A few two year old brook trout from the pond

[taxid]

These are two year old male brook trout I raise in a small 1/10th acre 100,000 gallon private pond behind the house that gets well water through out  late spring, summer, and early fall to keep it cool and dilluted of waste products. It overflows into a much larger pond that grows out trophy size bluegill and yellow perch.

Of course fishing is much easier in this pond that is hand fed, quite small, and the post is not meant to compare to any public waters. Just thought I'd share pictures.

I had a taxidermist colleague here today catch three, purchase and take them back for taxidermy purposes for competition. I was a little disappointed they had some minor fin flaws, but he wasn't concerned about it as he uses cast fins and has lots of extras.

Fish were overdosed with MS222 so they wouldn't thrash in the cooler before freezing.

Didn't measure or weigh them but they were probably running 14 1/2 to 16 inches and 2 to 2 1/2 pounds.  Next year should be 19 to 22 inches and five to six pounds.

Would have had more brilliant colors as in red/orange flanks if I could have fed them an astaxanthin enhanced feed but my feed supplier said there was a two ton minimum this year. Next year I'll mix it in myself.

First Cast:

[TightLinesMaine]

beautiful specimens! thanks for sharing, those have some incredible humpbacks, love the bright yellows, especially in the anal & pelvic fins

next year please post pics of 3 year old males! i bet those look gnarly

[taxid]

beautiful specimens! thanks for sharing, those have some incredible humpbacks, love the bright yellows, especially in the anal & pelvic fins

next year please post pics of 3 year old males! i bet those look gnarly

Here ya go from several years back. About 5 lbs I think.

Excuse my appearance. I just got out of bed on a cold morning walking the dog and this guy was floundering in the shallow water. Didn't bother to comb my hair. I also had allergy issues in the morning back then.

[gotabig1]

What a football.... I see the fence around the pond. Is that to keep out the Snappers? Or Blue Herons? They did a number on my friends Brookie Pond.

[taxid]

What a football.... I see the fence around the pond. Is that to keep out the Snappers? Or Blue Herons? They did a number on my friends Brookie Pond.

They're staked lines to keep the herons out. As you probably know they wade in and rarely light onto the water like ducks do unless they know the water is shallow. Otherwise they could drown if the water is deeper than their legs. Someone I know actually saw that almost happen to a rookie young bird. I'll bet he never did that again!

If they think the water is too deep to wade in on the other side of the staked lines they will leave the pond alone. I've had some just stand there dumbfounded. But they are not dumb birds by any means and will learn fast. I had one I swear knew what the range of my shotgun was.  

I used to get a permit from the Feds to take out up to two a year but don't like killing them as they are just doing what they were designed to do and have to eat too.  And this is more effective vs. if you shoot one another one takes it's place, and they will hunt at night while you're asleep. Better to keep them out of the ponds 24/7. I figure they can catch fish at the public lakes in the area.  

It's just furring strips made into stakes, some dry wall screws on the stakes and some cheap 20  or 30 lb. mono from Wal-mart to run around the screws around the pond.

I knew someone that used an electric fence to keep them out and said it was like watching break dancing when they made contact.

[gotabig1]

Haha... That's awesome. Good to know about the line.

[TightLinesMaine]

have you ever tried raising browns or rainbows? or just the brookies

[wally13]

NICE BROOKIES  BROOKTROUT NICE PIC'S

[fishon1]

nice pics i would love to put 1 of them on my wall

[taxid]

have you ever tried raising browns or rainbows? or just the brookies

I alternate between browns and brooks. The browns grow a little faster and get bigger than the brooks and stress the brooks so I can't have them in the same pond. I've grown browns to just under 12 lbs. here:



Here's one my twin is holding that was six or seven pounds.



Biggest brook was a little over six pounds here:



I've  grown rainbows to just over 9 lbs. here:



but rainbows aren't hard to find by taxidermists and with my limited flow and pond size I'd rather stick to growing and selling the harder to find brooks and browns.

[taxid]

nice pics i would love to put 1 of them on my wall

If you were closer by you could catch one and I would mount it for the taxidermy charge and not the fish itself. I've done that on a few occasions and still do.

Here's a small one I did for a repeat customer. He couldn't wait for them to get bigger.

[TightLinesMaine]

that 2nd brown is insane looking! can't believe the girth on those things, do you know what strain of brown trout those are that you raise? have you ever tried raising different strains to see what does/grows better in your ponds?

[taxid]

that 2nd brown is insane looking! can't believe the girth on those things, do you know what strain of brown trout those are that you raise? have you ever tried raising different strains to see what does/grows better in your ponds?

The browns were called the Seven Pines strain from Seven Pines trout farm in Northern Wisconsin although the owner confided in me that they were originally the Plymouth Rock strain from Massachusetts.

Only tried one strain of brown but that will change before I start hatching my own eggs shipped from Utah in a year or so. My next browns will probably come from Crystal Springs farm in N.Muskegon, Michigan where i get my brooks. Btw my brooks are a cross between an eastern strain and a Lake Nipigon Canada strain.

[princecraft]

I have caught a lot of brook trout on Manatoulin Island in Northern Lake Huron, and since the very largest I have caught was probably a whopping 9 inches, those that you have are absolute monsters.  I didn't know those things growed that big.

[taxid]

I have caught a lot of brook trout on Manatoulin Island in Northern Lake Huron, and since the very largest I have caught was probably a whopping 9 inches, those that you have are absolute monsters.  I didn't know those things growed that big.

It's all relative and has to do with their food supply for tbe most part. I used to fish for them in a lake in Massachusetts as a kid and a 13 incher was a monster and the biggest I caught.