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Fontinalis Rising: Sixteen Inch Brook Trout

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Fishing News
Sixteen Inch Brook Trout
Fontanalis Rising - A biggie.

I think he lives in Michigan, but almost no matter where you go a sixteen inch brook trout is worth a dance. He did note:

If you’re new to fishing or haven’t fished for brook trout, a 16 inch brook trout is a big deal.  It may not sound big, but the average brookie, especially in small streams, is about 6-8 inches.  Ten is a nice fish, 12″ is big, 14″ rare and makes your season- 16 inches, in a small stream?  Lifetime.  It’s roughly equivalent to a 24 inch brown.  There’s bigger fish out there, but not many, and there’s only a handful of areas, usually remote, such as Labrador, northern Quebec and Ontario that regularly produce fish bigger than that.  Thus my excitement.

Orvis News: Monster Brook Trout, Labrador Canada

Fishing Reports
Six pound Labrador Brook Trout
Six pound Labrador Brook Trout!

Orvis News has the first part of an article about fly fishing for monster brook trout on Atikonak Lake in Labrador. Writes the author, Erik Rickstad, “[S]ince I hail from the Land of the 10-Inch Trophy Squaretail (aka Vermont) I’m not yet acclimated to the absurdity of the place,” and goes on to describe brook trout that need two hands to hold. Like a normal sized fish, I guess. We’ve covered all that before. I think it was John Gierach who wrote that the objective may not be the size of the fish you catch but the smallest sized fish you’re happy to catch. Certainly true for those of us who love catching brookies.

You cannot call this fish a “brookie,” though. Too cutesy for a brute like that.

Atikonak Lake is right about here:


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Yowza.

Huge New Jersey Brook Trout

2 comments
Conservation
The Jersey Angler - Huge Brook Trout
The Jersey Angler - Huge Brook Trout

Not to be outdone by the huge brook trout in the Upper Connecticut River in New Hampshire, my native state of New Jersey produces some giant brook trout, too. Wherever he’s fishing in this photo also has some huge rainbows and browns. I grew up in New Jersey and fished for warm water species with my family, but I’ve never fished for trout there and have never fly fished there.

This will hopefully all be fixed in 2011. The Garden State has big brook trout. I suspected it. I hoped for it. Now I know. If that photo is from the south whatcha-ma-call-it, I think I can make my way there.

TU On the Rise – Upper Connecticut River NH – Huge Brook Trout

Conservation
Huge Upper Connecticut River, NH Brook Trout
Huge Upper Connecticut River, NH Brook Trout

This season’s fourth episode of Trout Unlimited’s On the Rise TV show is on the Upper Connecticut River in northern New Hampshire. Fast forward to 2:34 into the trailer on YouTube to see Jed Fiebelkorn catch a HUGE Upper Connecticut River, NH brook trout! That is a monster sized male, with a prominent hooked jaw and not real happy to be in a net. Incredible. We all know the typical sized brookies we catch in headwater streams. This is something else.

 

Must head up north…