Biggest Native Pa Brookie?

[wildtrout2]

Reading the post's from the "Who loves the Brookies" topic, I was wondering what is the biggest "native brook trout" you folks may have caught/seen while fishing in Pa?

One day while fishing a deep (4'-5') pool in Sullivan Co, I was bringing in a small 4"-5" brookie, and from the bottom of this undercut pool, chasing the trout on my line, came the biggest native brookie "I've" ever seen! He was no less than 15", and might have been as big as 16"-18" long! He saw me and back down he went. I'll never forget that scene as long as I live!

Also, what might you guess would be the biggest native brookie that we could expect to see in a wild Pa trout stream?

 

[afishinado]

wildtrout2 wrote:
what is the biggest "native brook trout" you folks may have caught/seen while fishing in Pa?

Caught, around 13". I've seen some 14 or 15" maybe. It's hard to judge when seeing them in the water. In PA, 12" or better sized brookie is a rarity, and a fish 14 or 15" is a really rare. Why do you think that is? Is it genetic or is it habitat?

The species grows much larger in places like northern Canada. If a stream as fertile as say Spring Creek was inhabited just by brookies, how large would they grow?

 

[wildtrout2]

afishinado wrote:

wildtrout2 wrote:
what is the biggest "native brook trout" you folks may have caught/seen while fishing in Pa?

Caught, around 13". I've seen some 14 or 15" maybe. It's hard to judge when seeing them in the water. In PA, 12" or better sized brookie is a rarity, and a fish 14 or 15" is a really rare. Why do you think that is? Is it genetic or is it habitat?

The species grows much larger in places like northern Canada. If a stream as fertile as say Spring Creek was inhabited just by brookies, how large would they grow?

From what I've read on the subject, a wild trout in a Pa stream will only grow around an inch in a year. Perhaps as much as two inches if the conditions are right. I think I read we can only expect to see these trout live to around 6 years or so. Also, I do know a trouts growth potential is relative to the size of the body of water in which it lives. Small stream "usually" equals small trout.

 

[pcray1231]

Growth rates are largely determined by the available food. Yeah, a small stream will not support larger fish. As far as how big they'd get in Spring Creek, well, before the pollution and introduction of browns, it was full of brookies. Think they averaged 9-10, with a few in the mid-teens. Read Harvey's book. Heck, going back before the forests were logged, the Allegheny, Pine, Tionesta, Oil, Neshannock, and just about every larger stream held large populations of wild brook trout. Their migrations were trackable and guys knew when and where to intercept them. Several factors formed their demise, overharvest and the introduction of browns played a part, but primarily it was large-scale logging of the primarily pine forests, which regrew as primarily hardwood forests, resulting in boom-bust flows we see today. They were relegated to headwaters streams, and the limestoners. Today, populations still exist in a few limestoners, but browns have replaced them in most of the limestoners. Populations of residents are still pretty strong in the headwaters. Those were resident populations, though, I don't know if they'd regain their migratory ways if conditions were improved to where they could inhabit larger streams.

Biggest native brookie I ever caught was in Penns Creek, 12". Yes, it was quite obviously wild, though I have caught stockers there too. Biggest from a small stream was about 10". I wouldn't doubt there's a handful pushing 20" out there, especially in lakes that have brookie streams as tribs. Allegheny Reservoir would be a prime candidate to look for one.

 

[flyeyeeye]

19 1/2 inches out of a spring fed pond. Tried to revive it after the fight but unfortunately it didn't make it.

 

[Maurice]

A wild brown trout in a freestone environment will grow to three inches in six months on a freestone stream and in 1 year be a long as 5-7" depending on the summer growing season. In 1.5 years (April or May) it should be 9"-11". and up to 13" during its 2 yr mark of sexual maturity. After that, the growth rate slows to an inch or two per year depending on stream fertility and habitat.

Throw in a fertile limestone spring creek WBT and you can see them eclipse these numbers.

For Wild Brook trout (ST), they are slightly behind WBT on growth rates and I believe they spawn in their first year further slowing the growth rate compared to WBT. This is the major reason that WBT overtake them in territory where they exist together.


The biggest wild brook trout I have ever seen was 13". I know, I gutted it. I was about 14. My buddies dad caught it. It was a huge trout for the stream. In 10 years of fishing this crik we never caught another trout that big outta there.

I have since never seen one near that big. The closest was an 11"er out of Minister Crik in NWPA. I caught it on a spinner using spinning gear. It was bizaar. I am trolling this spinner through the big bouldered pool and back toward meand when it is 5 feet from me this big brookie comes flying toward the spinner from under the boulder. he stops in front of me, I stop the spinner. I see his eyes look up at me, we are eye to eye for a split second and then he noses down and picks up the chartreuse spinner. As if to say, If you don't want that thingy...I'll take it. I yanked the line and the fight was on. Not for long....I think he knew the drill.

My buddies dad, same guy from 10 years before Proabbly 15 years by then....comes by and askes how we were doing and I said I just landed an 11"er. HE said let me see it. I said I put it back. He went off on me....and I grinned and grinned.....I said if you want him he is in this pool.

This was pre-WBTEP regs on Minister.

 

[pcray1231]

Maurice,

Minister was always one of my favorites. The regs had a negative effect down near the mouth, but not much of an effect at all once you get a mile or two up.

 

[Fishidiot]

In nearly three decades of chasing small, freestone stream brookies in PA, the largest I've caught was 11 inches and that was 1984. About four years ago I got a 10" fish here in Adams County. I consider an 8" brookie to be large on most of the waters where I fish for 'em. Back in the 80s I caught some brookies in the Ditch at Big Spring that were in the 12" range. I'm not sure they were wild but there was a remnant wild brookie population then. I once saw another fisherman catch a brookie there that was about 15" - again, not sure if it was wild but it sure looked like it was.

 

[MKern]

I have caughgt a few in the 12-13" range, all at the mouth of a stream that has decent population of brookies.

I have caught a couple 12" on Penns.

In the traditional mountain stream 10ish is my largest and I have quite a few of these.

I have seen brookies that push 16".

I have found that if you fish a stream that has 3-6 pockets in a row, but you didn't even spook a fish, there is a large brookie there waiting for dark. This large brookie has mating rights with all of the females in the stream (sometimes only 2-3 large males, but usually only 1). This guy spends the entire day patrolling HIS stream, making sure the smaller fish are in line. When this guy expires, there will be a couple years of population explosion and 6" fish everywhere. Until 1 genetic freak grows as big as his predecesor -- usually a direct decendant. I call this my Shaq philosophy -- it's longer and more complicated, especially to long to type. It usually comes out after a couple beers or while hiking a brookie stream.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

My uncle caught a 17 inch brookie on a unstocked section of Bald Eagle Creek when we were fishing there in the summer 7 years ago was the most beautiful fish i have ever seen to this day.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

The two biggest wild brook trout I have ever caught measured:

14 inches and 15 inches.

The 15 incher came from slate run. No doubt that was an old old fish.

 

[Chaz]

The largest native brookie I've caught is 16 inches in a limestone stream. But I've seen bigger brookies there during the spawning season.
Brookies in a freestone environment don't grow very fast unless it is a fertile stream like Slate Run, but even there the season is short. However a 1 Y brookie in this limestone stream is over 7 inches. By the second year they are 10 and by the third they are 13 inches. I've posted pictures of some of these brook trout on this board in the past, but the photos now reside on the PA Trout web site.
Maurice there is no way a brown in a freestone stream grows that fast. Trust me on this, I've been present on surveys of the West Branch Perkiomen Creek and yoy fish are only about 3-4 inches in August, year 1 fish are 6-7 inches. The West Branch is about the most fertile freestone stream anywhere in PA.

 

[Padraic]

PaulG caught a magnificent brookie in Fishing Creek. I'm confident it was a wild fish, but who's to say if it was a true native? Anyway Paul would have to tell you the length, but it was definitely in the teens.

 

[wildtrout2]

Padraic wrote:
PaulG caught a magnificent brookie in Fishing Creek. I'm confident it was a wild fish, but who's to say if it was a true native? Anyway Paul would have to tell you the length, but it was definitely in the teens.

It was on Fishing Creek (West Branch) on SGL 13 in Sullivan Co where I saw the big brookie I mentioned earlier. That was 2003 though. It's a shame, the East Branch has some gorgeous looking water, and is devoid of trout.

 

[Maurice]

Maurice wrote:

A wild brown trout in a freestone environment will grow to three inches in six months on a freestone stream and in 1 year be a long as 5-7" depending on the summer growing season. In 1.5 years (April or May) it should be 9"-11". and up to 13" during its 2 yr mark of sexual maturity. After that, the growth rate slows to an inch or two per year depending on stream fertility and habitat.

Throw in a fertile limestone spring creek WBT and you can see them eclipse these numbers.

Chaz wrote:

Maurice there is no way a brown in a freestone stream grows that fast. Trust me on this, I've been present on surveys of the West Branch Perkiomen Creek and yoy fish are only about 3-4 inches in August, year 1 fish are 6-7 inches. The West Branch is about the most fertile freestone stream anywhere in PA.

I'd trust you if your comprehension skills were better.

 

[fishrich]

I have caught little brookies in a little brookie stream about as long as my hand and seen them a little larger. I just think that they are a beatiful fish .

 

[bushwacker]

10"....but I've seen 12" fish.

 

[explorer]

I've only caught one native that made it to double digits, and it was an 11.5 inch beauty. I caught a stocked 18 incher, and I only wish that I could cast to natives of that size. But, then my favorite little brookie streams would probably see a lot more pressure.

 

[albatross]

This brookie was every bit of 14 inches. I caught him where a freestone stream enters a lake in September 2008. Limited access here means fish don't get creeled and they grow to their potential. No fish have been stocked in this watershed for 20 years, so this is a wild fish for sure and probably native. I caught several other fish in the 10 to 12 inch range the one day I had the priviledge of fishing here.

 

[FarmerDave]

You guys aren't going to believe this, but...

I grew up in NWPA, and have fished quite a few small freestone streams in that area for brook trout. But the largest wild brook trout that I ever caught was actually in Cuyahoga County Ohio. That's right, a Cleveland suburb trout. It was about 11 inches. However, it was not native, just wild. And I aint saying where it was, so don't ask. I found it myself, and without the internet.

The moral of this story is ...

Clevelanders stay home. :-D

Largest one I ever caught in NWPA was probably about 10 inches and that was close to 30 years ago. 8-9 inchers were common in that stream because few people even knew it had trout in it (even though it was in a state park). It was maybe a class C at best. Later that very same day, the fish commission dumped 50 stocked trout in there to see how thay would do. They have been stocking the crap out of it ever since. :-x