They Exist. Early Christmas Present

That fish is a boss... probably just lays around all day and occasionally rolls over to eat a crayfish or inhale a chub passing by.
 
To be honest, as with many fish pics, that pic does no justice to the color of that fish saw by my eye that day.

It did have a orangish-red adipose at the back of it, and very neat halos on the spots toward the tail that were a reddish color in the center.
 
IF that was a wild fish naturally born that is the most incredible PA one I have ever seen. Guess one will never know for sure but either way still one amazing fish! I'm just surprised that a wild one would develop to be so broad. I have seen wild browns not very colorful before but never that thick. Even the NZ ones aren't that big. Truly a fish of a lifetime thats for sure!
 
Enjoyed the story and the pictures.

Congrats!
 
Wgmiller, I recall reading that the lack of color on large wild fish is often due to a dietary change to baitfish (lacking carotenids etc from diverse insect and crustaceans).
 
Wow!!! What a beautiful fish.
 
You didn't say in your story but I'm hoping you released the big pig to be caught again ??
 
Sweet fish man. Was this on a fly rod?
 
Great fish.

I'd be okay if he kept it because the reality is, she is probably at the end of the line. Doubt she would make another spawn let alone through the winter.
 
She was released after some pics and a few good length/girth measurements. She looked great as she swam off. Probably will get a reproduction. The guy that does mounts for me does amazing reproductions so long as you have good pics, and several measurements.

I did, as I posted on here before, keep the previous 2 30"+ trout I caught. I posted some pics of one of the mounts on here per some ones request. The difference for me, for some weird reason, was that the previous 2 were males, this was a female. I just couldn't keep her knowing there was probably still some eggs in there, just didn't feel good about it. So away it went.

fisherboy, this was caught on a 9ft noodle rod, spinning tackle. I love the flyrod as much as the next guy, but when Im really after the big ones I use what I think I have the best chance of hooking up with, not what I prefer to hook up with
 
Awesome fish! I'd get a replica mount of that for sure and check the records. That has to be close to a state record for a non Great Lakes brown.
 
Thanks man. Actually though, there has been some much bigger weight wise though believe it or not.

At one time, our state record was a brown from Raystown Lake or tailwater I believe. I think it was around 16 pounds.

This fish was around 12 pounds, using the girth/length formula.
 
That thing is a slob! Congrats!!!
 
Brown71 wrote:
Thanks man. Actually though, there has been some much bigger weight wise though believe it or not.

At one time, our state record was a brown from Raystown Lake or tailwater I believe. I think it was around 16 pounds.

This fish was around 12 pounds, using the girth/length formula.
Click to expand...

That's crazy. I've heard a lot of stories about Raystown. I guess they stocked land locked salmon in there a long time ago for a short period of time and someone recently (as in the last few years) caught one. Meaning there would have to be a small population naturally reproducing there. I've also heard it's tough to fish on the lake. The ticket to there would be finding the tribs the trout, stripers, and whatever else lurks in there, run up to spawn. But from what I'm told people are very tight lipped about it and it's a big secret.
 
You are correct on all counts. There is huge browns in Raystown, they do run up the tribs, and the locals are tight lipped LOL but rightfully so.
 
WOW! I'd be afraid to unhook it!!
 
Congratulations on a heck of a fish!
 
Ha! I know exactly where you were at all the way to which riffle. I do the same thing once every fall. I've been doing it for so long now that I just know when to go and dont usually have too much trouble finding the fish I'm looking for although it varies from year to year on the size. This years fish was only 23" but the water was really really low. It was like fishing in a barrel

(See Below, struggling to insert a pic here)

(I know, sorry it wasn't with Fly Gear but I was out spinner fishing that day)

The fish was quickly released unharmed.

In fact I think I saw you later that day. There was a fellow that met your look along with an older fella near by. You may well have stubbled on the fish I had just caught as that is exactly where I saw the fisherman or almost. I also flushed a beautiful ring necked pheasant stream side that day as well.

Now this fish we caught last year (2014). At 28" it was a big boy and was taken on a fly.


(See below)

I started fishing there probably about 12-14 years ago before anyone knew about it. It was out of control at that times. had the whole place and lots of big fish to myself. They were big and dumb lol. Then the local paper printed a small article about the big trout and people started to notice more and more each year. In the past 5 years its just a shadow of itself. If you didn't fish it back then you'd think it was still great. It was nothing to see 5-6 trout similiar to all these in just the lower part of the creek in October let alone December. I still do it every year but it's not like it used to be. It's going to continue to get less and less too. If you care to know why (assuming you already dont know) then just shoot me a PM and we can chat! If you fish it a lot in the summer you've caught a bunch of 'why'.

Awesome fish by the way. I've never broke 30" there. I had a 30" plus in October of 2009 follow my streamer and nearly beach itself but ran out of realestate before hitting. Never saw it again once it retreated to the shadows. Well done.
 
Ok I apparently have no idea how to post pictures here lol. I've tried downloading the file to the post off photobucket, I've used the little face icon above with entered the URL, and even tried other sizes. Can someone fill me in?
 
If you use an attachment, maximum file size is 500k I think. Resize image. Typically JPEG format is the most compressed, giving you a reasonable sized image under 500k.

For photobucket, get the direct link code from photobucket, use that as the url in the photo link wizard thingy. Set the position to L and use 300 as the width.

Alternatively, you can use the below coding, but only use one i for the first img:

[iimg width=300]your photobucket link code url pasted here[/img]
 
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