Near 30" Susquehanna Brown Trout - What Say You!?!

  • Thread starter salvelinusfontinalis
  • Start date
They definitely exist, but they are kind of like muskies. Some folks target them and catch more than the average angler does and every now and then, an average angler catches one while targeting other species.

I don't think the fish is 30". It is a nice fish, but the guy is holding it out from his body. Maybe 25-28". I noticed the kayaker in the background and I think the structure in the far background is a bridge, not a dam.

Data is all over the place on what temps browns can survive in; 80ish is the max I've read, but it's the lack of dissolved oxygen that will knock them out. DO levels vary a great deal, I'm sure, from say some of the water behind an impoundment vs. right at some of the narrow spots, with higher gradient; one study the PFBC put out on bass showed DO varied at Marietta on the east and west sides of the river. It went as low as 6 mg/L at some points.
 
I know a guy who caught a nice brown below the conowingo dam on the susquehanna. It would be really interesting to know where that fish came from. He has a video of him catching the fish and it doesn't look like a fresh stocker. I'm not sure what constitutes a "sea run", but that fish was definitely living in what is considered the upper bay.
 
djs12354 wrote:
Clearly stocked - Might be a hold-over. Or part of the new trophy stocking program?
Click to expand...

Maybe should have included the smiley, but I was really tongue in cheek with my comments.

Along with the particular places one will find bigger fish of varying species according to their wants and needs, often enough you get that unexpected surprise.
 
krayfish 2, excellent post and enjoyable read. I fish more west in PA than a lot of you guys on here, but that about the susky is interesting and very believable.

Actually, I recall a post in the recent year or two on here about some very small spring creeks getting actual runs from the susky, that time of thing probably happens way more than thougt for those that are willing to take the fishless days to find them.

In my experience, and I have basically devoted my fishing life to catching big browns, almost all large rivers/lakes with REMOTLEY cold enough water in some areas will have some large trout. Then, these trout leave to spawn, and at that point can be in any trib/smaller water to the big.

In the Suskys case, with the amount of nice limestone spring creeks that run in, many of these fish probably know exactly where they are going and where they were born each fall.

 
That brown could have been stocked in Deer Creek Many moons ago and migrated seasonally each spring into the bay after the shad run.

I believe that last time we discussed this there was a depth chart of the susky which showed depths of 130 ft behind the dam and trenches of up to 80ft depth in some spots. Plenty deep and cool enough to over summer for a brown or two.

It's a mighty river, who knows what lurks in its depths at various times of the year - perhaps we will one day hear of a short nose sturgeon being caught there like in VA.

Cheers

Mark
 
Maybe we should all just say "Wow, what a fish!"
 
"Maybe we should all just say "Wow, what a fish!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------

HA! You got that right rrt!
 
Lower Delaware has them too. They spawn near the mouths of many tribs, both major trout streams and tiny trickles. They don't go far into the tribs - most redds are within a couple of hundred yards of the river. Years ago I mentioned this to a buddy and he tied into a 30" class brown in the lower Musky. They seem to come into the tribs for about a day/night, do their business, and leave.

Where do they come from is a great mystery. Most years the Delaware has trout friendly temperatures 8 or 9 months even though it is a "warm water" river. They can definitely feed most of the year in the main river. There are plenty of springs where the limestone valleys cross for thermal refuges. Maybe some go upstream to the tailwaters or out to sea. It is a mystery, but the huge browns are there. One guy I knew claimed a trout had to be a minimum of 15" to survive in the lower Delaware with all the muskies, stripers, and now flatheads around. I know a couple of NYS guys who claim the monster browns can only be wild or fingerling stocked. If they spend too much time in a hatchery they don't become the top notch predators that huge fish must be to get huge. In addition, research in NYS has shown that hatchery browns have a 3 year lifespan versus a 5 year lifespan for wild browns. The huge fish need the couple of extra growing seasons.

I grew up in Phillipsburg, NJ and knew a few guys that targeted these browns, but it was a lot of work and took a lot of time exploring and fishing. They spent the days scouting big fish, but most were caught at night. One guy targeted the spring holes around Riegelsville - where the limestone hits the PreCambrian gneiss is a spring rich zone. Another lived overlooking a spawning area on a trib and checked ever day in the fall. Sort of like trophy musky fishing, a lot of work with few fish to hand. However, when you get one it is a good one.
 
I spend a lot of time on the Juniata and I know a few guys who find large browns in there. During warmer weather look at mouths of colder tribs and colder weather, well, they could be anywhere. I've seen several 20"+ browns from the Juniata.
 
Gents,

That there is most likely what you call a potamodromous trout.

(I learnt that fancy word on this very site. Just using it increased my IQ... up to about 90 now. :lol:)
 
Reading Jeff's post reminded me of a guy I know. I was about to post his story but I didn't remember all the details. So I just called him.

He says...He caught a rainbow in Delaware at Trenton. He didn't measure it but estimates 30-32". I don't think he was very sure though, it took him a second. He is honest, either way he caught a big fish. He doesn't fish for trout enough to know the differences between stocked and wild. He thinks it was stocked and there is a trib very close that is stocked up further.
Anyway he said it was May. He just got his license and was striper fishing. An 8" shad lure is what it took on his second cast.
 
Jeffk, that is an interesting post, though nowhere near the areas I fish as I am more west in PA.

But, the tactic you describe is exactly how we catch some of the large browns that we target. I live about 20 minutes from an area, that eventually, sometime in October through early December, they WILL show up there. Never many, never for long, but they are huge.

My Dad and I literally check for them everyday(for the most part) during that time period. I fished 25 out of 30 evenings in November LOL. And many times if you were to skip to many days, you would miss them. But, when they're there, there is a legit chance of finding and catching browns ranging from 22" to 30". Awesome stuff.

Thanks for the post, glad others are finding some big boys.
 
Ok Boys, there out there, now go get them!!
 
Yeah, these fish are around. I have a friend who's a musky guy and last year landed a mid 20s brown out of the Allegheny below Oil City, looked very wild to me. That's well downstream of the traditional trout zone below Kinzua, which, of course is well known for big fish. He was talking about how far it swam down. I thought first, it's not that far for a fish, and second, it may be a resident and not had to swim. The trout tribs of the iffy zone just above that routinely turn up large numbers of 15 inch to low 20s class browns that fairly obviously have river roots.

And heck, that's the river itself. The Allegheny reservoir might as well be considered a mini Lake Erie. Just narrower and deeper. They get great lakes style "runs" out of there. This lake has the state record walleye, besting Erie, and there's a few more state records still swimming in it. You gotta troll with downriggers to get at em in the main lake.

Erie of course, but for trophy hunting, that's either cheating, or it requires a separate size scale to classify a "trophy".

The Clarion, Yough, etc. routinely turn up impressive fish in western Pa as well.

P.s. I'd estimate the OP fish at mid to high 20s. Probably 3 to 5 years. They grow fast in a river environment. No idea if stocked or wild, but it's been in the river for at least a few years. I.e. it wasn't stocked that big.
 
Not to long ago, I think it was in the spring of 2012, a guy from SCPA hooked a 32.5" Brown weighing over 15lbs out of the local limestoner. He took the fish home, and when he arrived, he realized that it had survived and ended up putting it in his goldfish pond where the PFBC came to check it out. Since it survived, the angler decided to put it back into his local stream where he caught it. I have not heard anything of this fish since. No doubt more like it are out there.
Pictures of this fish were at the YBO before it closed.
 
if you want to know whats out there - you can't beat a live minnow fished under a bubble or balloon float at night.

no ferox trout would resist that.

cheers

Mark.
 
I've pulled 26"ers out of the LJ more than once.
 
The 32.5" mentioned above was caught more than once according to pics I've seen. The last photo I saw, it was pale and dead. Now I'm assuming you are talking about the fish from BS.
 
Yes sir, that's the one.
 
Oddly enough, I was checking out Delaware R tribs Friday 12/4/15 with our new TU professional and stopped at a trib so tiny it didn't have a name. This trib went 200 yds to a small trib about 1 mile above the mouth with the Delaware. The landowner came out to chat (was afraid we were DEP guys) and claimed a few 18" browns were spawning in this 4 ft wide trib the week before. No 30" fish (they wouldn't fit), but those browns do move up into the tiniest trickles.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top