. Honestly what’s the point lol, you don’t get money or fame from Fishbrain. I’d rather they just not post the spots, especially in more sensitive trout areas.
 
A quick correction: BOJC does not stock brook trout anywhere in Maryland. The state has very strict rules about what trout can be stocked and we (I am part of the BOJC leadership group) strive to comply with the letter and spirit of those rules.

Going back many years to when there were no such restrictions, brook trout probably were stocked by the brotherhood, but I have been involved with stocking for 16 years with BOJC and in that time we have stocked brownies and rainbows (with golden rainbows mixed in).

There is a stream in the area near the Pennsylvania border that is stocked with brook trout in Pennsylvania and a few move into Maryland, but it is definitely not Big Hunting.

Big Hunting is subject to a brook trout rehabilitation program managed by state biologists. They’ve been shocking browns out of the creek upstream from the falls and moving them to the section below the falls but upstream from the lake. The idea is to encourage the brookies upstream from the falls to expand their numbers by removing the brown trout competition.

Just to be clear, though: BOJC is a conservation organization that teaches conservation through fly fishing. We respect the work of fisheries biologists and comply with their rules—even when complying is inconvenient.
 
troutbert said:
IMHO, there is no way to look at the photo and determine whether it is a wild fish or not. You can guess, but that's about it.

My guess is that it's not.
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Do you say this because of it's size, where it was allegedly caught, or other reasons?
 
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And all the while the person who posted it on fishbrain is like wow all this fuss abouy my fish lol lol
 
Haha lol. Oh yeah, I think he took it down. Which is kinda sad, but if the guy is seeing this, I don’t have anything against him, just curious and in awe about the size of the fish, if he can confirm it’s real, that would honestly be so cool.
 
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