Brown Trout Growth

[Tucker733]

I recently recaught a stocked brown from a SWPA stream that I thought you guys may find interesting. The fish only moved about 30 feet and fell for the same fly.

Originally caught April 22nd and recaught December 26th. It amazed me that the fish grew almost 6 inches during the time period. I guessed it at 12 or 13 in April and measured it this time at just over 18. The fish was in a prime spot in a stream in a remote section with tons of large caddis larva and baitfish. This is a good example of C&R even on stocked fish

Brown Trout Before and After

 

[PennKev]

Which is which? I don't see an 18" trout.

I'm guessing the top is the after pic as the fishes color is much better?

I see a 14ish" fish in both pics.

 

[Tucker733]

Top is April, Bottom is December.
I laid the fish against by Cortland Comp. Nymph 4wt and from head to tail it went from butt to the end of the lettering clear coat. At home that measured just over 18, got no reason to lie about a fish

 

[PennKev]

I don't know how big of a dude you are but with a bent elbow, a
18" fish would stretch from the crease in my elbow to our past my finger tips.

 

[redietz]

No, the bottom fish is larger. In the top pic, he's holding with the tip of his finger almost at the tip of the fish's nose, and it extends to just a bit above the wrist. In the second, the tip of his finger is behind pectoral fins, and extends a bit further up his forearm -- it's at least the length of the head longer.

OTOH, the bottom fish appears to skinnier, indicating to me that there's not really enough food in the stream to sustain a larger fish. It could just be the photo, though.

 

[Tucker733]

I guess that wouldn't happen for me then. Like I said no reason to lie about a fish. The fish went from A to B, A to B measured 18 inches, not much more can be said?

 

[PennKev]

Tucker733 wrote:
I guess that wouldn't happen for me then. Like I said no reason to lie about a fish. The fish went from A to B, A to B measured 18 inches, not much more can be said?

Just calling it like I see it.

 

[Fredrick]

Tucker733 wrote:
I guess that wouldn't happen for me then. Like I said no reason to lie about a fish. The fish went from A to B, A to B measured 18 inches, not much more can be said?

Don't worry about the grumpy old men . I'm not sure on growth rates but I have to say that it was a nice catch/find . I once got snapped off retied and than caught the same fish that just snapped me off on the very next cast and the kicker was it took the same fly twice he must of been hungry :lol:

 

[redietz]

Fredrick wrote:

I once got snapped off retied and than caught the same fish that just snapped me off on the very next cast and the kicker was it took the same fly twice he must of been hungry :lol:

That's happened to me several times. I've also had the experience of reviving a fish with my fly dangling down into the water only to have the fish dart out of hand to grab the same fly.

 

[Chaz]

From the butt of the rod to the end of the handle on most rods is about 11 inches. Each cork being 1/2 inch. the reel seat between 3 1/2 to 4 inches give or take. that makes the top fish about 13 to 14 inches. The bottom fish is hard to tell because you are holding it a little differently, but I'd say 16 inches give the size of the butt section of the rod. Nice fish though, and it's curious that the top one is more colorful than the bottom fish but that may have to do with lighting and the angle that fish is being held.
About 3 inches in most freestone streams is a good growth rate. But it is very dependent on the diet. the more large food the trout eats the faster it grows. If it never eats anything but insects the growth is going to be slow.

 

[Dave_W]

Interesting - thanks for the pics.
It's the same fish, and it does indeed show some growth.

Without more precise measurements, it's hard to form any hard and fast conclusions. It looks to me as if the growth rate was almost all in length and virtually none in girth(?). Hard to say. It's also normal for trout to be a bit on the thin side this time of year compared with April, especially if it was stocked shortly before the above photo, which is likely.

Regardless, it does seem to me to be evidence of some good growth rate. I'd guess that the fish was probably 2 years old in the above photo and thus about 20 months in the lower pic. This would be good growth in a hatchery environment.

In the wild in a typical, moderately fertile freestone stream, I'd expect a BT to take 5-6 years to hit the mid teens. As a stocker, this guy got a head start. I wonder if the higher colder water levels we have experienced this year may have been a boon to BT growth? Can't conclude such a thing just from this fella, but it's intruiging to ponder.

See if you can catch him again in 2019.

 

[Tucker733]

Fish was a bit thinner and duller in color since April. I caught another holdover just upstream that was more on the fat side and colorful.

 

[Swattie87]

To me it looks more like a roughly 3” growth spurt over that time period, which certainly isn’t bad by any stretch. 6” outside of a very fertile limestone environment or some type of weird scenario would be very unlikely, if not altogether impossible.

I think your measurement on the fish the first time is fairly accurate at 12” or so, but the second picture is more like 15” based on the proportions. Unless everything else in the picture giving it scale is bigger too. It happens. I’ve sworn fish were 17” or 18” while holding them and in reality they were 14 or 15”. The true 18”ers I’ve caught have been freaks. They’re big and there’s no question they’re that big. They look completely different than a 15” fish, where a 15” fish just looks proportionally bigger than a 12” fish, similar to what we have here. Somewhere north of 15” Brown Trout take on a much different physical appearance. I also generally can’t effecticely hold them when they’re that big with one hand/arm. And as Kev notes, 18”ers go all the way to the inside of my elbow. I’m 6’0 for reference.

Edit - I've caught the same Trout a few times too. The biggest growth spurt I remember was about 5" in 16 months, which is similar to the growth rate of this fish. The one I caught went from roughly 8" to about 13" IIRC from December to two Aprils later. That fish held a primo lie under a culvert footer in a culvert pool during that time period. Caught it in the same place both times.

 

[sarce]

Regardless of the actual length of the fish in the OP, I had a repeat catch of one wild brown in a purely freestone stream that grew about 4 inches in less than 6 months. 6 inches in a year is certainly possible on freestone streams with plenty of larger food items. As Dave W suggested, all the high water this year probably proved very beneficial to older brown trout as they were able to feed on big food items frequently as opposed to outliving the food sources of the stream and wasting away.

 

[tomgamber]

PennKev wrote:
Which is which? I don't see an 18" trout.

I'm guessing the top is the after pic as the fishes color is much better?

I see a 14ish" fish in both pics.

I agree with Kev. Obviously your hands just got much smaller. :roll:

I do feel like 18 might be a stretch but there is obvious growth.

I have seen grow from 7 inches to over 20 inches from April to September. But it was a uncommon situation. Diet and habitat.

 

[Swattie87]

sarce wrote:
Regardless of the actual length of the fish in the OP, I had a repeat catch of one wild brown in a purely freestone stream that grew about 4 inches in less than 6 months.

Show us the pictures, so we can claim it to be false.

 

[sarce]

^haha! Seeing isn't believing around here sometimes.

EDIT: actually had posted mine here before. I stand corrected, it grew about 3". My estimate of 12" on the first capture was too generous in hindsight. More like 11".

Tucker, you might find this story interesting!


story from 2015

 

[Tucker733]

@tomgamber wouldn't my hand need to get bigger? lol

I guess I will just have to re-catch it again in the future with a ruler and multiple witnesses.

I just found the recatch and growth of a stockie to be interesting, I pulled the length right off my rod and never believed it to be 18" on stream.




EDIT: Thanks Sarce!

 

[ryansheehan]

tomgamber wrote:

PennKev wrote:
Which is which? I don't see an 18" trout.

I'm guessing the top is the after pic as the fishes color is much better?

I see a 14ish" fish in both pics.

I agree with Kev. Obviously your hands just got much smaller. :roll:

I do feel like 18 might be a stretch but there is obvious growth.

I have seen grow from 7 inches to over 20 inches from April to September. But it was a uncommon situation. Diet and habitat.

13 inches in six months!! What type of streamm

 

[Swattie87]

Tucker733 wrote:

I guess I will just have to re-catch it again in the future with a ruler and multiple witnesses.

Much better strategy than thinking we’d actually trust someone to accurately measure a fish without irrefutable visual evidence. ;-)

It’s a cool thread and discussion regardless. Any time you catch the same fish more than once and can have a discussion about how much it grew or changed appearance that’s good stuff.