Fall Fishing For Browns & Brook Trout;

[Ard]

I've been absent for a while but thought this short piece could be worth while to some folks

Here's another bit of memory & experience that I wrote when ask about how to know if you're about to walk into a red. Of course I got into a little more depth than I had planned. At any rate I tried to answer with enough detail to provide a young fellow new to trout fishing a little more knowledge than he had when he joined ask the question. I'm no fisheries biologist that's for sure but if you've been hanging around this pastime as long as I have you figure a few things out, so here's what I had to say about Redds and fishing around spawning brown trout. If you already know all this, no offense meant to your knowledge level but if you don't then it's worth while repeating.

Spawning Brown Trout and Fall Fishing.......

More often than not the fish will set up camp at the tail water of a decent run or pool and or at the very head where there are good current speeds and the right size gravel for the nest to be built. Generally the gravel covering these areas will be of uniform coloration due to sediment - algae - UV radiation or a host of other causes. When the female trout begins clearing the gravel and excavating a shallow depression all of this gravel gets rearranged and this digging and flogging the trout does causes the gravel to appear a different color than the surrounding substrate.

Once this nest building has commenced the female is also releasing pheromones (I believe) into the currents that signal her readiness to engage in procreation. This scent as well as the act of clearing out a 'redd' area signals male fish to converge on the nest site. Within a bunch of male trout there will be various age and size groups present. Unfortunately once they congregate they are easy for an angler to spot and if so disposed to fish at them.

Human nature being what it is (in many cases) the anglers will target the largest of the male suitors and in some cases injure the largest and presumably the dominate of the males. This dominate male is the fish most desirable for the act of fertilizing the eggs in order for the transfer of such genes as it may possess to be continued in the line.

Some believe there is no harm done by catching these male fish and then engaging in photography to document the occasion. I would differ with that train of thought based on many years of observation of fall fish such as Brown Trout - Brook Trout and Dolly Varden Char, in some cases the act of 'catching' the dominate male will allow for smaller 'subordinate' males to instantly take up his previous position at the hen's side. If the dominate male is sufficiently shocked and tired by the 'catching and various ceremonies' the angler has engaged in this will allow for a less desirable male to actually do the fertilization process. That is, if at that moment in time the hen is ready to disperse the eggs. They (the males) are constantly battling over this age old right to spawn, not unlike deer, turkey's and almost every member of the animal kingdom I could mention. The dominate male is kept busy pursuing the interlopers away from 'his' hen and they are under a high level of stress from this activity alone.

In the worst case scenario an angler will drift his nymph or streamer directly through the spawning bed and this can result in the hen attacking the intruder. That's what is happening in such a case, an attack made to protect the sanctity of the bed room. Years ago a member posted a photo of a rather large hen, it was the grip and grin variety of photo. What followed was a bit of a beat down from the veteran anglers. The 'beat down' occurred because the female brown trout in the picture was in fact spewing out its precious eggs while the fellow was hoisting it aloft for the memories.........

You are doing right to ask this question because there are some folks who have been around this long enough that they are non-pulsed by a late October / early November shot of a huge hook jawed brown taken on a small creek or shallow river.

What I can tell you in a positive light is that after the actual spawning is completed those males don't instantly run back to where ever they came from. They tend to slowly drop back down stream many times lingering just downstream of the beds where they gathered for the competition. I have found many of these fish as late as February still within a quarter mile of the prime spawning gravel beds. The fall spawn brings out fish seldom seen by the casual angler. Some travel great distances from down stream once the scent of ripe females is in the water. They come from their undercut banks, the eroded tree stump root systems, the huge flat rock at mid channel where they have lived their lives for years only to come out at night, this is why so many people cannot resist the siren song of the spawning beds. The one chance to catch a true bragging fish.

Do I begrudge a person the chance to catch that giant fish? The answer is how they say, complicated, if it was taken sight fishing at the very most vulnerable stage of its life I see no honest glory in that. If it is taken after the active spawning is finished and before they have officially returned to their lairs for another eleven months then I appreciate the perseverance and assumed knowledge applied by the fly fisherman.

And that's the short version

[Sheepdog8404]

Great read, Ard! Thanks for posting that. As much as I would love to go out and catch a giant hook-jawed monster, I'd rather let them do their business and add to the population in our local rivers. The last few years of drought have put such a dent in the populations of the rivers I fish most that we desperately need the resident browns to pass on their strongest genes and continue to provide us with a healthy, sustainable fishery for years to come!

[Odonata]

I agree. Great read, and I did not know much of this.

[Ard]

I agree. Great read, and I did not know much of this.

And so it would seem that posting wasn't a mistake

I don't want members to get the idea that I'm like Bullwinkle in the cartoons when he played 'Mister Know It All'. However, I know that many times people have googled some search words and the results include forums such as this. The topic came up when a new member on another forum ask how to know when fish were spawning and I just went and wrote that reply. It seemed useful; we sometimes take what we know personally as general knowledge, sometimes it is not.

I could have done better I guess but it's here now

[Rossflyguy]

These fish also have a pre spawn stage where they start to make their way up to the spawning sites. Staging in deep poles or slow tail outs. There’s no glory in racking redds for big fish but there’s no issues targeting pre spawn fish. I think you’ll kill more fish catching them right after the spawn when they’ve lost a lot of weight spent spawning and basically have little energy to give up a fight.