Huge Brown Trout

[ranchwife]

We have a small, 1 acre, hand dug reservoir on our ranch. The reservoir was dug about 60 years ago and has never been planted with trout and is fed by a small ditch. The only time to fish this reservoir is in the spring before the weeds make fishing nearly impossible. Dad caught this beautiful male German Brown today on a small dry fly (pattern that he created). It weighed 5 lbs and measured 23 inches from snout to fork in tail. I was surprised at the beautiful gold color, I've never seen one so yellow. I've caught two fish just a tad smaller than this one, and dad has caught about 4 a little smaller than this one from this reservoir over the past 8 years. We maybe harvest about 1-2 fish out of the reservoir each year (my father-in-law likes them for breakfast), but mostly it is just catch and release. This fish is the limit this year. I'm looking forward to cedar planked grilled trout tonight with some bacon, lemon, dill, and garlic!

[Cal E. Batis]

That is a beautiful fish. One to be proud of.

Cal E. Batis

[Flyfish4troutguy]

As they say in baseball throw it back. Why keep such a big fish.

[Cold]

...if its going to be enjoyed on a plate, theres no shame in keeping a beaut like that. Nice catch, and good fish management, man.

[CM_Stewart]

Flyfish, I'm surprised you would say that. It's private water on private land. They take one or two fish PER YEAR. It is pretty obvious that the reservoir can stand the pressure.

[Night Angler]

Id rather see a fish like that on a plate any day....
then to know someone caught it.. mis-handled it and released it dead to the bottom...

A fish like that could feed the family..

I myself... Will take 1 or 2 of those a year....

1 (22-23in) trout= dinner for family of 5 + tators!!!

C & R is always a great thing.... But family does come first!!


Edit***

Oh Yeah...
Nice fish!!!!

[Flyfish4troutguy]

Im just saying he said he caught 5 smaller ones than that. Why not keep those guys the bigguns are the ones that make things happen.

Just my 2 cents.

Mike

[ranchwife]

Dad has kept about 5 fish total out of that reservoir over 8 years - not 5 yesterday. The one he kept was the only one he caught yesterday, and the one and only time he will fish the reservoir till next spring because he met his quota for the year. This trout was a male, had it been a female, dad would have released her for breeding.

Please, if you can't be happy for him, and struggle with him keeping the fish, please don't respond. We will eat the entire fish tonight - it will not go to waste. I simply wanted to share with you all a beautiful fish that a fellow fly fisherman caught.

[Flyfish4troutguy]

Didnt say I was not happy at all.

[Rawthumb]

I'm confused how the trout got there.

You stated that they were not stocked. Did they swim in through the ditch from a stream?