Browns are NOT smarter than other trout

[TroutFishingBear]

From my experience, and I have a great amount for only 11 years of fishing my river (started when 4) I have found that browns are not the supposed "smart trout" In fact, I find many browns much more aggressive and stupid than rainbows. About 1 month ago, I snagged about a ft long stick and was reeling it in across the surface. Well, a brown about 25" hit that stick. What a genius.
I believe that people think browns are smart only because its an old wivestale and they have it in their head that it is right.

Post some of your observations about stupid browns.

ps: overall, I think they are equal in intelligence, and science can probably prove this, I will try to find out.

[wny angler]

the rainbows(steelhead) we catch here in western newyork are easy to catch compared to the browns.
i often can catch the same rainbow 2 or 3 times in the same day,
i was out this past sunday on a lake erie tributary and caught 11 bows,,they had to have been caught at least a dozen times before ,all had multiple hook marks and parts of their lips missing.

[TroutFishingBear]

wny angler- that sounds exactly like the browns here, exactly!

the 6 pounder I caught last week (brown) had like 4 flies in his mouth and 2 in his gill.

maybe the biomass of browns in your river is lower than the rainbows, or maybe your rainbows aren't wild, but stocked.

[icefishnh]

can i get some tips from u guys on how to catch browns???   i cant catch a brown even if my life depended on it!!!

[TroutFishingBear]

icefishnh, read my post on brown location and if that doesn't work, the biomass of browns in your streams is extremely low.

For me and other experienced worm bouncers,  browns are just as easy if not easier.

Also, browns eat spinners at a younger age then bows. If you are fishing a spot with large rocks, swing a panther martin around it and a brown will almost definitely charge. Remember for panther martins that browns like size 6 orange and rainbows like size 6 green and black. Put a sinker above it (12") because you want to go down to the fish, and fish the lower quadrant of the water instead of the upper because most fish are on or near the bottom. Make sure your spinner ticks the bottom.


But worms with my method are the most deadly

[icefishnh]

ok, thanks guys. picked up a rainbow trout colored panther martin today. would browns take one of them?  i catch bows and brookies no prob with worms but browns, its a whole 'nother story...

[TroutFishingBear]

Rainbow trout panther is one of my favs. for rainbows, but I've cought some nice browns on those.

[fishfinder2004]

i think that brookies are the smartest trout but that just my opinion.

[timcat]

browns are dumb.
took my boy out to my secret stream last year. as all children do he gets tangled on everything in casting range, falls in the water and thrashes around and then gets another snag. this time though he's snagged in the water not the trees, has a twig in the current, he's now pulling the twig to the surface and we can see his nightcrawler just about making a wake in the water. suddenly a nice fat 21" brown comes up to eat. not to smart but rather tasty

[Cider]

fishfinder - I agree, brookies are extremely "smart".  I like to call it wary.  In a small stream they can be really difficult to entice.  I find that during a hatch though, most trout are easy to hook-up if you have the right pattern and presentation.  Brookies are by far the best table fare too.  The only thing I don't like about brookies (particularly stocked fish) is that the majority of them, once hooked, give up.  Kind of like reeling in an old log!  I'd rather hook into a scrappy rainbow any day.  Browns can be really fun when it comes to strength and stripping line off your spool, but rainbows really are the scrappiest with their acrobatics and runs upstream.

Icefishnh - rainbow pattern panter martins are deadly on any trout in the early spring.  I have caught a lot of browns with that one.  I also like the fluorescent orange panther martins.  They are easier to see when the waters are high and dirty from early spring run-off.  Trout seem to like them a lot.  I always fish panter martins and bluefox vibrax spinners (gold or silver, no buck tail) first thing in the spring.  Once the rivers/streams have settled down though I switch over to the flyrod and stay with it for the rest of the season.  Mepps black furys are pretty good too.  Especially the ones with the orange spots on the blade and black/orange bucktails.  These are the only spinners that I like with bucktails.

Main thing with spinners too is to have a variety of different weights so that you can get to the right depth to find the layer of fish.  Early on in the spring I use 1/2 oz spinners and then I progressively switch to the lighter ones as the flow goes down.

[Mackdaddy21]

Brookies probably are the smartest I think. They seem to be more fickle than other trout when they are pressured. However remote populations will often hit all manners of baits, lures, or flies.
I am not much of a fly fisherman. Bait and lures will generally outproduce them in most but not all situations. However dry fly fishing for mountain lake brookies is a blast. I like red ants in size 12 or 14 best. The mosquito in the same sizes is also great, and it may be the best all around dry fly, up there with an adams.
Browns seem to feed shallower, hit faster running lures, and are easier to fool than rainbows. It may just be in Colorado browns are extremely numerous.
Most of the rivers in Colorado have about an even mix of browns and bows. The browns are easier to catch and smaller than the rainbows usually. A big brown is generally around 10 pounds, while a big rainbow could be 20 or more.

Tyler

[reubenpa]

wny angler- that sounds exactly like the browns here, exactly!

the 6 pounder I caught last week (brown) had like 4 flies in his mouth and 2 in his gill.

maybe the biomass of browns in your river is lower than the rainbows, or maybe your rainbows aren't wild, but stocked.

I have never seen 20 # stocked trout... Most bows here in WNY are wild.............

[Cider]

I agree with you rubenpa.  The best the stockies (bows) get around here are 7 lbs.  Those are the retired breeders.  Rarely do the stocked fish holdover to get larger.

[MickeyFinn]

Wny angler I do not believe you caught the same steelhead 3 times in one day that just sounds rediculous to me.. I have been fishing lake ontario tribs for steelhead for over 20 years and never even seen/heard of something like that happening..

Brown Trout are the most adaptive fish in the trout family there eyesight is much better than the rest of the trout family also, not that this makes them smarter but it sure gives them advantages... Brook trout, to me anyway shouldn't even be mentioned for being smart, in the lakes and ponds I have fished for them they act moronic at times, I have seen them fight over a cigarette butt..  Big Trout are smart thats how they get  big... In the streams I fish a brown over 20 inches is a very respectable fish and these fish are usually very selective and lie in heavy cover, you pretty much have to work for them..Another thing is if the fish are wild or not, if the state throws a 25 inch brown in a stream and it has been hand fed its whole life  do you really think there is going to be a challenge trying to catch it???Fishing pressure plays a role also in how smart fish act...

[SALMOTRUTTA]

Rainbows are easy,brookies are easier and Browns offer a challenge.