Bryan asked:
I have been fly fishing for about 7 years now am new to Brown Trout fishing. I have been out several times to the West Canada Creek in NY. I have been catching a lot of what I am assuming are the stocked brown trout that are all around 9 inches. I’ve caught a couple that were 16-17 inches and thought those were good size but then I read that they can get up over 20″. What is a good size for a Brown Trout where you fish and where do you fish (Stream Name, State, etc.)?
I have been fly fishing for about 7 years now am new to Brown Trout fishing. I have been out several times to the West Canada Creek in NY. I have been catching a lot of what I am assuming are the stocked brown trout that are all around 9 inches. I’ve caught a couple that were 16-17 inches and thought those were good size but then I read that they can get up over 20″. What is a good size for a Brown Trout where you fish and where do you fish (Stream Name, State, etc.)?
#1 by raprunr on March 26, 2010 - 7:44 pm
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Here in NW PA there are a lot of stockies everywhere. The big browns run in the fall from the Lake Erie tribs. Inland stockies i’d say above 15″ is good. Allegheny River over 20″ are great. Erie tribs in the fall i’m looking for 8 lb and up.
#2 by Chadd on March 29, 2010 - 5:30 pm
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I fish in the western U.S. and fish a lot for wild, nonnative brown trout. Around here (Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, etc.) an 8-inch brown is considered kinda runty. A 10-inch is okay but a 12-inch is preferable. I’d be very pleased to catch a 16- or 17-inch brown. In fact, I might go home right after catching one that big so I could end on a high note. I went fishing for a few hours this past Saturday and caught a few browns in the 10-12 inch range. Then I caught one that couldn’t have been more than 7 inches, and two or three casts after that I caught a fairly chunky 14-incher. Figuring I wasn’t going to beat that with the daylight I had left, I headed for the truck…
Brown trout can definitely get much bigger than that — I’ve caught brown trout longer than 20 inches long, but they are rare. Most wild fish will be distributed around that 10-18 inch size, with some outliers and exceptions. You’re catching exactly what I’d expect you to catch in a stocked waterway, but I would also expect/guess/hope that there are some winter survivors in that stocked population that will grow to exceptional size — happy hunting.
#3 by Rob on March 29, 2010 - 7:03 pm
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20 inches or more is a good number for just about any freshwater trout. That would put it at 3-3.5 lbs or so. I would say five or more lbs would be a trophy fish and should be in the 24-25″ range.
#4 by pheasant tail on April 2, 2010 - 5:09 am
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16-17″ is considered a good fish on West Canada. There are some scattered 20″ers but these are rare fish. On the Delaware a 20″ is considered a good fish, Catskill streams 15″ – it depends on your location and body of water.
#5 by BASSMASTA#10 on April 2, 2010 - 3:51 pm
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about 12 inches