Huge Seeforellen Browns Coming Soon!

The DEEP will begin stocking 400 broodstock seeforellen strain browns into lakes over the coming weeks. These 5 year old fish from the Kensington hatchery average 15 lbs each, but many exceed 20 lbs!
Go get em!!

Nice!

Cool!!!

There's a place not far from me that's been known to have some.

I'm not far from you either John and I have a boat ready to go if you'd like to give it a troll.

I'd love to hook into one of those beauties!

The Saugatuck Reservoir has some huge seeforellens in it. RobtV had a dying seeforellen brown wash up on shore while he was walleye fishing at the reservoir that was 35 inches long but somewhat thin. He thought it would weigh about 15lbs. I have seen huge fish chasing herring out in the deep water a few casts out during the spring.
Throwing a heavy spoon like a silver Krokodile might give a shore fishermen some distance and action.

It almost doesnt seem fair that the state is stocking record fish.. sorta takes away from the records that are from holdover/wild fish...

Good point. I know they must be fun to catch but its like raising a 9 pound LMB in a farm pond and releasing him into a pond or small lake, harder to find Im sure but still not natural. I am sure there are arguments both ways. I have never really been a fan of the put and take trout/salmon program. Just my .02

yeah as I get older I feel the same way, if only theyd stock more walleye and maybe musky in place of the trout.. then we'd have a real fishery

Or if candlewood was 3 times as deep and had a big river running into it... I can see it now with the steelhead and browns running the river..

I agree with the both of you. A record fish should not be "home grown".

These are natives...

I agree that the state record anything should not be pen, tank or farm raised, but this is CT.
There are places where a fish could grow, (Or already exists), to this caliber, CWood,Squantz, Twin, Saugatuck, Salltonstall, Colebrook...however, most likely one of these breeders will become the next state record.

As far as a non-breeder state record brown my first choice to fish for one would be Wono (lakeville). I have heard of too many reports of monster browns following someone's spinner bait. Since herring are banned, I would drift large silver fallfish caught from some of our smaller brooks.
Second place, only because you can't put a boat on it, is the Saugatuck Reservoir. I have been on two electro-shocking trips there for walleye and the size of some of the fish that come up are scary.
Third place would be an outlier like Lilli where browns come in from stocked brooks. The dam area is a 100' deep and there is now a bubble system down there to improve water quality from what I have been told. Maybe Zoar too. Lake Housatonic gave up a ten pound brown to an electro-shocking trip I was on and it was perfectly marked indicating it either had never seen a hatchery or was stocked long ago in a feeder brook like the 8 mile river as a small fish.
Fourth would be Saltonstall. Bob O. and I graphed huge fish down 80 feet in a 100 feet of water but never could get anything to bite.
Water quality is too poor for Candlewood, Squantz gets over fished, so next on my list is the other glacial lakes that hold over trout and have land-locked alewife herring. These would be East Twin, Ball Pond, maybe Highland and a few lakes in the Eastern District.
JMHO, I am sure there are other hot spots I missed.

^^^ agree with you 100% - I think the state should spend its money on establishing and managing self-sustaining fisheries, not offsetting people's grocery bills in exchange for fishing license fees.

As far as the record fish issue, the standing record brown is 18lbs 5oz from 2011 out of the Saugatuck Reservoir - what are the chances that it wasn't a breeder released at some point a few years back - pretty unlikely in my guestimation. It's not like it's been a standing record since the 50's or anything - so my guess is the record is already tainted by breeder stocking.

It would have been nice if the state tagged these fish and disqualified the record from falling to any stocked breeders, but if it wasn't done when they started throwing breeders in it's not going to matter now.

Dont even waste your time on these things, I got 3 on my lunch break, they all fight like boots, the only decent one that I actually enjoyed catching was a female which inhaled my bait, to the point where it broke off as I beached it because it was in the back of its throat... but the males are useless..

NEW STATE RECORD!

what did you expect from something that was raised in a tank?



now that ones that spend some time in the saugy...those guys fight like demons!

oh I knew it wouldnt be as fun as browns from NY or even holdovers from the lake that these are from, just something to do.. as I'm typing this, theres a kid with his dad, kid snags one that is sitting near shore.. plops it on concrete at launch... takes pictures, and procedes to rope it...

if it fights like a boot, probably tastes like one too.

give them time,i caught a 14lber a few years ago in june,it had been in the lake for 6 months and fought like hell.anyone seen a list of lakes they were put in yet?

i ceetianly wish they'd stock some damn nine pound largemouths!!!!

I knew that would get your attention.

Yep, meeeeeeeeeeeeee tooooooooooooooooo!!

wow....... spot em ya gotem

This is bait for the bucket brigade.......

I believe they all have the adipose fin clipped. So they are marked to a degree.

Most photos I have seen of these seeforellen have shown a clipped adipose, but CTDEEP put up a photo on Facebook today showing one with a full adipose fin, so that's not full proof.

Bet some will be hooked through the ice, but I would think it difficult to fit a 20lb trout through an 8" hole.

Update:
Yesterday 50 jumbos in Black Pond Meriden/ Middlefield
Today 50 jumbos in Cedar Lake Chester ( Go PDona and family!)

hmmm - not two lakes I would first thought of as places they might thrive.

John is that really where they stock a hundred of these fish?

My Dad tried Cedar for 3 hours in his yak, throwing spoons , and trolling without any luck. He saw a 7 lber taken.
Anybody recognize him ?


I heard there was a bigger one taken later in the day, too.

at least its such a nice day to be out for them

Looked like a small armada on um late am today!!! Opening day all over again. Does anyone have a full time job anymore???

It pretty bad when you pull into a parking lot and you have to wait for someone to pull out so you can park and fish during the week. This is not for the trout.

mmm that looks soooooooo tasty.

the snaggers where out in full force at Highland and West Hill this week,they got to snag those big trout so they look like hero's to their friends on FB.

Lost all respect this week for someone I thought was a fellow angler until I found out he is just a wall mount hunting snagger who likes to tell everyone he is a Great Fisherman lol to figure out who it is just go to the CT DEEP FB page and look at his comments and all the pics he has put up of his "trophy" catches this week SCUMBAG !!!

SNAGGING EH? like up in pulaski "lifting", or actually out there with lures and the fish hit em?

people actually just snag these things like in pulaski? stinks.

and 50 in cedar lake?!?!?!

snagging ,like ripping trebles into their sides and calling it a "catch".Guess it's ok though cause the taxidermist can repair the damage lol

Trebles not allowed in the Salmon River in Pulaski ,so no,not like Pulaski lol

I saw that guy at highland snagging away the first day they put them in, disgusting to say the least.

These truck chasers are just sad, they can't even give the fish time for their air bladders to adjust. I have no respect for the guys catching and keeping these fish while they're still adjusting. No skill, no sportsmanship, just plain sad. LOSERSSSSSS

WOW! Saw the armada at Black Pond too yesterday.

Looked like someone was giving money away.


Hey, don't crack on everyone at Fishing CT fellas. They raised and gave me over $800 when my boat was stolen. I know of only 2 people at CTF that donated to us. Seems like pretty good guys to me.

There are too many a-holes already everywhere, don't be one yourself.

Words to live by.

I don't see anyone bashing CT Fishes or whatever the site is on this post,maybe I missed it.

I am only bashing on the un sportsman snaggers and braggers.

You might be on to something there Pete. Only thing is, I'm restricted to Saturdays & I bet THIS Saturday the armada will out in full force!

Here are some facts from DEEP:

Seeforellen FAQ:
By now you may have heard about the unprecedented stocking of 400 surplus broodstock Seeforellen Brown Trout. Trout this size have not been stocked in CT in recent memory. We are extremely proud to offer these very unique and valuable fish to our angling community. Our hope is that anglers get out and take advantage of this incredible opportunity. For the lucky few who may happen to catch one, they have the potential to harvest and possibly mount them as an “once-in-a-lifetime” catch!! These fish are being stocked as a put-and-take fishery.

Why stock fish of this size?
These very large fish are 5 years old and are not routinely kept as broodstock for this long. Normally, these fish would be stocked at age 2 or age 3, however, due to an issue with a disease several years ago, the hatchery staff needed to retain a large number of the disease –free fish to restart the strain. Now several years later they are much larger than we need or can handle. At this size, they are too large to be kept at the hatchery and are past their prime (their productivity is decreasing). In order to make room for the younger, more productive broodstock, we decided to make the most of these fish by giving a once and a lifetime opportunity to our angling community.

Why Lakes?
Lakes were chosen as they offer the maximum potential for these fish to be caught. Specifically, the fish are readily accessible via shoreline, boat, and ultimately ice. Second, the fish will remain available to anglers as they are unlikely to move out of the lake (rivers offer greater chance for the fish to move to places where anglers could not access), and finally, those which do holdover through the winter will provide enhanced fishing well into the spring of 2015.

Will there be impact to the existing fisheries?
No, these fish should have no significant effect the forage fish in any of the lakes where they were stocked. They are extremely large hatchery fish and basically “past their prime”. This means they will not be feeding extensively in order to grow…i.e. they’ve already “grown” as large as we ever expect them to get. Additionally, because they have been hatchery raised for 4-5 years they will have large fat reserves. That coupled with the upcoming cold water temperature means they probably won’t be aggressively feeding until sometime next year.

Will these fish reproduce?
No, the majority of these fish were not stocked until after they were spawned at the hatchery or were barren (not producing egg or sperm this year). We do not anticipate these fish to live for another 2+ years due to the fact that they are reaching the end of their natural life cycle. They will not be able to spawn within the lake. In order to spawn, they need clean gravel in a stream or river with significant ground water input.

What do I do if I catch one?
Celebrate! These are truly a once and a lifetime fish. Other than surplus broodstock Atlantic Salmon, the DEEP has not been able to stock fish of this caliber. Our hatchery staff has been providing excellent care, raising these fish from the day they hatched, back in 2009. Collectively this group of fish has produced millions of brown trout used to augment our adult trout stocking and fry stocking efforts statewide.

If you decide to harvest: Please be aware of the regulation for the waterbody you are fishing. We strongly encourage anglers to take only the fish they intend to use. We hope that as many anglers as possible will be able to take advantage of this opportunity.
If you decide to practice catch and release: These fish are very large and if being released, need to be treated with utmost care to ensure they survive. We recommend being prepared, have your camera or phone handy, support the fish from the tail and the belly. Take photos as quickly as possible and return the fish to the water as soon as possible (preferable within 30 seconds).

Not sure how this ties into this thread. Was there a crowd funding for a stolen boat? Must have missed it. Anyway , my woodstove was stolen out of my barn while I was on vacation, so pony up suckers. Merry Xmas

who is Rick swanson???

that guy is like the seeforellen master of the frucking world!

I thought his name was Ron Swanson, and I have always found him a very likable fellow!!!!

That loser Rick got kicked out of east twin apparently after mentioning he was planning on snagging the trout they just stocked. Glad they caught him.

they stocked east twin?

I just read that they stocked there.

http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/ub...ROU#Post1611358

I think it's pretty cool the state dropped these big fish in a few spots across the state. If I still had young children , I would take them and see if THEY can hook into one. Great way to get some new young blood addicted to the great sport of fishing and the outdoors.

thanks guys!

When I first started trout fishing a big trout was 12 to 18ins. Today it is 18 to 20 lbs. How thing have changed in 65 yrs. For the fellow that wants his son to catch one it would be the biggest trout he will ever catch and he will have nothing to look forward too.

One of my employees caught a beast the other day. 17 lb brown on a little swedish pimple. He said she was letting eggs go like crazy, so he let her go. (I thought it was odd that she still had eggs). The picture is amazing. He also had caught 30-40 other trout in the same area.

Homepage:
http://www.ctfisherman.com/

Woohoo!!! Thanks Mitch!!

Way to go buddy!