Brown Trout Tactics

[Jimmy_1]

I catch mine in Stittsville.....LOL!

[Todd B.]

I guess they did't all get wiped out when they had that chlorine spill a number of years back, and the MNR has only been stocking brookies.

[bobfly]

Keep in mind that they stock the Grand with 50K+ browns each year (and that was a few years ago....I haven't kept up). I'm sure that NY is stocking the rivers in that kind of number as well as they can afford to do it. As a result you can expect to catch a brown using normal tactics. To put in only 1K browns into Darling Long is a "drop in the bucket". It was an experiment in the first place that seems to have worked in terms of some surviving. I have seen browns the size of small trucks taken out out there. One of our flyfishers has been snapped off twice. He got only to see it in the air once and then gone. I have gone once or twice each year for over ten years and have yet to catch one.

The problem is stocking small fish in lakes with larger predator fish. The good thing is that the larger lakes can't be fished out by icefishers (when fish are at a disadvantage) as can the smaller lakes. There is room for all kinds of fishing, but you have to have the numbers as you do in some situations. The alternative is severe and enforced regulations.

Same thing is true of Anna Lake. They need to put in many times that number in order to have a decent fishery. Some experienced guys went in there with minnows and downriggers, the works and caught, I think, one fish between two boats, four fishers, in four hours.

[Whitehawk]

Got thinking about the numbers game like you mentioned. This lake is listed as 191 acres. 7500 Browns a year go in. That's 39 fish per acre per year.
...and I can't catch one! Suppose if they are small the big walleys have a feast.

[ganman]

No not really 39 fish per acre. They really aren't fishable until the second year. Realistically they could lose 60- 90% by the second year.....so that is 4 to 7 fish per acre. They probably have about a 30% mortality rate per year after year 2 and have a life span of 6-8 years.....do the math. Then you have to take into account water volume and the fact that maybe 75% of the lake is unsuitable habitat.....your head spinning yet

They don't necessarily stock more trout in NY. Just on the outskirts of Saranac Lake NY is Lake Colby. It's on the main highway going out of town, has a real nice State boat launch,the hospital overlooks it, there's cottages and it has bass and perch. Its about the same size as DLL but gets stocked with LESS fish...a combination of browns, bows and few brood stock Landlocks. No monsters but the fishing is surprisingly good, you always catch trout. Most of the trout run 13"-20".

[steve-hamilton]

I fish browns a lot.

When the water temps are above 60 degree's, they are top predators.

we troll with shallow stick baits and do quite well.

if the water temps are in the 40's and 50's, you have to downsize and go slower...

but once the water hits the high 50's, and into 60's, they'll smash baits like a large mouth bass!

they are my favourite fish that swims.

[Whitehawk]

Thanks Steve, good info. I'll be going in one more time this year for a try.

How far behind the boat do you spool out?

[ganman]

Thanks Steve, good info. I'll be going in one more time this year for a try.

How far behind the boat do you spool out?

You will hurt your chances more not being in control of your lure running a long line. The idea that browns are spooky was born on the Great Lakes where they are fished in spring over huge shallow flats and the water is gin clear. However, any fish....even perch is going to be spooky with 20 ft. boats moving over them in clear shallow water.

But DLL is a 150 acre pond with tannin stained water that drops off and you're fishing from...a 12 ft. car topper?. No need for a long line. If someone caught a trout there on a long line it wasn't because he was running 100 yards behind the boat. Don't drag your lure behind the boat, cast ahead of it so your lure is coming at them and not sneaking up from behind. Browns are very different from warm water species. They face into the current and rely upon the current for food. They are selective to sometimes ridiculous extremes. Normally they key into the most abundant food source in the lake at that given time. In the Great Lakes its easy because that is usually schools of baitfish but in an acidic upland, landlocked 150 acre pond that can be very different. It is hard for anglers who have been schooled in fishing for warmwater species to understand that a 3 lbs. brown trout will not look sideways an occasional 4" Golden Shiner but sip multitudes of 1/4" long flying ants on a September afternoon.

Ireland and Scotland....where brown trout are native and have been swimming around with giant northern pike and maybe a monster or two for eons. There they fish on a drift and cast no more than 30-40 ft. ahead of the boat. Their lakes are tannin or peat stained (peat is where Scotch gets its flavour). I suspect because of advantages in gear, North Americans have a sense of superiority with the rest of the world when it comes to fishing. But having witnessed fly fishing competitions where Americans and Canadians have there asses handed to them by Europeans....even on our own turf I known better (the Czechs and Poles are the best trout fishers). OR....Ask a carp guy if they know how to fish over there.

So...If I wanted badly to catch browns on DLL, I'd try a Scottish version of Fish Hawk and ask if they had anything to add.

[steve-hamilton]

To answer your question, I don't run very far back, unless the water temps are in the 30's and 40's.

Once in the mid 50's and 60's we have hit them as little as 35' behind the boat....that's a short lead!

When casting for them you can have the fish follow right up to the boat.

Have fun out there. Browns are a blast!

[RJ]

What Steve is referring to is a VERY different Brown Trout than our inland Browns. Not sure sure if the same tactics apply on inland lakes but I have my doubts.

RJ

[steve-hamilton]

your right RJ, they may not.

But the same tactics i've mentioned work for inland lake speckles, which are a similar species.

I'm quite sure a slow trolled J7 would work, especially in stained water!

Something to try when its time for lunch.

[EagleEyesFlash]

Summit is a tough fish for browns too.
Have caught a few on spoons ( W40 gold & orange ) and on a sinking fly line with a crystal white bugger.
Meet a guy there 2 years ago who camps on an island anually, said he was skunked for 7 years, but for the last
5 years always nails a few 4 to 7 lbers . He was trolling fairly fast with an electric motor, late June.
I wouldn't eat them though, they taste swampy.

[Moosebunk]

There they fish on a drift and cast no more than 30-40 ft. ahead of the boat.

Great quote.

Have belonged to a Scottish website since 05 when tying flies was an obsession. I've seen this said there a number of times, and yes from float tube or boat. They obviously make fishing browns seem much easier. The only inland lake brown I've hooked and sadly lost was done so casting ahead of my float tube, tightly to shore with a small orange/yellow/spotted spoon.

Solid thread.

[ganman]

If they are catching very few but big ones than its obvious very few trout are making much past stocking. Perhaps instead of putting in 6500 eight inch yearlings and losing 95% of them (probably to the few trout that make to year 2 and beyond). They should raise them to 2 years and stock 1500 fourteen inchers. In lakes like those the catch rate for quality fishing should be about 1 fish per hour. From experience on other waters the size would range from 14" - 24"...that being a real big fish. Most trout would fall into the 16"-18" category or about 3 years old.

Some may think differently but to me that is a better outcome than catching a 4-7 lbs. once every blue moon.

And yes a fast troll and retrieve if using a minnow imitation and the water is over 55F.

[Whitehawk]

Thanks for the advise on Brown tactics. Thinking back to the days when I fished the streams a lot for brookys , yes, stealth was important. "Very important"
Got me a 13 incher in Waddle creek one day being silent and casting upstream.

I like the drift fishing advise, as well as casting out front of the boat.

BTW was into DLL last weekend. Tried drifting and casting. No luck with the Browns.
Nothing but Walleys. Was a tough day for even that lake.