Slumpbustin' Before the Snow

[Swattie87]

By mid-week I had kinda figured on just torpedoing this weekend and finishing my unit's annual performance reviews for work, and watching it snow outside...fun. Woke up, and just didn't feel like doing that, so I checked the latest forecast. The arrival of the Winter mix seemed to be pushed back by a few hours in comparison to yesterday's forecast, so I thought maybe I could fish for a few hours...turned out to be great call. (It's still not snowing at my house.)

I texted streamrunner89 (my old neighbor) and we agreed on a plan to throw some big streamers for, hopefully, some big Brookies. Couldn't have played out better as we really had a banner day. Rule #1 of fishing as I was taught...If you "slay" them, you stop for McD's on the way home, but only if you "slay" them. Other than in a rare pinch while on the road, that's pretty much the only circumstance under which I let myself have McD's anymore. The pictures of these fish speak for themselves, but I'd say we "slayed" them.

For the anticipated stocked/wild debate on the biggest one...It taped at 14.5". streamrunner caught it, and if wild, is his biggest Brookie. It beats my biggest wild Brookie by a solid 1.5", and significantly in girth. It was a tank, and was in the nicest hole we fished. The stream is not stocked, anywhere. The nearest known stocked stream in the watershed is a tributary, approximately 7 stream miles downstream from where this fish was caught, though according to the PFBC stocking website, it is not stocked with Brook Trout. No point in the watershed above where this fish was caught is stocked. Have at it boys!

 

[streamerguy]

Slayed them is an understatement!! Truly magnificent fish

 

[tztrout]

I'd say your plan worked out pretty well!

 

[streamrunner89]

That Bacon Smokehouse was the highlight of the day. 100% wild!

 

[HopBack]

Incredible brookies for sure. Surpassed the gemmie stage several years ago. They must have an excellent food source. My biggest brookies came from a stream containing a surprising amount of crayfish.

Great day out thanks for sharing.

 

[ryansheehan]

Awesome, should of skipped the mcd's and fried up those gemmies!

 

[Swattie87]

ryansheehan wrote:
Awesome, should of skipped the mcd's and fried up those gemmies!

Don’t have a cast iron big enough. ;-)

 

[Dave_W]

Wow! :-o

Definitely earned the happy meal. Those fish are really heavy and healthy looking. Thanks for some winter motivation.

I walked a limestone stream briefly today (didn't fish) and I have to say that the flow rates on spring fed streams are just really pushing these days and I can't help but think that it's been a very good year (2018) for wild trout, even if the weather made it lousy for us.

 

[Out4Trout]

Great looking fish, looks like you had a great day.

Tight Lines !!

 

[dc410]

Very nice! They are some beautiful brookies.

 

[Floggingtrout]

I think I saw you guys out there today was staring at that stream, then I said look at those two guys fishing while I was on way home from a sporting event.

 

[CRB]

The best fishing I've ever had was before a big snow/temp drop front. It has append so regular over the years I now seek out those conditions a few times per year. They usually never ever happen more than 2 per winter.

 

[poopdeck]

Nice fish and a successful trip but a slaying? I'd say you go to McD's pretty often.

 

[Mwheaps32]

Very nice looking fish swattie. The slumpbuster is such a great fly to have on you for multiple species. I have alot of success with a large olive one for pre spawn smallmouth

 

[PennKev]

Those are probably the most impressive brookies I've seen posted here.

 

[jifigz]

That fish in the fourth picture down is my favorite but that last one is FAT! And sometimes, McDonald's just hits the spot.

 

[afishinado]

PennKev wrote:
Those are probably the most impressive brookies I've seen posted here.

No doubt! Just one would be impressive, but all of them together is really something. One would think such a day would deserve something better than Mickey D's!

 

[troutbert]

Why do some streams produce big brookies and other streams have only smallish brookies?

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Just off the top of my head (assuming your question is not rhetorical):

1. good habitat (depth, structure, seasonal flow rates, water temps, etc.)
2. high biomass/fertility(food supply)
3. low angling and predator pressure
4. low interspecies competition
5. relatively low population density

I'm sure I misses a few variables.

 

[Swattie87]

troutbert wrote:
Why do some streams produce big brookies and other streams have only smallish brookies?

I'd say the stream/watershed where these were caught exhibits most, but not all, of the attributes Fly-Swatter just mentioned.

In general in PA, the places where I've found the biggest Brook Trout have the following things in common:

1. Relatively remote/unknown/hard to get to.

2. Either direct bigger water/habitat, or access to bigger water/habitat. This includes seasonal access to reservoirs or impoundments, or larger receiving streams.

3. The absence of wild Brown Trout. I think this, quite frankly, is the most important thing to producing big Brook Trout. On streams that have Browns, even if only a limited population of them, the Brookies seem to generally top out around 10". You see the occasional 11" fish perhaps, and I'm sure there are larger exceptions out there too. But generally, I think this is because in these systems, the primo big fish holding lies are usually occupied by a much larger Brown, often 14"+.

All of my Brookies over 12" that I have caught, or had the pleasure of being the photographer while my partner caught them, have come from areas without Brown Trout. (Or at least I've never caught a Brown there.) There's many things that can cause the absence of Brown Trout, but that's a good common thread to look for IMO.