size of trout

[notan641]

I am never surprised by catching 3 or 4" brown trout over winter and early spring, but I am always surprised when catching them in september. Seems to me a brown trout should be bigger at this time of year or already have been eaten by another fish. I have read it takes 12 months to raise a hatchery trout to legal size. Thoughts?

 

[SteveG]

Well, hatchery trout are intensively fed in raceways, like cattle, and would exhibit different growth patterns than wild fish. Depending on the hatchery, water temp would come into play too.

I'm no expert, but I'd venture to say that the 3-4" trout you catch in Sept through Spring are from the previous Fall's spawning. Again, temps and food supply play a role.

 

[redietz]

notan641 wrote:
I have read it takes 12 months to raise a hatchery trout to legal size.

Brown trout hatch well after the spawn, usually February or March, so the 3-4 inchers you're seeing aren't 12 months old yet. (Hatchery trout hatch faster because of warmer water. Even then, it's over 40 days after fertilization.)

 

[notan641]

Found in bottom release tailwater average temp high 40's so that makes sense to me.

 

[krayfish2]

When I got out of the service in the late 80's, I worked at a hatchery. Our water was spring fed and during peak temps could put 1 1/4" - 1 1/2" of growth on per month.

 

[vcregular]

Those are the best ones for frying pan

 

[OldLefty]

In good wild streams it takes from 4 to 6 years for a brown to reach 14". The variation is due to many factors: variation in water temp. over the year, food, etc. That being the case, 3" to 4" over less than a year is good growth for a wild brown here in PA.

I commented on a TV program I was a part of several years ago that there's a big difference between a wild brown of 18" in PA and an equivalent 18" brown from a productive tailwater out west. The PA brown may be 7 or more years old while the western brown may be as few as 2 to 3 years old. I wonder which one should be more prized by the angler successfully duping, playing, landing and carefully releasing a fish of this size?

Something to think about.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, I think about that all the time.

There's likewise a difference between an 18" brown trout in some little freestoner compared to one in a large limestoner compared to one in a major lake or tailwater.

In an Erie trib an 18" football shaped trout is disregarded as a mere "jack". On some little freestoner full of brookies, the odd 18" skinny brown exists but is regarded as a whale.

Fish size is relative. And our pride based scales of satisfaction should be as well.

 

[foxfire]

well said, cray!

 

[notan641]

Whatever size they are, I still take credit for them when I report back to my wife!