Elusive 20 inch wild brown

[fayettenamese]

I would try to go fishing with the guy that said he has caught more than 30 trout that measured over 20" from Penns this year alone.That sounds like a sure fire thing.

 

[Millsertime]

^

Catching a 20 inch brown at Penns every other time he fishes it. I think pennsadventure is the new zeuss of trout!

 

[FarmerDave]

PSUturf91 wrote:
Hello all,

I am originally from upstate New York. My whole life I grew up fishing small streams for stocked browns and wild brookies, with a 14 inch fish being a really nice one. While I am getting my Masters degree from Penn State I am doing my best to take advantage of the awesome trout fishing that central PA has to offer. I set a goal of 20 inches when I first started fishing here a year and a half ago. I have been fishing my butt of at Penns, especially at night and I'm having a blast. I have broken my personal best several times over and have caught plenty of fish in the 17 to 19 inch range and even one at 19 3/4.

So my question to you all is... how difficult is it to catch a true 20 inch wild brown in central PA, and is Penns the place to do it?

Anything over 19 inches can be rounded up to 20. The water is cold.

 

[FarmerDave]

PSUturf91 wrote:


Also for the record, every fish that I speak about with an exact measurement, has been measured with my trusty flexible tape measure.

Tie a knot in it. Problem solved.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

FarmerDave wrote:

Anything over 19 inches can be rounded up to 20. The water is cold.

Sure, shrinkage happens, but doesn't the camera put on weight too?

 

[Chaz]

Big meaty flies catch big fish. But during the summer big browns are particularly elusive when the water is low. Try aGreen inch worm pattern in the fast runs and riffles early in the morning and during the last hour of daylight into the dark.

 

[Reeder]

I would try to go fishing with the guy that said he has caught more than 30 trout that measured over 20" from Penns this year alone.That sounds like a sure fire thing.

lol

 

[BrookieChaser]

I have nothing to add that's not already been said, except...

WE ARE... +4

 

[FarmerDave]

Would it count if I said if I had it to do all over again, I would have went to Penn State instead of Pitt?

Then again, with all the fishing around, I may not have graduated.;-)

 

[Swattie87]

FarmerDave wrote:
Would it count if I said if I had it to do all over again, I would have went to Penn State instead of Pitt?

Then again, with all the fishing around, I may not have graduated.;-)

I think about this a good bit, namely every time I drive through Lock Haven. I went to Susquehanna, and didn't take near advantage enough of the fishing opportunities nearby...Caught some nice pre-disease period Smallies in the river, but largely had other things on my mind at the time... int: I enjoyed my college experience there, but at age 32 instead of 18 when choosing a college, I'd choose Lock Haven now...solely for the fishing. You can make a good case for PSU of course, and realistically it probably is the best college location in PA for fishing, but I liked the small college experience, and I could be on Kettle or its tribs in 45 minutes from Lock Haven. Mansfield would be another good option.

 

[pcray1231]

You can make a good case for PSU of course, and realistically it probably is the best college location in PA for fishing, but I liked the small college experience, and I could be on Kettle or its tribs in 45 minutes from Lock Haven. Mansfield would be another good option.

Those are all fine and good. But I'll throw out another.

Edinboro.

Imagine scheduling your classes so that, say, you don't start until afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday's or something like that. And from Sept - April there are steelhead in the streams. Your university is located essentially on upper Elk Creek in fairly easy driving range of all of steelhead alley.

Not to mention world class smallie fishing in Lake Erie. Bowfin galore in Edinboro Lake. Muskies in Presque Isle. And plenty of stocked trout streams around once April and May come around. Plus, within an hour, you can be on the Allegheny below Kinzua, the wild brown trout streams of the Venango/Crawford/western Forest County areas, or the brookie streams east of the river.

 

[Swattie87]

pcray1231 wrote:
Imagine scheduling your classes so that, say, you don't start until afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday's or something like that.

^I usually had a different motivation for this.

My normal schedule goal was to try to get 3 M/W/F classes each semester...the shorter 1 hour variety. Two back to back in late morning say, 10:00 and 11:15 and one after lunch in the afternoon. Then a single afternoon T/TH class - 90 minutes. This usually best fit with my social agenda. But yeah, the same logic could be applied with a 32 year old brain toward fishing.

 

[nomad_archer]

Those are all fine and good. But I'll throw out another.

Imagine scheduling your classes so that, say, you don't start until afternoon on Tuesday and Thursday's or something like that.

I may have done something similar to that. I went to college at RIT in Rochester, NY and could more or less be on lake ontario or tribs in less than 30 minutes. All I did was salmon/steelhead/trout fish the runs from october - december and then in march the steelhead started running. Don't hold me to those time frames as I don't remember. But I did compress my class schedule to have at least two days a week without classes and I spent those days and the weekend fishing.

 

[PSUturf91]

I didn't choose PSU, PSU chose me haha. I'm just taking advantage of what is here. I'm certainly going to miss it when Im gone. I did choose my undergraduate university based on location, and planned my class schedule around my hunting and fishing needs. I was more of a bass fisherman at the time and didn't take advantage of the fact that I was only an hour from where the east and west branch of the Deleware come together. I was generally to busy chasing smallies turkey, deer, and, well, other types of tail.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

That's alot of trout over 20 for one year good for him if he has a great accomplishment.

 

[TJones]

Pcray... I'm with you, Edinboro would be awesome!

Or somewhere close to the upper D

 

[PocketWater]

Another small school that would be in a good location would be Juniata College. Could fish the Little J, the J, Lake Raystown, Raystown Branch, Yellow Creek, Spruce Creek, Spring Creek, and even Penns would only be an hours drive.

 

[jifigz]

I went to school at Clarion and it has some nice fishing opportunities close by, namely the reservoir and the river around Cooksburg. I had a blast fishing that as it reminded of a smaller Juniata which I know dearly. This was before I really cared mucb about trout though and the trout opportunities right in that area certainly aren't all that great.

 

[midnightangler]

If you like catching big wild trout, the clarion river is pretty great.

 

[jifigz]

midnightangler wrote:
If you like catching big wild trout, the clarion river is pretty great.

Maybe further up near Ridgeway wherever that rainwater action is, but certainly not where I was fishing it. Now an abundance of smallmouth bass for sure.