Trout....TROUT...TROUT!.....

[tjm]

When I fished southern New England I had a small  number of streams that still held brookies, places  where the state people said there where none, 9-10" was a trophy 7" was bigger than most. Beautiful fish though, for the top half of my fly rod.  Much of the fabled water of old has had the native char completely displaced by stocking of trout, and the marginal waters have been landscaped to death. When I last visited that area several years ago two of those special brooks were under concrete for a large part of their length and another cleared of brush with reduced flow.  The state back then did what the sports wanted and stocked heavily with "put and take" as the guide. I saw seven houses change the entire character of about three miles of trout brook. As a child in Idaho, I recall fishermen complaining about the cutthroats and bull trout and wanting the game department to rid streams of them to make better rainbow fishing. If I recall correctly I was told only bull trout/Dolly Varden were native in Id.

 

[Johnsfolly]

Anywhere that you can catch wild or naturalized trout is a special place. I would rather catch a 7" brook trout that has lived its whole life in a little stream than a 16" stocker at a trout park (unless that one was due for the skillet☺). When I lived in PA a 20" trout was the equivalent to a 10 lb bass. The state didn't stock fish larger than 10 to 12" at that time. So if it doubled its size it had been in the stream a pretty long time and a special fish. A 20" fish in Bennett's or in one if the urban lakes could have lived its entire life in a concrete run then dumped in the stream or pond the morning that it was caught. That changes how it should be considered as a trophy. Dont get me wrong I would still love to catch it on 2 lb test. Just would not consider it as much of a trophy as the 15" rainbow that I caught out of Barren Forks creek or the one I caught out of Crane creek. Those are special memories. 

[Johnsfolly]

16 hours ago, BilletHead said:

      I have caught trout in some pretty neat places. many, many in their native ranges. I don't care what size they are. Each one is a blessing to me and the Mrs.  I catch some big ones too but think there is too much emphasis on big fish or for that matter anything big caught or harvested. Take for example my micro fishing friends. They get pretty excited from small catches! I caught a smallish fish this fall on the Niangua Sent a photo to JohnsFolly. He responds a redtail shiner . Hey I am on my micro way .  Haters hate you big fish snobs ,

  BilletHead

BH -  By the way I said that this fish was a bleeding shiner not a redtail shiner☺!

[BilletHead]

3 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

BH -  By the way I said that this fish was a bleeding shiner not a redtail shiner☺!

         Oh heck my bad . Guess you are right as he hit a buzzball dry and his itty bitty little lips were bleeding from the hook stick. They were relentless hitting the dries. Hungry little dudes. Mrs. BilletHead caught a couple earlier in the day when she fished solo. She caught a couple of trout too.

  BilletHead

[Johnsfolly]

You know us multispecies and microguys want to be accurate☺.

[Smalliebigs]

Sorry but when the crayfish put up more of a show than the fish I just don't have the desire to go thru what it takes to get there and catch them.

When he is catching trout the size of bait on a spoon, I don't see the glory in it.

I started out fishing this way in ditches from Festus to Park Hills....we would make our own Tenkara like setups and nail Creek Chubs and the occaional Bass.....back when I was about 6 or 7 and my dad drug me around to bridges. He would sit and drink Busch and read while I explored.

[BilletHead]

6 hours ago, Smalliebigs said:

Sorry but when the crayfish put up more of a show than the fish I just don't have the desire to go thru what it takes to get there and catch them.

When he is catching trout the size of bait on a spoon, I don't see the glory in it.

I started out fishing this way in ditches from Festus to Park Hills....we would make our own Tenkara like setups and nail Creek Chubs and the occaional Bass.....back when I was about 6 or 7 and my dad drug me around to bridges. He would sit and drink Busch and read while I explored.

            Glory is the farthest thing we here at the BilletHead household are looking for when fishing. Glory is something you get by beating  competitors and being the winner. We do what we do to satisfy ourselves. We compete with other in a good natured fashion . A laugh here and a laugh there. A pat on the back and when fishing with the Mrs. a hug when each of us has a success. If you track what the BilletHead's do we like them big, small and in between and appreciate everyone missed or landed,

  BilletHead

[Smalliebigs]

18 hours ago, BilletHead said:

            Glory is the farthest thing we here at the BilletHead household are looking for when fishing. Glory is something you get by beating  competitors and being the winner. We do what we do to satisfy ourselves. We compete with other in a good natured fashion . A laugh here and a laugh there. A pat on the back and when fishing with the Mrs. a hug when each of us has a success. If you track what the BilletHead's do we like them big, small and in between and appreciate everyone missed or landed,

  BilletHead

Duly noted.....kudos to you Mrs. BilletHead it seems like you Two are living the dream

 

[BilletHead]

8 minutes ago, Smalliebigs said:

Duly noted.....kudos to you Mrs. BilletHead it seems like you Two are living the dream

 

Thanks man,

BilletHead