Brook Trout population before things were destroyed.

[pcray1231]

FI, wow, yeah, that guy's in the "maybe over 12 range". Not that big in weight, probably, but it's got the length!

Looks like a fish that was much fatter and has recently been starved.....

 

[pcray1231]

i do agree with Pcray about seeing pictures of natives on here that looked 3 or 4 inches smaller than the stated length.

It's a brown. I think he belongs in the 3.0" thread? And I got him on a dry!

(the humor is that this guy is 2.5", tops, and that's if you pinch the tail. But I could make him look bigger if I just angled him toward the camera, right?)

 

[phiendWMD]

Marv – Can you remove the GPS signature somehow?

It can be removed easily. Just upload to imgur.com then right click and save as. Should take less than a minute.

 

[wbranch]

I caught this brookie, which appears to be a wild fish, in a small spring pond in the southern Catskills. It is 13 1/2" long. It was caught a long time ago as I would never put a fish on dry grass now.

The second picture of the brookie laying on the snow was caught by another guy on Big Spring right at the flume where the water gushed out from the hatchery. It was at least twenty years ago and the guy killed this gorgeous fish.

 

[Shaner]

a lot of people don't know what 12" is...A sheet of reg size paper is 11"-most people posting pics in this didn't even beat that

 

[FarmerDave]

Cornholio wrote:

My point was that there is no vast wilderness with virgin water. And any stream in PA is easily accessible within a relatively short hike through the woods.

I wouldn't necessarily call then winderness, but I know a couple streams that have sections where it is miles to the nearest road. One, you can start at one road, and start walking it and walk probably 20 miles and only cross one un-maintained dirt township road.

But there are no fish in it.

Seriously, it doesn't (AMD). I grew up hunting and trapping that valley and it is nearly all posted now. But I can't believe it is the only remote stream like that in the entire state.

 

[wbranch]

Well if you are referring to the picture I just posted that cork is 6.5" long and the fish is slightly longer than two grip lengths.

 

[pcray1231]

Seriously, it doesn't (AMD). I grew up hunting and trapping that valley and it is nearly all posted now. But I can't believe it is the only remote stream like that in the entire state.

Well, staring at topo maps all my life. There's really nowhere in PA that's more than about 3-4 miles, as the crow flies, to the nearest drivable road.

Of course, there are a number of places like that. 3-4 miles radius is 6-8 miles "between roads", which is nothing to sneeze at. The person typically walks much further than the crow flies. And those roads may be a tiny backwoods dirt road that sees no more than a car or two per day.

So whether we have "remote" streams depends on your definition of remote. Basically, it means that anywhere in this state, if you put your mind to going somewhere, you can reasonably do it in a day trip (non overnight) without horses. It also means that, if it's not posted, it is HIGHLY likely that the stream gets the OCCASIONAL fishermen. Occasional may only be 1 or 2 per year, and they may stay pretty tight lipped, but it's not like there's nobody else out there that knows it even exists.

 

[Cornholio]

"Well, staring at topo maps all my life. There's really nowhere in PA that's more than about 3-4 miles, as the crow flies, to the nearest drivable road."

This is exactly what I meant... you can walk 15 miles in a straight line and never hit a road, but there will always be a road within a short hike. "A short hike" is pretty subjective. Being a lifelong hiker I consider anything under 10 miles to be a cake walk.

Just look at a topo map. Hell, even a simple google search will show you where the most roadless section in PA is.

A lot of places in PA may feel remote or wild, but they most certainly are not. If you want wilderness head west.

Pick a spot on a pa topo map and draw a 3 mile circle with a compass and you will find some sort of road in that circle, if it isn't within that circle it will be very very close.

A lot of fisherman over exaggerate how far they hike when they fish a stream. When you are walking over boulders and downed trees 1 mile feels like 2 miles.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Swattie87 wrote:
I'm going to start a 12" Freestone Wild Brookie thread (similar to the 30” Wild Brown thread), and until someone posts a picture of one, with tape measure along side, in addition to a notarized eyewitness statement confirming the catch was in PA and certifying the measurement, along with DNA testing confirming the fish is not stocked (the fish will need to be harvested for this part), we all will be forced to agree they don’t exist. Someone post one and prove us wrong.

Marv – Can you remove the GPS signature somehow? I’m not a computer guy, but I would have to think this is possible? No? If so, post one of those monsters and end the debate quick.

I once caught a 13” range, largely believed to be wild when originally posted and debated, Brookie, but I am unfortunately disqualified from the above due to the lack of credentialed documentation of my catch. Beyond the 13”er, I have one that went 11”, and a few in the 10” range. An 8-9” fish is reasonably common and the upper limit most freestone streams top out at. 10”+ is a rare bird. 12”+ is a Dodo, until proven otherwise on PAFF.

I've caught 2 in the last 5 years. On is from a stream you and I fish and I guess not purely a freestoner, the other is from the SEPA region in a recovering river system that Mike has talked about from time to time on here. Brookies in that range THAT ARE WILD are truly rare. I highly doubt reports of wild freestone brookies in the 61-18" range and will not believe it til I see one with my own eyes (pictures will suffice).

 

[wbranch]

I'm curious if it is very rare for PA wild brook trout to be found in the 12" - 14" range why are they so common in Maine. They are quite a few watersheds in Maine where in the spring it is common to catch 16" - 18" and bigger brookies in May.

As I'm writing this I guess the reason is those rivers where the fish are being caught empty into large, and very deep, cold water lakes with high concentrations of smelt. The trout spend only a short time in the rivers and then migrate back into the lake to spend most of the year.

That said aren't there are deep lakes in PA that have decent sized streams entering them? Maybe if some brood stock could be obtained and there was a lake with good conditions a stock of wild brook trout could become a reality. If such a thing were to come true there would have to be stringent No-Kill restrictions placed on the fishery.

 

[outsider]

Help me understand something: In the mid-eighties I fished Fishing Creek Clinton County, in the narrows at Lamar. I was astounded at the population of good sized brook trout. Does that still exist?

In 50 years of fly fishing, I caught a hand full of 12"+ native brook trout. They do exist. The last one I caught was in a trib of Kettle Creek two years ago. That fish lived under tree roots, and I missed him on several occasions. I finally connected.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

wbranch, I can tell you of something along those lines now that has probably 20 fish over 12" and a few at 15" or greater. Sadly most of our lakes get too warm, are too low, or got stocked with browns and took the brookies out. I'm going to post a few pictures here shortly of some large wild fish since no one will.

 

[tomitrout]

OK, so in these here five pages, other than Big Spring, there seems to be about a half dozen spots where you guys claim to be catching brookies in the honest 12" size class. A couple hot spots scattered across the state....out of how many stream miles?

Personally, other than Big Spring, my best came from Hammersly....sure looked 12", probably more like 11". Otherwise, 10" is a real trophy locally from the surrounding state forests, 8" is a hell of a fish for any given outing....at least on the brookie streams I frequent here close to the Cumberland Valley.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

Here are a few. First one is a nice wild trout from a class A, no stocking, and a barrier that means no access from any other water. You guess the size, plenty large. A friend of mine caught it. guy holding it is 6' 2" so those aren't small hands either.

next pics are the one marv and I were talking about, 2 diff fish.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Brooks: Just...wow! :-o

 

[The_Sasquatch]

BrooksAndHooks wrote:
Here are a few. First one is a nice wild trout from a class A, no stocking, and a barrier that means no access from any other water. You guess the size, plenty large. A friend of mine caught it. guy holding it is 6' 2" so those aren't small hands either.

next pics are the one marv and I were talking about, 2 diff fish.

If they're wild, they're amazing. But you posted those fish on the All Things Brook Trout FB (at least the third picture) page and said they came from a limestoner. We're talking about legit free stone streams. The issue is, in a Freestone stream where the growing season and food supplies are considerably less than in fertile limestoners, do we have brook trout like that in PA? Between all the combined knowledge and experience of decades of FFing on this site, no one can produce a FREE STONE brookie of that caliber.

 

[pcray1231]

Those are beauties no doubt. I have fished a lot of brookie water in PA and never seen anything like that. I'd have guessed Maine or Canada, not PA.

 

[misanthropist]

Very nice. I have fished lots of freestone brook trout water and I have never seen anything like that. Something doesn't seem right... Are you sure that the stream in question isn't a limestone spring creek?

 

[Swattie87]

Very large huevos. And Brookies.

Now we just need the tape in the picture, notarized witness statement, and DNA analysis of the harvested fish.

All kidding aside, those are legit. Sounds like there's some question as to the nature of the stream the second two came from (freestone v. limestone) but still, those are humdinga's and far surpass anything I've caught or seen in PA. Well done on finding them, wherever they may reside.