Big Trout Abound

[Phil Lilley]

Twenty inches was set back in 1997 as the brown trout keeper size.  That set up what is considered to be a trophy trout on our lake.

We've been giving out trophy catch and release certificates and pins since then.  I think I have a record of all of them caught and recorded.  And no, I'm not going to go back and count.  I would be interesting to know how many we've registered over the years.

But this spring, I believe, has to be the busiest we've been for recording big trout, mainly browns.

This week - one guy landed 13 browns.  Rob Dickerson from Kansas.  I believe the biggest was 23 inches but he had many other browns either swipe or chase his bait that were much bigger - and smaller.

I know of 8 other brown caught and released.  And there's rainbows too.  I have 2 in 2 days over 20 and Blake's friend had one this evening.

And I see others on Facebook that were caught.

Our trout are acting differently too, more like wild trout.  They're chasing bait fish, other smaller trout.   They're starting to take dries - bugs on the surface.  Not just midging but being very aggressive about it.  They're fighting very hard when hooked.

It just feels different since they've dropped generation and we're seeing more activity.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Awesome!!!!!!!!   This is an amazing place to live

[JestersHK]

Can't wait... 3 more days. With the current conditions and there being 7 of us I think we'll have pretty good odds of hopefully getting into a big brownie.  I for one will likely be in full on big bite mode and thinking I'm gonna throw jerks until my arm falls off for 5 days...