Unicorn

  • Thread starter salvelinusfontinalis
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Let me say this. I've fished w/ Sal and have known him long enough to know that he's caught enough 12" freestone brookies to not consider them "Unicorns" (I'm not saying they're common, I'm just saying they're not unicorns).
 
Also, it's wet and in water in every single photo ;-)
 
Yeah, that water in the pic is actually the stream. There was a rock and gravel build up separating the hole up stream and his spot. That water is flowing in those leaves. I wish now I hadn't done that. It confused my camera and it gave a slight blur.

Interesting to note, after caught and released I took that pic of him swimming. I walked up within 3 feet and watched in awe for a few minutes. Got a smile, dipped my caddis in and the specimen started to rise. Had to pull it away.

Can survive 6 summers or more but is dumb as a box of rocks :lol:
Took a size 12 tan elk hair caddis.
 
Very nice fish.
 
And yes, I do catch more than my share of 10"-12" wikd brookies. Unicorns are freestone 15" and up.

In 29 years I've now caught 3 freestone brookies in the 15" range and numerous limestone brookies at that size.
This was the prettiest one by far and as DaveW noted, in nearly perfect condition.
I may never top it and I'm fine with that.

Never 2 in one year until this year.
I have been very blessed this year.

 
Looks like a shopped 8.5” stocker yanked off a redd, smashed off a rock while landing it, and handled with bone dry hands to me. :p

Brookie of a lifetime sal, nicely done. Added bonus that it’s a male in full colors. Both of my all time big Brookies were paler females. I’d love to get a male like that. Congrats man.
 
Congrats sal, that's one amazing native right there! Just beautiful. I'd put the rarity of that brookie on par with catching a wild tiger trout.
 
Really nice fish! Always cool to see a fish like that to get a tiny glimpse into what must have been common brookies that historically inhabited our larger streams and rivers
 
Wow, that really is an amazing brookie. Hard to believe it is a wild fish but every feature indicates it is one, at least to me. looks to be around 14-15" but thats only guessing, what a fish!
 
Wow, very jealous of that fish, great job! And even more interesting about the nature of where you found it. I would've thought "spawning run" from a larger body of water but thermal refuge makes complete sense if you're seeing them in the summer.
 
Congrats! That is an amazing fish.
 
That's what I call a 'Panic Fish' The kind of brookie you catch and know you have something that very few will ever get their hands on. Panic sets in as you think 'nobody is going to believe this without a pic!!' haha.
 
That is balls. Nice fish, Sal.
 
Appreciate all the kudos.
But seriously this fish took little skill to catch. I'm fact he swam 10-15' upstream with his back out of the water to take my skittering caddis.

This fish is just amazing when you consider how old it must be and what it did to survive this long.

My favorite trout caught to date for sure.

What a beauty. Had to share it with you guys, in fact, while I was looking at it I thought to myself how much Chaz would have loved this one.
 
This shows that brookies can grow big, when they have the opportunity.

I've read things on this website and others saying that brookies can't grow big because the big brookie genetics were lost. And others said that they didn't even grow big "back in the day," and that the historical accounts of big brookies were just "romantic," exaggerations, not accurate accounts.

This and other large brookies caught in PA show that these "theories" are bunk.

If the habitat is good and they are allowed to grow for years, rather than getting ripped out and killed, they can grow big.




 
Amen Dwight!

I totally agree with you. I'm fact, again I have theories of my own to this particular fish, watershed and main watershed.

Funny enough I caught a 13" brookie in the main river in the late spring.
When these fish have access to a larger watershed in their range, they can be suprising growers. The transitional water areas of larger watersheds have a suprising amount of life in them to feed on.

Using the Savage River Study it showed those brook trout will move miles to breed. I would be willing to bet, in a 5 mile stretch up and down stream of this stream you will find more large brookies in small streams running into the main river.
Maybe not in all, not in great numbers but enough to have one back of a season.
Something I plan on exploring.
 
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