Huge trout caught Upper D River

[afishinado]

Pics of a huge trout have been circulated around the last few days.

28" 10lbs+ and caught on a size #20 BWO dry fly by Nick Zebrowski of Binghamton, NY.

Nick Zebrowski landed this monster 10-pound+ 28-inch brown trout on the Upper Delaware River today on a size 20 blue-winged olive dry fly. He says the rising trout made a tiny dimple when it rose to the dry fly, and after a few seconds he thought it could be a 20-inch brown trout. (Always an accomplishment on public water in the East.) Ten minutes later he released the biggest trout of his life, and the biggest wild trout we’ve ever seen on a size 20 dry fly. It’s a spectacular testament to the health of the Upper Delaware fishery!

Yow!

https://www.facebook.com/flyfisherman/

 

[gulfgreyhound]

That photo looks odd?
GG

 

[Dave_W]

Wow. :-o

That would be a very nice fish on the White River caught on a Rapala - to get it on the D on a tiny dry fly is really extraordinary.

The angler is definitely holding the fish forward to the camera, and the person in the background in sandals seems a bit out of place, but I don't see anything to suggest that this isn't legit.

At 28" a fish of that girth would certainly weigh in the double digits IMO. It's certainly a well fed fish - A recent escapee from Cannonsville perhaps(?).

Kudos to the angler - this is one for a lifetime.

 

[JerryC]

It does look odd. That fish looks a lot bigger than 28" and a lot heavier than 10 lbs. Or the guy is small and skinny. I was looking to see if I had any pictures of a 28" fish and the best I could come with is this picture of a walleye that was 28" and weighed 8 lbs. Charlie was around 5' 8" FWIW.

 

[1fish]

I'm not sure how someone with hands that huge could possibly tie a size 20 dry fly on to a tippet.

 

[dryflyguy]

Must have been one heavy hatch to bring a fish like that up.
Especially now, when you probably have so many other larger insects hatching.

Although I have been on the Big D at this time of year, with perhaps 4-5 different larger flies hatching - sulphers, gray fox, march browns, and some caddis.
Only to find out that the fish were rising to #20 BWO's, that were hatching along with everything else.

My guess is that they get so much pressure there, that they start shying away from bigger stuff - which is probably what the majority of the anglers would be using.

 

[afishinado]

There are several other more normal photos of the fish. I have no doubt about the size claimed.

 

[Kevin82]

afishinado, that second picture looks more normal, The first picture posted looks like the camera was on "fisheye" setting.
Heck of a nice fish just the same.

 

[larkmark]

Trout may have spent some time in the lake and then got washed over and adapted to life in the river. Impressive on a dry.

 

[ryansheehan]

Here's one more look.

 

[Acristickid]

Looks like a lake fish that washed down

 

[albud1962]

That’s more like it. Great Fish!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Most caertain its a lake fish.
I have caught a handful of browns 28" all of them stream fish and while big, nothing with that girth to it.

 

[CLSports]

You need to eat a heck of a lot of tiny olives to get that big.

For a #20 olive I would assume at least 5x tippet was used too. This has to be some sort of record.

 

[riverwhy]

I am curious how a fish this size got downstream of a large dam. Over the top or through the bottom release? Is this common?

 

[afishinado]

riverwhy wrote:
I am curious how a fish this size got downstream of a large dam. Over the top or through the bottom release? Is this common?

I wouldn't say it's common, but I've been told when the dam spills over the top, some fish end up in the river.

Alewives from the lake definitely spill over and form a smorgasbord for the fish.

 

[Swattie87]

afishinado wrote:

riverwhy wrote:
I am curious how a fish this size got downstream of a large dam. Over the top or through the bottom release? Is this common?

I wouldn't say it's common, but I've been told when the dam spills over the top, some fish end up in the river.

Alewives from the lake definitely spill over and form a smorgasbord for the fish.

I thought this same thing. While I think it's certain that fry or very small fish do this (intentionally or possibly not), I find it unlikely that a fish this large (that seemingly attained its size by being in the lake), would voluntarily go over a spillway. Did it eat all the food in the lake? It certainly could prevent itself from going over, even in a flood situation. Was it just like "surf's up, watch this" to his buddies in the lake?

I could see it being caught UPSTREAM of the lake, as the result of a spawning run, but downstream doesn't seem that plausible to me. I'm not very familiar with the D system. To be clear, this fish was caught DOWNSTREAM of the lake correct? If so, that only makes its origins more interesting IMO.

Regardless of its origins, if it was caught in the manner portrayed, that is quite impressive. No way I have the big fish skills to land a fish like that on the 5 or 6x that was likely required to fish a small BWO.

 

[DaveS]

Apparently a few fish do go over the dam. There are a few other examples. There was a similar fish show in Border Waters years ago.
Art Lee took a big one too. Krayfish knows these stories better than I. Also, he, Stimey and I had a go at a big one once. The D has the bugs to bring those fish to the surface, albeit rarely.

 

[Swattie87]

DaveS wrote:
Apparently a few fish do go over the dam. There are a few other examples. There was a similar fish show in Border Waters years ago.
Art Lee took a big one too. Krayfish knows these stories better than I. Also, he, Stimey and I had a go at a big one once. The D has the bugs to bring those fish to the surface, albeit rarely.

Dave - Not questioning you or those guys...You all know far more about the D than I'll ever even care to know.

Not trying to be a wise guy, or imply that my skepticism of this carries more weight than legit first hand knowledge, but what is the objective evidence of that? Has it been actually witnessed? Does someone have evidence showing the same fish caught (or tagged/tracked somehow) both in the lake and downstream? I'm sincerely curious and not trying to be a jerk.

Again, not trying to say it doesn't happen, just that it doesn't make a whole of sense. If it does, I'd be interested to learn about theories as to why they do it. Clearly the lake has deep, cold water and plenty of food to sustain them.

 

[moon1284]

No doubt there are fish that size there. Seems wierd he is using a boat net but is outside of a boat. From the mud on the shore it looks like it was caught in a slow probably deep pool with no current. I have some ideas where it might be but they probably aren't correct.

The fish could have came from the lake but not neccesarily, there is enough food in the rivers themselves. It's relatively common knowledge large fish flush over the dams during high water events.

With all of the bugs on the water right now I have no clue why anyone would fish a #20 olive, but maybe that's why I havent caught a 28 inch trout...