Unicorn

  • Thread starter salvelinusfontinalis
  • Start date
Dang!!!!! Just amazing, wow.
 
I've been thinking about this fish all week! :-o

We've long discussed the well known - but not well understood - reality of brown trout migration from big creeks and rivers to smaller tribs that happens seasonally. Brookie behavior of this sort is certainly plausible too and this fish really tweaks our curiosity about this.
 
Dave_W wrote:
I've been thinking about this fish all week! :-o

We've long discussed the well known - but not well understood - reality of brown trout migration from big creeks and rivers to smaller tribs that happens seasonally. Brookie behavior of this sort is certainly plausible too and this fish really tweaks our curiosity about this.
Click to expand...

Yes it is, and don't forget about migrating in and out of lakes.

Here is an interesting short article. Its from Wisconsin, but still applicable.

Michigan is also jumping on board efforts to restore the coasters.

They were once found in Lake Erie tributaries as well, including the Chagrin in Ohio. But likely not in big numbers.

 
Farmer,

Yes. Over the years I have been trying different combinations of criteria to search for fish like this.
I have had mixed results on lake run brookies in PA. I found some but not many.
Brook trout are sensitive to compietion and falling victim to being prey. IMO PA lakes are too diverse in being stocked and having a wide array of other fishes, that it's not as viable is I had hoped, but it does happen.

I also tied Susquehanna river tribs. I believe the Susquehanna bass and the pollution keep them away. I struck out bad there.

This new combination I've tried I'm 1 for 2 on.
I'm willing to discuss in greater detail off forum.
 
I agree with your assessment of PA lake run brook trout, especially inland lakes. You won't find many at least not on public waters.

Chaz likely knows of a few, but I'm not asking.

I may ask to fish with him some day though. I need to retire, first.



 
Sal,
Impressive fish! I don't know if you were at the trout summit but at it they talked about trout movement and more specifically brook trout movement. What they said is something I've been saying for years, that brookies move into and out of large streams seasonally, and that these fish can grow big. But don't tell anyone where you caught them because the word gets out. I've found some in a couple of NE streams, but haven't been back to those streams lately so I haven't caught any big brookies in a while.
PM me I want to know more. I've found big brookies as you know but it's always been in drainages where there was a water supply reservoir or a much larger stream below with good trout conditions. A couple of limestone streams have big brookies, but yes they aren't common.
 
A couple of years ago in the Spring, late April I think, I caught several clearly wild Brookies in one outing on Penns. Poe Paddy, downstream from the Broadwaters pools a little ways. They weren't huge like sal's, but they were nice Brookies...8-9" range. Made we wonder at the time whether they were seasonal transplants from one of the tribs in that area...Swift/Panther/Cherry. Seems plausible certainly. Haven't caught a wild Brookie in that stretch of Penns before, or since that day.
 
Chaz,

Will do after I get out of work.
Interesting stuff. Wish I could have made the summit.

Begs to question, if the PFBC recognizes the possibility and for certain with brown trout, why are we as organizations not working with the PFBC to study this?

The information gained would be extremely useful.
 
I caught a musky just upstream of cherry run once. Never any brookies.
It can happen but IMO Penn's is not a good candidate to find this kind of brookie. Too much displacement from brown trout before they would ever reach 12".

Also studies on the Lackawanna show a huge gap in the 10-12" brown trout population. Reason is they are food. :-o the brookies would be eaten before then.

IMO you need a river with limited brown trout and limited biodiversity in fish.
 
salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
IMO you need a river with limited brown trout and limited biodiversity in fish.
Click to expand...

Recovering AMD streams of decent size with marginal temperatures? I can think of a few candidates.

My biggest wild Brookie (13" Female) came from this scenario. In the lower reaches of a tributary. In February. Though she was in a culvert pool that I had fished for about a year prior to that without catching a single fish in, til I caught her. So I think she may have been there for a while.
 
I have nowhere near the knowledge on ST as you guys but I caught a 12-inch wild ST in BFC before.
 
Moon,

No doubt. I'm fact I caught one about that size there also. Certainly can happen but the brown trout will stop it more often than not for sure.

Even still if you saw this stream there is just no way this fish lives there for any long period of time. This year I fished a local 3' wide brookie stream. You would be suprised. Nothing in the "pools" but under the tree undercuts in 2 inches of water was a 5-6" fish. But why no 10" fish. No habitat for them. This creek does not have the habitat to support that fish year round. Had to be a migrating fish.

Fun facts:

I caught him on public land.
30' from the parking lot
Behind a house no less. You could see it through the trees.

And you guys say the fishing gets better from the road :pint: :lol:
 
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You know i Had to take a few more ;-)
:-D
 
Studies are being done, or are complete.
 
Spoke too soon.
Actually caught in SEPA
 
A few years ago a friend of mine caught a 12.5-inch brookie from a small impoundment in the headwaters of a tiny brookie stream, late in the summer. It was deeply hooked and died at his feet, so he brought it home. We had the folks at TU in Lock Haven age it. It was between 3 and 4 years old, much younger than I would have thought.

Brookies can live to six years of age in the wild and this one had been growing slightly over 3 inches per year. Multiply that times 6 and you get a fish approaching 20 inches. This is comparable to brookies caught back around the turn of the 20th century. Those brookies got big by moving in and out of larger freestone streams with the seasons. All this is described in "The Vanishing Trout" published early in the 20th century by Charles Lose. There are other writings from those times as well that describe similar sized brookies. Nice to know they can still get big.
 
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