Trinity River Browns

[pvsprme]

No secret the Trinity has resident browns, and some bigees. I've heard there are/used to/maybe be sea runs as well. A fellow I met 2 weeks ago and appeared to know his stuff said many were killed off in the 1980's when some idiot put a "no limit" on them as it was believed they were eating too many smolts. Without getting into that subject, does anyone have experience with sea run browns on the T? I've heard yes, there are; yes, but....... no definitive information. I've seen spawning B's in November that could be resident or sea run as they were in the traditional brown regalia. If they were sea runs, they'd obviously resort to spawning drab, just as steelhead will. These pups were 5-8 lbs, and healthy! Not trying to get anyone's secret, PM me if you like, just think it's unusual that if they are there, it'd be the only fishery of it's type on the west coast, no?

[Langenbeck]

Call Herb Burton to get all the facts on the browns in the Trinity. He has lived, guided and fished on the Trinity for about 30 years. Far and away your best source for factual information.

[ycflyfisher]

Sea-run browns on the Trinity are largely an angler created myth. There's nothing to indicate that the brown trout population on the T are using anadromy as a survival strategy to any observable let alone fishable degree. You've got to go back nearly two decades to find a single brown moving over the Willow Creek weir, yet every year several hundred move over the JC weir. All the known anadromous fish in the T basin (i.e. chinooks, cohos, steelhead) always all have lower counts over the JC than the WC weir. Rarely if ever do you hear of browns caught in the lower Klamath. They simply don't demonstrate a upstream migratory pattern that originates from the salt.

On the flipside, there's lots to indicate the population is residual/resident in nature, namely that they get caught and are observed year round in the upper river in snorkel surveys. As mentioned, it isn't a secret and Herb and his staff target those fish in the offseason. A 5-6 pounder is definitely a decent fish for the T, but aren't really approaching upper size distribution for the T. The browns on the T have a very fast growth curve after they reach a size where they're able to exploit the YOY and hatchery smolts.

The concensus is that the brown trout population on the T is very migratory but not anadromous. Generally following an upstream migration in the fall and following the YOY downstream in the spring.

The brown trout population experienced a big uptrend in this decade hence the recent limit increase on browns.

Browns were initially introduced into the K-T basin at a decades defunct hatchery that operated in Willow Creek and for years were reared at the current Lewiston facility.

There may well have been a time when a more significant portion of the brown population was utilizing an anadromous survival strategy but it most certainly wasn't as recent as the 1980's.

I don't recall a limit increase on browns in the 1980's but it very well could have happened since I didn't start fishing the T in the summer until late in that decade. There's no doubt the browns do have a significant impact on the downmigrating smolts.

[pvsprme]

Thank you YC; Good information. Could you please define YOY?

[shawn kempkes]

Thank you YC; Good information. Could you please define YOY?

young of year

[jbird]

Intersting discussion. The browns in the T have a similar history as the cutthroat in the rogue. The upper rogue has a good population of potamodromous cutts that anglers often mistake as anadromous fish. There are studies of populations of these fish in the rogue even below the lowest barrier where they have direct access to the sea. They are a fairly misunderstood fish but a wonderful by-catch.

[SHigSpeed]

potamodromous

Another great word to add to my vocabulary! Gotta learn Greek so I don't have to run to Wiki every time...

I have vague memories of having caught a brown in the AR way back in the day. Any more in there?

_SHig

[robdog]

I do remember a couple of years ago when fishing on the Trinity, all of the locals (including DFG) were encouraging anglers to keep up to 5 browns. The reasoning behind this was to help the survival of the anadromous fish in the Trinity.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I have only heard of a few reports of Browns on the Lower American (in 40 years).

Have not heard of too many on the Lower Yuba either.

Have heard and seen Browns on the Trinity for years. I think there were more 30 years ago.

As far as Searun Browns I don't know for sure if we have any on the west coast?

Retired CA DF&Ger Dennis Lee would know.......

[David Lee]

I have only heard of a few reports of Browns on the Lower American (in 40 years).

Have not heard of too many on the Lower Yuba either.

Have heard and seen Browns on the Trinity for years. I think there were more 30 years ago.

As far as Searun Browns I don't know for sure if we have any on the west coast?

Retired CA DF&Ger Dennis Lee would know.......

Sea-run Browns are found in the Cowichan (dang , hope I spelled that one right) up in B.C. , and a very few are in the Trinity , according to a study I read back in the early 80's . The Trinity was well-known for big (8 to over 15 Lb.) Browns in the second half of the 60's thru around 1975 ?? because of DFG stocking .

Most of the ones I saw were in monthly fishing newspapers back in the early 70's , the largest was a bit over 16 Lbs. , they got to that size by munching Salmon Smolts like there was no tomorrow . Stocking stopped , and most were fished-out by the late 70's .

I also saw a photo of the record Brown out of Clair Engle (Trinity lake) that was 26 ???? Lbs. . Don't know if they're in the lake anymore ....

Strange .... the things you remember from childhood .

David

[JT]

I landed a brown in the Lower American about a month ago. At first I thought it was a squawfish because of the color. It was just shy of 20" long.

[BigOkieWhiteBoy916]

I landed a brown in the Lower American about a month ago. At first I thought it was a squawfish because of the color. It was just shy of 20" long.

You're so full of it! lol j/k

[Fats]

Last winter I picked up a pair of browns on the Trinity on a steelhead trip. They would have been nice fish on my trout rigs... the steelhead rod made short work of them.

No monsters...

[Tony Buzolich]

A few years back I was returning from a day on the river and passed through the town of Lewiston. As I crossed over the bridge in town I saw several fish rising and thought I'd give it a few more casts before heading back to Redding. I parked almost under the bridge in a very public area and made only a couple of casts before hooking up. Several people came down to watch the show as I played the fish in. As I was fishing steelhead all day I was expecting steelhead again. This fish was in the 3-4 pound range, bright silver like all of the other fresh steelhead, but this one had the classic red spots with halo on both sides.

Right away a couple of people said "that's a sea-run brown". I quickly took a few pictures and turned her loose.

Now, if I can just find those old pre-digital pics I'll show you what I caught.

TONY

[BigOkieWhiteBoy916]

I picked up a few nice Browns around Junction City last week. Definitely not sea run though

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6383/pb040240s.jpg

[TomV]

I caught several nice Browns on the Trinity last year, but this one had much different coloring, a silver tone and a more streamlined shape. I was thinking it could be a sea run brown?

[TaylerW]

big fish man. id love to get into that

[pvsprme]

I caught several nice Browns on the Trinity last year, but this one had much different coloring, a silver tone and a more streamlined shape. I was thinking it could be a sea run brown?
That's what I'm talking about. Just got back from a week up there and no browns, but I did talk at length with Kit, Herb Burton's guide. He agrees with the potadromous description and also thinks there are a few truly anadromous fish, less than in the 70's and 80's, but still a population. What drove my question initially is an experience up by Lewiston in mid-October; to be brief, I was upstream nymphing (no bobber, thank you) a piece of classic brown water and hooked a toad. I had about 30 feet of slack in my off hand and initially thought I'd hooked the bottom. Moving upstream to get a different angle on the obstruction, it started shaking its head and then moved downstream. I'd slipped out all but a few feet of the slack line and almost had him on the reel when he surfaced and rolled; definite Brown but with a silvery tint. I got so excited I pinched down with my rod hand index finger that I was slipping the line with and it popped 2X like it were 5 or 6X. The fished rolled 3X in front of my wife who was about 100' downstream and she got a good look at it. She confirmed the siver sheen and said it was bigger than most of the beat-up spawning salmon in the river. I'd guess it at 12-15 lbs. easy.
Such are dreams made of.