Brown Trout Trophy Fish
by
Eugene "Guido" Macri

Brown trout due to their selectivity often survive the onslaught of opening season even in hard fished streams.  The key to finding brown trout is water temperature that will allow the trout to get through the hottest days of summer and enough habitat for the fish to hide.  Brown trout prefer the most cover of the three main species which includes brown, rainbow and brook trout.

Scientific studies and my observations show that once a brown trout gets over 11 inches (approximately) that in many streams the fish feed mainly at night or during earlier morning hours.  Depending upon the stream brown trout often feed on minnows and larger organisms at a smaller size than either rainbow or brook trout.  Trophy Browns sometimes die of old age in some streams because people don't believe they are even there.

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A marginal trout stream that I fished growing up always yielded a few trout of extraordinary size that astounded everyone. If you fished these streams in the summer you seldom caught fish.  Quite by accident I discovered with my fishing buddies that when the stream got muddy due to summer storms that trout seemed to appear out of nowhere.  We waited til the stream got just a tinge of color and we went fishing.  We caught mostly browns.  Most were over 12 inches in length and we caught a few in the 16 to 22 inch class in a stream that was supposed to be too warm and considered at best a marginal trout stream.

This is one of the secrets of finding large browns in freestone type streams.  When the water gets a tinge due to a sudden rain storm even in the summer these trout go on the feed.  At other times you can't find the fish in these streams. Once again this is a trick that you should try on stocked streams in areas especially if the stream contains a few springs or deep holes where the browns can surivive the summer.

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Do you want more tricks and secrets about catching Trophy Brown Trout?  Then just sign up for our my Brown Trout Journal.  Why?  Because it will have stuff you'll find no where else in the fly fishing world.  And best of all it's FREE! You can also send us any comments you may have too.