Wild Browns

[sqerl]

I posted this on the njtrout.com site as well... This made missing the "underwater world of trout" video presentation at the pequest worth it! eat your heart out wendell!!
(time to make my camera waterproof so I can get those underwater shots as well!)

A wonderful sight befell me this weekend and I was fortunate enough to have my camcorder with me... This may not be as exciting as wild brook or rainbow trout, but imagine my surprise to come across wild brown trout! With stream temperatures in the upper 70's, a dozen small browns were hanging out in 2"-3" of water where a cool spring fed into the river. The trout were small 4"-6" and one of them sported a nice gash in its midsection from some animal attack. Since fall stocking hasn't happened yet and the nearest stocking point is 1-2 miles downstream, its assured these guys are wild. With any kind of luck, they'll all grow up to be nice and big. Before I got the camcorder, it was fun to watch these trout chase each other up and down the stream. By the time I got the camcorder and got back again, 6 were hanging out in from of the spring and I couldn't see the others. Here are some video stills from my 12 minute video of them.


enjoy!

[Caddis]

Next time just submerge the Camcorder! That's pretty cool though. I'm surprised fish are still around in such warm shallow water. But, it looks like they are all grouped up by that spring you mentioned. How do you know they're wild? Was it one of those streams that you have to hike for 1/2hr?

By the way, if you use the "IMG" tags, you can have the photos post right into the message. I took care of that for you.

Basically how to do it is right click on a photo and highlight the properties... Cut, then paste in between the "IMG" Tags...

"{IMG}PASTE PHOTO{/IMG}" replace {} with [].

[sqerl]

Next time just submerge the Camcorder!

Believe me, I'm working on that. I've got a couple of "projects" I'm working on... The first one is "waterproofing" my camcorder. Since I'm not going under with it, it also requires some sort of "remote viewing apperatus." I've done a little research and hopefully I'll have something before years end (that includes some time for procrastination)

I'm surprised fish are still around in such warm shallow water. But, it looks like they are all grouped up by that spring you mentioned.

I was surprised too. The water really is warm where they are. Only that spring is keeping the temperature tolerable. Hopefully we'll (they'll) get relief and soon. If the warm water doesn't kill them, then something will probably eat them being so close to shore and in such shallow water. However, they were very skittish which is good for their safety.

How do you know they're wild?

well, I'm not sure how else to classify them.
Here's what I do know:
The closest stocking point is 1 maybe 2 miles downstream, but they don't stock 4" trout. If they did stock 4" trout during the spring stocking season, they would be a lot bigger than 4 inches by now. Also, I've only seen stocked trout huddle together like what I saw, but these (in my opinion) cannot be stocked...
Maybe their parents were stockies, but thats a different story.

Was it one of those streams that you have to hike for 1/2hr?

Only if you decided to walk instead of drive from my house

By the way, if you use the "IMG" tags...(snip)

Yea, I know... sometimes people with dial-up connections perfer to have links instead of having to wait for the pictures to load. But the img tags are fine with me... Thanks!!