Brook Trout population before things were destroyed.

[sandfly]

In over 50+ years of chasing Brookies in this state, I have only caught around a dozen 12" or larger and all were back in the day. anyone saying they catch fish in one stream and more than 2 fish over 12" is in my book full of it. Prove it to me.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Bob,

Come to Big Spring ;-)

 

[wbranch]

Those lower two fish are absolutely gorgeous! Here is a picture of a Maine brook trout that I know is wild. I have five other pictures of this fellow holding fish as big, and bigger, than this one. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want me to post his picture so I pretty much obliterated it.

 

[wbranch]

Are you sure that the stream in question isn't a limestone spring creek?

Who cares if it was a little puddle! those are absolutely gorgeous fish.

Edit: Sorry I didn't know we were allowing only freestone brook trout into this discussion.

 

[misanthropist]

The type of stream is important because this thread is dealing with non spring creeks.

Nice Maine Brookie by the way.

 

[BrooksAndHooks]

Sasquatch,

No one qualified freestoner until later in the discussion. OP mentioned "larger stems" and "before things were destroyed" and we moved on to specific streams, some people talking about freestoners, but in general if large wild brook trout can still be found in PA.

I DID NOT post those in all things brook trout, although I am on that page. None of those are my fish, and I only post my own fish or fish I help catch/net or "guide" for if you want it that. I don't know anything about the second two large fish, and they very well could be multiyear hold over stockers, have stocker blood, or be fully wild/native. I can tell you the first fish is 100% wild, and freestone. I can tell you I have seen fish larger than any in the pictures, on a freestone influenced lake in Pa. I'm not sure what caliber you are talking about, but the first fish is wild and freestone, and I can imagine a few other fish over the years have gotten to that size or bigger. That one was released and could still be there.

pcray,

I feel the same. I was very skeptical if they were wild when I first saw them, but no way to know for sure. The first one is wild as I said, and I have plans made to make a few trips on this stretch of water this spring, I have fished headwaters and other sections but haven't been able to make the long trek in yet. BTW, it's more than a 3 mile walk from a road...

misanthropist,

again, I said in an earlier post, I don't know the stream, I said it was SE/east pa so it's very likely a limestoner. I also found out that it is in an area most people don't think that there are fish still ,ie big water section of whatever it is. sasquatch says someone on facebook said it was a limestoner, idk. Not my fish, and I'm not making claims. I was told it was a wild PA fish, and thats what this is about. No one said they had to be out of a 3 foot wide freestoner, until it was brought up later in the conversation. You weren't super specific in the first post haha. You're not gona find big fish in little water, and I agree freestone conditions are less conducive to big fish size. Yet again, that first picture is a freestoner. Maybe it only takes the right size/conditions and pressure to produce a few big trophy sized brookies. They sure aren't all over the state, I have caught less than a dozen over 10" in the last few years fishing for a lot more brookies. I have caught some nice ones, including a close 12" and a few 10-11". But nothing like these, and I won't even try to claim that.

Again I want to make clear these aren't my fish. I do know where some big ones are, but haven't been able to fool them yet. There are probably a dozen streams in the state capable of producing regular 12"+ brook trout and a few lakes, but thats about it. They are out there, and if you go to the right lengths, fish hard enough, you might be lucky enough to catch one.

Just like the guy in the 30" brown post. Right place, right time, lots of work. You probably won't catch a lot, but if you get a big one it's worth it. I broke off the biggest brookie of my life fishing a freestoner last week, was pretty bummed. Landed 3 10" fish that day. I have fun catching no matter what. This is a great topic to discuss, but at the end of the day I'm just gona fish and enjoy myself, and if I happen into a big boy somehow some day, or feel crazy enough to pursue them constantly, I might nab one. They surely aren't anywhere near common to catch, especially around here. I do envy you limestone guys for that one.

Thanks for the friendly and professional discussion to all the guys on this board.

Edit: I didn't see you specify non spring creeks anywhere, maybe it was implied or added later. Still. first fish is freestone, other one unknown, supposedly limestone. most freestones that can support big brooks are filled with browns now, but there is the possibility for them to be out there and are a few big untouched streams out there hiding.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Okay my bad. Someone posted the 3rd pic for sure and said it was from a limestoner.

 

[Fishidiot]

pcray1231 wrote:
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.....

Yeah, he was super skinny. This was in late November and I assumed it was a spawned out fish. In hindsight, I wished I'd got a good measurement or pic with a rod handle or something. I netted, photographed and released the fish quickly. My initial estimate of 12" or a bit over seems accurate. I have taken 8-10" fish from this tiny creek in more remote sections but the fact that this guy came from a pool surrounded by mowed grass, where bait fishermen often frequent in springtime and is about 20' from a road... still amazes me too. Even big wild brookies can sometimes show up in places we'd least expect them, even if this phenomena is more associated with wild brown trout.

 

[sarce]

I love the topic of big brookies. I think there are a couple freestone systems feeding small lakes that have potential for 15"+ brookies. But for now, that's just based on a handful of pics I've seen and stories I've heard.

Personally in PA freestoners I've caught 5 11" brookies in SE PA, and a few more in Centre and Clinton counties. That's nice but not truly gigantic. Have seen 5 fish in SE PA that were right around the 12" mark or slightly bigger, but never landed any.

Limestoners: I fished Big Spring this past Sunday and caught a unicorn. 17 incher. I hope to find time this week to write a full story to post here but I am slammed at work at the moment. I promise it will end up here soon. I've also caught a 12.5" in a Centre County stream where I've never seen another brook trout. It has a freestone trib that has some unusually large brookies for the size of the stream, so really that was probably a freestone raised fish.

Someone above asked about BFC...a friend of mine caught a 14.5" brookie there. Same guy has also caught several 15" brookies on a SE PA limestoner.

 

[Cornholio]

Historically this state did have some freestone drainages that held big brook trout, but they are long gone. And that is not to say that there isn't any big brookies out there.

The fish that Fishidiot posted is certainly a wild brook trout and the top picture that brooksandhooks posted looks wild to me. I will take him on his word that it came from a freestone stream. The other two pics are clearly wild, but I am highly skeptical about where they were caught.

As far as someone catching multiple 12 inch brookies in one day out of a freestone stream. I find that very difficult to believe. I think you would have a better chance at seeing bigfoot chasing a mountain lion across a hillside with a cattle prod in one hand and a winning powerball ticket in the other.

If an AFM only found 3 12 inch Brook Trout in a 40 year period. That really says something...

 

[bikerfish]

FWIW, I caught a 14 incher in a non stocked freestoner not far from where I live. I've also caught wild brookies in local streams that aren't supposed to have any.

I'm sure we had some HUGE brook trout before the last ice age, and then they had 10,000 years or so to get established once again before humans came along and screwed the whole place up.

 

[pcray1231]

I've also caught a 12.5" in a Centre County stream where I've never seen another brook trout. It has a freestone trib that has some unusually large brookies for the size of the stream, so really that was probably a freestone raised fish.

If this stream is has the initials SC (haha), I've caught a handful of bigger brookies in there too. I always assumed them to be of hatchery origin. Escapees that become holdovers.

 

[Tucker733]

You guys need to swing down to western MD I didn't fish much for brookies this year but last year I did a lot of hiking and got 4 12 inchers. 1 of these was from PA the rest were from Maryland streams. Md hasn't stocked brookie for 10 ot so years so they're all wild. I mostly fish streamers in high water and measure them on marks on my rod so I know they are 12 in. The North Branch and Savage river have plenty of big brookies but they're tailwaters. My biggest is just over 13 I got 5 or 6 years back. I know of a 13.5 and 15 from the Savage drainage this year.

 

[sarce]

Pat- not that stream. Trib to it though. I believe it was washed out of the brookie stream by hurricane Sandy - that flood hit right around the time of the spawn. Weak post spawn fish + flood --> fish ends up a mile away.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Cornholio wrote:


As far as someone catching multiple 12 inch brookies in one day out of a freestone stream. I find that very difficult to believe. I think you would have a better chance at seeing bigfoot chasing a mountain lion across a hillside with a cattle prod in one hand and a winning powerball ticket in the other.

If an AFM only found 3 12 inch Brook Trout in a 40 year period. That really says something...

This. The issue is not whether brookies of a 12 or more inch caliber can be caught. We know they can. Can multiples be caught in one day in one freestone stream? Well, I think Cornholio nailed it.

 

[Tucker733]

^The odds can't be that low. You could greatly increase your odds by finding the right stream and going when conditions are perfect. You definitely won't do it fishing dries or nymphs. I know of 2 streams one on Pa and one in MD that if the water is right I could get 2 wild 12s if I tried a couple times. The streams the big freestone brookies are in are undocumented or very unfished low population streams.

 

[sarce]

^ this. I've never caught a brookie over 10" on a dry. Either golden stonefly nymphs or black woolly buggers.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Okay, I have. Both the ones I caught in the last 3 years were on dries (caddis and wulff). Maybe I'd catch more of them if I went sub-surface more often, but what's the fun in that!?

 

[FarmerDave]

I've caught brook trout in an isolated population that were so big, they have had to back up to turn around in some places.

Of course that "stream" was well less than a foot wide in places.;-)

Fat little 8 to 9 inchers in a little trickle. Surprise the heck out of me. I've caught native brook trout that were bigger in bigger streams, but was more impressed by these little guys. Tasty, too.

Relax, that was probably 35 years ago and might have been the last native brook trout I ever harvested. And even then, I only did because future mother-in-law wanted some fresh fish and it was walking distance from her house.

After I married her daughter, I started taking her catfish.;-)

Anyway, I don't typically measure or photograph my catches. But I can safely say that I have never caught a wild brook trout over 12 inches. But I have no doubt they exist. And here are still a few relatively unknown or forgotten places out there. I'd like to think some may have them.

And with some polluted streams continuing to improve, we may start seeing more of them. ;-)

Awesome fish Brook&Hook.

 

[FarmerDave]

Here is another thought. Why would they have to be in Class A. The biggest native brook trout I ever caught was in a stream that was class C or worse. It was one of those improving marginal AMD polluted streams. Unfortunately the Fish Commission caught wind of it and started stocking the crap out of it.