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I fished for two decades before I finally realized that not every river, not every creek or stream has big fish. For most of my early days of fishing, I thought there was a different class of fish in some of my favorite waters that I simply never encountered. And I liked to think that if I fished certain ways at certain times, I would finally catch those fish.
But many years later, after more experience and after finally fishing all of the ways that are supposed to help you find the biggest fish — night fishing, streamer fishing, etc. — I also met many like minded anglers and became friends with enough obsessed fishermen whose stories and accounts I could trust. And I realized, no one catches big trout out of some of these waters.
Why do some rivers hold big trout? This is a topic that has come up between all of us on long drives, around the tailgate, and on long walks along the riverbank. Why is it that some rivers just do not have any size to the fish, and then, maybe just the next valley over, not only is the average size larger, but the top tier fish is bigger too?
We’re here to talk about it . . .
Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Wild vs Stocked — The Hierarchy of River Trout
PODCAST: Troutbitten | The Hierarchy of River Trout
PODCAST: Troutbitten | Why We All Love Big Trout
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Season Thirteen of the Troutbitten Podcast continues next week with episode eight. So look for that in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Good stuff. I live in an area that doesn’t really have a river system that doesn’t have stocking or feeding influence. Some more than others. I try to stick to the least bastardized water ways There is a large tailwater that has very large “wild” fish in it. Everyone regardless of skill level that has ever spent a day fishing it has caught at least one 20” fish. No one mentions the feeders lining the banks. They love posting their 26 inch wild fish on IG.
This is a good podcast to recalibrate people’s expectations. Nothing wrong with having fun with these fish, but be honest to yourself and others about the legitimacy. If you wade a quarter mile of water and see 10 fish over 20” there is probably something off. Don’t tell me it’s wild if you pulled a 24”, five 18” and 10 fish over 16” out of the same run.
Fishing at night was only briefly mentioned, but I think key to catching the biggest brown trout in heavily pressured water. A similar condition is when water is discolored from a recent rain storm. I believe the biggest trout come out to feed at night or in discolored water because they feel safer from predators, especially fishermen. As a case in point the only 20+ inch trout I ever caught in my local Class A non-stocked trout stream was taken when the water was so high and dirty I almost didn’t fish it. The big trout took a white jig streamer. I have fished this stream multiple times over the past 15+ years and have rarely caught a trout more than 13″.