Slumpbustin' Before the Snow

[ryansheehan]

Swattie87 wrote:

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.

Number 3 is very true. Only can think of one stream where I've caught a brookie over 12 and a brown over 18. Excluding stocked fish of course.

 

[wildtrout2]

Swattie87 wrote:

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.

Matt, I pretty much agree with the above. But, as with a lot of situations, there are always exceptions. The two streams that have produced my biggest natives both hold wild browns. One, much more so than the other though.
It's ironic, but on the one stream I've "seen" both my biggest wild brown ( about 22") and my biggest native (roughly 16"-18"). It's quite fertile.

 

[Swattie87]

wildtrout2 wrote:
It's ironic, but on the one stream I've "seen" both my biggest wild brown ( about 22") and my biggest native (roughly 16"-18"). It's quite fertile.

I think I know which stream that may be, and that we may have even bumped into each other a couple miles in on it! I agree, definitely exceptions out there. I've caught a good number of "big" Brookies from that watershed, say 10-11" range, but I don't have any bigger than that. I agree it's plausible they're there though. My biggest Brown in that watershed is roughly 14", but when I'm there it's usually in the Summer and I'm fishing dries, which often don't entice the biggest Browns it has to offer. I've seen the proof of what's there though, using alternative methods. ;-)

 

[wildtrout2]

Yes Swattie, that's the stream.