Browns A Rare Catch?

[drew03cmc]

What makes a brown a rare catch at MSP? I only ask because I know they are in the river below the park, and slightly above the park, but the only brown that I saw during my trip there was above the cable in the protected area where we can't fish. That was a VERY nice fish also...probably 22" long or so, but that is neither here nor there. Thanks for the answers.

[jdmidwest]

Its the same thing that makes them rare in all of the trout parks in the state, people catching them out and MDC not tossing them right back in. Some will travel up out of the river, especially in the fall, but they are not stocked daily like the rainbows.

[Crippled Caddis]

Drew wrote:

<What makes a brown a rare catch at MSP?>

Just guessing since I've never been there, but predicated on the well-known differences betweem 'Bows and Browns you can say with no little degree of accuracy that Browns are just smarter or more wary and consequently more difficult to catch than hatchery 'Bows.

And just because you seldom see them doesn't mean much. Browns naturally become more nocturnal as they get older. In intense pressure situations such as trout parks I suspect their inherant wariness causes them to become nocturnal very early if they are to survive.

To put it very indelicately hatchery bred Rainbows are the village idiots of the trout species and Browns are the Einsteins. And that is why most flyfishers prize the catching of a Brown more than he does a Rainbow as well.

[trout fanatic]

I read something quite interesting in the missouri conservationist that may at least partially explain why there are so many more rainbows than browns in the trout parks. MDC believes that browns eat hellbenders and therefore makes them less desireable a species. If this is true (and I don't doubt it for a minute) it wouldn't surprise me to see even fewer browns in the future.

[drew03cmc]

There is at least one dam on the spring branch I believe that might be impeding their progress towards cooler waters. I do not doubt they are nocturnal, but I realize also they are stocked at a lower rate, also I heard they DO NOT stock browns in MSP...the only way they get there is from upstream migrations from the Meramec River.

[jdmidwest]

Browns in the Current, Meramec, and Niagua Rivers are stocked each spring as fingerlings. They are pretty small fish. Most don't survive very long due to predation and fishing mortality. The Current River trophy area used to be stocked with 8000 fish in an 8 mile stretch of the river. When this happens, there is more competition for food and the larger fish that are in the stream change their habits and feed more agressively. I used to fish this time of year and catch some nice browns, but would have to sift through all of the little ones.

The trout parks raise rainbows and stock only rainbows thru the season. That is why you only see rainbows. Browns sometimes swim up into the parks from the trophy areas below. I believe the MDC even puts a size limit on them at Bennett within the park boundries.

[flyfshn]

Not sure about MSP, but a Park Ranger in the hatchery at Bennett Spring told me they started stocking browns about a year ago at BS.

[flyfishmaster]

flyfshn,

Your are right about BS. There are 100 browns (8"-10") stocked per month in Zone 1.

[Gavin]

Meramec Spring doesnt have many brown trout due to the dam at the end of the park. The dam causes most of the bows to stay in the park, and very few browns move up over the dam into the spring branch. You can see it in the pic below.

Brown trout must be a minimum of 15" long if you want to keep one in any of the trout parks. Cheers.

[mhall02]

Not sure about MSP, but a Park Ranger in the hatchery at Bennett Spring told me they started stocking browns about a year ago at BS.

They have been in Zone 1 for at least 4-5 years, maybe longer, but they are a rare catch. I saw a nice one (at least 4-5 lbs) while I was standing on the first handicapped ramp looking at the throng of fish Tuesday. I first recall catching browns as Roaring River in the late 80s, I was shocked to see the fish scope out my fly so closly, then turn around and swim away!!

It is like they were studying it!!

I was somewhat suprised they stocked the winter lakes up here in the St. Louis area w/ browns, there is no trophy potential there, and yep, they wise up pretty quickly in the catch and release lakes.