Same Trout. Same Fly. 1Hour 19 Min Apart – Pocono Class A Brown

[Millsertime]

There are a fair amount of discussions on this board about catching the same fish more than once. I typically don’t look at the spots/markings of trout and compare them but yesterday my first brown of the day had a damaged dorsal fin which was tough to miss. On my way back to my car, I re-fished a run that I had taken 3 nice sized browns an hour earlier. I hooked the same dorsal damaged brown at the same cut bank a little over an hour after initially catching him. He didn’t fight as well the second time around but I was amazed that a brown of this size fell for the same streamer again so fast. Pea sized brain I guess.

 

[pcray1231]

That's a big fish too. Cool. I've never had that happen.

 

[Maurice]

During my dry fly frenzy a couple weeks ago I caught the same fish within 20 minutes on a dry caddis. I could tell by the "bloody gums" . It was a stocker so they aint that bright...

Nice fish and accomplishment Matt.

 

[3oh4]

Was fishing a large tailwater last fall, landed a stud rainbow in the 20 inch range on a very small streamer, think minnow pattern. Literally 15-20 minutes later after working my way upstream then back through he his a Sex Dungeon. This fish was not hungry-looking either. I was shocked and ticked off at the same time. Could not believe it ate again.

 

[afishinado]

Interesting. I've had the same thing happen, actually more than a few times. I would guess it happens more than we realize since many of the fish we catch look the same overall, and we don't take note or photograph all the fish in detail.

I can recall catching the same fish in the same place on 5 different trips to the same stream. Since it was an open fishing stream, I can only guess how many times that same fish was caught. I really think the estimates I've read of of how many times fish are caught and released in a season are way too low.

This, to me anyway, is a reason to push for C&R in wild trout streams, especially.

A good example to look at would be Spring Creek in Centre County, which is a heavily fished C&R non-stocked wild trout stream. On a good day anglers may catch 5 fish maybe even 10 or more. Driving up and down the stream one can estimate there are 100, 200? or more anglers fishing the stream in a day. The next day the same thing occurs and the next and next throughout the year.

If many hundreds of fish are caught in a day, how many fish could possibly be in the stream? Common sense would tell you the answer is, the same fish are caught over and over....many times.

Without C&R, the stream population would be so diminished that the number of anglers fishing would tail off. The C&R regulation allows the stream to become a draw to the area.

 

[hendeylathe]

I think you caught his twin brother.

 

[pcray1231]

If many hundreds of fish are caught in a day, how many fish could possibly be in the stream? Common sense would tell you the answer is, the same fish are caught over and over....many times.

At one point I was a regular on spring creek. 100+ outings per year, many over the same stretch. The interesting thing was that the likelihood of catching the same fish twice was lower there than anywhere else. I never saw a double. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was impossible for me to miss a double. But I never noticed one.

Meanwhile, on some brookie stream, it's not uncommon at all to catch a fish I've caught before, sometimes catching that fish 3, 4, or 5 times. And that's with much fewer trips to that location.

The obvious conclusion is that on the brookie stream, I'm catching a MUCH higher % of the total # of catchable sized fish available.

 

[afishinado]

pcray1231 wrote:

If many hundreds of fish are caught in a day, how many fish could possibly be in the stream? Common sense would tell you the answer is, the same fish are caught over and over....many times.

At one point I was a regular on spring creek. 100+ outings per year, many over the same stretch. The interesting thing was that the likelihood of catching the same fish twice was lower there than anywhere else. I never saw a double. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was impossible for me to miss a double. But I never noticed one.

Meanwhile, on some brookie stream, it's not uncommon at all to catch a fish I've caught before, sometimes catching that fish 3, 4, or 5 times. And that's with much fewer trips to that location.

The obvious conclusion is that on the brookie stream, I'm catching a MUCH higher % of the total # of catchable sized fish available.

I shifted gears. I'm not talking about the same day, just overall during the season. If hundreds of fish are caught in one day, and there is a finite number of trout in the stream; one can only conclude that the same fish are being caught over and over during the course of the season.

The point was, that's why C&R regs are so important to keep streams like Spring great places to fish for trout.

 

[Dave_W]

Neat.
While this doesn't happen to me every day (or at least I don't notice it) I think we have all had "same fish same day" experiences from time to time.

Once, many moons ago, a buddy caught a 13" BT in Hunting Creek and a short while later, I caught him again. When I was unhooking him I noticed a mouse tail protruding from his gullet. I pulled out a large mouse or vole. I guess some fish are just greedy and gullible.

I think it is more common to see a released fish return to feeding in the same spot where we hooked him just minutes earlier. No surprise, they get caught again.

 

[pcray1231]

I shifted gears. I'm not talking about the same day, just overall during the season.

Yeah, so was I. I can't say I've ever verified catching the same fish in the same day. I have done it on different days, though, with pics to prove it. Spring, despite having caught more fish there than probably any other stream I've fished, I have never done it.

Quick calculation on Spring Creek. This is rough back of the envelope stuff.

Biomass - we'll use 150 kg/ha. It's higher in places and lower in others.

Average size of fish: We'll say 9 inches, which is about 0.3 lbs.

Average width: using 50 ft, based on scale marker on bing maps aerial view.

150 kg = 331 lbs = 1103 fish.

1 ha = 107,639 sq. ft.. At a width of 50 ft, this is 2152 ft in length (0.4 miles).

We get a little under 3000 fish per mile. Slightly better than 1 fish for every 2 ft of stream length.

Now, taking this further, I don't doubt that on the average day there's 40 or 50 anglers on Spring Creek. But not PER mile. Bottom of paradise (not including the project itself) down to the handicap ramp is about a mile of water, and one of the more popular stretches. Sure, it's higher during sulpher time, and lower during an ugly day in winter, but lets say, for the sake of argument, the year round average is 10 anglers fish this stretch per day, and they each average catching 5 fish per outing.

That's 50 fish being caught daily out of around 3000 fish being present in that stretch. If that was kept up for 365 days straight, that's 18,250 trout caught. With about 3000 being present. i.e. the average fish gets caught around 6 times per year.

I don't doubt some of these assumptions are off a little. But it gives a decent ballpark, I think. In a stream with very high pressure, even with high biomass, the average fish gets caught multiple times per year. But not so often that they're being caught every other day or so, either.

It also speaks to tackle regulations. Lets say the mortality rate is about 2%. That's around 365 trout per year in this stretch alone, or about 12% of the total. If you doubled it, to 4%, now your losing nearly a quarter of your fish to mortality. Becoming significant. And you're killing half your population on a yearly basis at 8% mortality.

Those aren't crazy high mortality rates, and this is one of the most prolific trout populations in the state. It really speaks to what increased mortality can do on a highly pressured stream.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

Many years ago, fly fishing French Creek (Southeast PA), a friend hooked and lost (broke off) a trout in a small, fast run we were sharing. About twenty min. later I landed the same fish with my buddy's fly still in it's mouth. The patters we were using were pretty much the same with only a slight color variation.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

That's nothing to bragg about guys....I caught the same leg twice while wet wading on two seperate occasions.

 

[lestrout]

Cool beans. I've caught the same trout a second time in the same session a number of times, using various dries. In fact, I now rarely lose flies in battle (tippets are much stronger, my technique is better); but when I do, if I see the trout rising again, it is a lot of fun to try to get my first fly back. The downside to multiple recatches is they don't fight quite as well the second time around.

My personal record is catching the same trout three times. This was during a most bodacious Hendrickson spinner fall and neither he nor I could quite believe he ate my fly the third time. (pretty good pattern)

 

[streamerguy]

Very cool! Just goes to show that if you miss or hook and lose a fish it's always worth it to hit the same spot on your way back. Not all fish will get "shut down" for the day, even our wary and smart wild browns.

 

[foxfire]

So does that count towards your daily fish total I too caught the same rainbow three times in one season. I knew it was the same from a deformed/injured eye.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

I caught the same trout 2 days in a row in the cicada hatch in spring creek in 08

 

[Stevie-B]

I was fishing Slough Creek in Yellowstone a few years back. I was having a banner day in this one hole. Fished it for a good 5 hrs and never had to move. I caught a rainbow in the morning near my feet that had a scar on his right side. Later in the afternoon I crossed over to the other side of the stream and caught him again along the other bank.

 

[boychick]

That's definitely the same fish. Very nice. I had a similar experience, caught the same fish a day later on spring creek.

 

[sarce]

And here I am worrying about the big fish I fought and lost tonight being willing to eat again tomorrow.

Beautiful fish!

I had a similar experience on a small stream once. I caught a 16" brown in the center of the pool on a streamer, fished my way downstream a bit, then came back to that pool an hour later and caught a DIFFERENT 16" brown. That is very rare on a small stream where big fish are very territorial and easily spooked on top of that.

 

[J55tyger88]

Miller,
That's awesome! That's a really good looking fish as well.