Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Brook Trout

Hello Everyone,

It's been a long while since I was last here. Sorry but it's been a crazy summer. Thanks very much to the likes of trout experts like Cecil and others we had a fantastic put and take experience of our firt year of RBT ending in a harvest party in the first week of June.

If I can ever figure out how to post pics I will. We stocked 35 and after two floaters after ice out and a few? lost to Bule Heron we took 28 and found one that had been missed that lost it's battle with warmer water in late June.

I had asked this last fall with little luck but I figure it can't hurt to try again. I would very much prefer to stock BT instead of the more readily available RBT but I have not been able to find a source in Ohio or a nearby state that will allow non-residents to purchase and transport. Anybody got any BT source they might be willing to share?

Have you tried Zetts in PA? I think they have them in their catalogue and haven't read about any restrictions on buying them. Good luck.

Hopefully Cecil will pipe in.

I believe you may have trouble bringing them in from any Great Lakes state. You may even have problems bringing them across state lines from non-Great Lakes states. Each state is different, but a call to your agriculture/aquaculture state extensive service people, or your fish and wildlife people, should give you quick answers -- and maybe some good leads on obtaining them. They are beautiful.

Thanks again everyone for your input. Catman I fear you must be right as the only sources near me in neighboring states all require state residencey to purchase any fish.

Last year Cecil explained that it was primerly due to the cost and difficulty in the health testing and certification required in order to export across state lines.

I just wish one of our three or four in Ohio offered BT but sadly only RBT. I had been told there used to be one in the NW corner of the state but after searching them out I have learned that they are no longer in business.

Castaline trout farm in Goshen, Virginia probably does the testing required of Ohio as does Crystal Springs Trout Farms in North Muskegon, Michigan. If you can haul yourself you willl need to apply for a permit after submitting the required health tests from those farms.

That said you may find the brook trout won't last a long as the rainbows. They're more sensitive to marginal conditions.

Waterbug,
The county north of me (Geauga) has some brook trout in their streams. They are protected by their county park system, but I have to wonder if they stock them at times. They might know where to get them, or could you possibly piggyback an order thru them. Just thoughts that might lead you somewhere,..... or nowhere.

Thanks Fish. ODNR covers the streams and rivers there. I have heard of two of thier hatcheries producing brookies but unfortunately they do not sell to the public. It's Steelhead season up North and it's been a few years since I have had the wadders on so I think I am going to pack the truck up and go fishing then swing over and checkout Crystal Springs as Cecil suggests. Good excuse to fishing either way.

Yeah getting fish from state and federal hatcheries is pretty much a dead end with very few exceptions.

Waterbug I woukd call John Nelski at Crystal Springs before you show up as he is a busy man and does his own hauling. He's easiest to get a hold of first thing in the morning. Phone number is: (231) 719-0335.

I bought 125 6 to 8 inch brook trout from him last November and they are now 15 to 16 inches. Should be 19 to 22 inches this time next year in the 4 to 6 pound range. Of course my 1/10th acre pond stays cool enough year around as it's fed by a well 24/7 7 months of the year.

Thanks. I will absolutely call before hand. If I go fishing then find John out and come home without any stock fish the SO is going to surely see my excuse about stock fish being just a show to go to the river. Not that I wouldn't do that if I had to but it's just not a very creative cover story....

Just remember to get your permits in line as you can't just pick them up. The good thing is they are not on the VHS list.

Cecil,
Do you think I should consider some Brown Trout with RBT instead of Brookies? Again this would be a 7-8 month put and take plan.

Roger that on the permits. Thanks again for everything. We really had a blast with last year's trout. What a fantastic way to pass the cold weather season by watching the pond continue to show so much life.

Browns may be harder to catch, but they are slightly more tolerant of poore water quality than RBT. (Temp/Oxygen)

Very true!

Personally one of the qualties i like about brown trout is that they are harder to carch. Too me a species that is easy to catch gets boring after a while.

Last weeks fishing report: MI Fishing Report

You can click on the link when your ready to head up. They update it every week. Fishing off the north pier in Grand Haven has been pretty poor. Public access on the Muskegon River in Bridgeton is all torn up due to a new park and boat launch being built. Should be pretty nice when it's done.

Let me know when you are heading up. I have a new Steelhead rig that hasn't been introduced to water yet.

I've never caught a Brown yet, and I've tried. They should be showing up in the river soon. I don't think we ever caught one during the charter years.

No signs of fish in the pond out back, not even the slightest nibble. Ever since it mysteriously filled up one weekend, seems like all the fish disappeared. A few day's later, all the aquatic vegetation was dead. A couple days before that, it was sea weed salad out there.

JKB. My years of MI fishing is on the opposite side of the state. We used to lease a place in Oscoda and the Ausable was my playground from late Sept. thru early Jan. Funny that you refer to the height of the river runs as the charter days. I often call them the same.

I am a fortune one in that about 12 maybe 14 years back, during those boom years I picked up a 10 pound 13 oz. river run brown in an area locally known as "high banks" about 5-6 miles inland. What an amazing creature. As luck would have it this area had some of the deeper, cleaner runs as anywhere on the river with some saddle holes going 15-18' or more. We played together for almost an hour before I waded in without waders to land him in waist high COLD water.

Those were the days when they regularly ran the hydro dams which kept the gravel beds clean. My last trip there three years back and after several years between was very disappointing. We floated the river from the dam to the mouth. We spotted only a hand full of two three groups of steelies and less and 1/3 of the beds had any exposed gravel. Without the gravel you don't get the salmon without the salmon you don't the predators. I miss that ol river every year about this time.

Prior to our leasing on the East side I did spend a couple years bouncing around on the West including Grand Haven, Ludwig, Muskeogn and parts North. I envey your close proximity to the grounds...

Damn. Raining here again in NW Ohio. I cannot get out and golf and I don't feel like sitting in the arm chair watching football. Days like this really make me miss the river days. Dozens of drift boat charters (we boated the river and had to play dodge the client boats but did not mind) 100's of people that would hike in through the national park to fish the banks. That town would just explode in population which was huge given the Honda and millitary base closing at the time. What a boom it was for 10-15 years. I feel bad as without that and poor snow for the trails those folks have only the brief summer time business to keep the bills paid now.

Used to fish the Thunder Bay River out of Alpena between studying for exams at the college there, which is of course north of Oscoda. We had our own trout hatchery at the school and some great music at the local bars on the weekends. That was back in the late 70's when salmonid fishing was really popping!

Our school was the first to stock kings into Lake Huron after hatching the eggs and growing out the fry. That was just before i got there though.

I'll never forget dropping a crawler in front of a monster brown's nose just below the Thunder Bay Dam. That fish absolutely refused to bite! It was obviously in spawning mode as i have found browns can get as lock jawed as salmon during that time.

Great story Cecil. Thank you. I know the area though I have not fished at the dam. You were no doubt around when the hatchery was in operation on the Ausable near the mouth. When I first started going up there it had already been closed but the concrete shoots where they used to release the young salmon and trout are still visible from the water. Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

I spoke with John up at Crystal Springs. Looks like I am going to have to throw a tank together this week as I think I am going to get some Brook Trout from him.

Thanks again everyone for you help.

Let us know how many you get and what size. Pictures would sure be nice!

Sounds like he's already set up for Ohio's requirements and has the permits to allow pick up.

Yep he is all set for sale to Ohio. Leaning towards 30 brookies and 20-30 rainbow. Also planning to feed 5D19 this year just to play with it. Local elevator found some and is getting it in for me. Should be fun winter.

How big of a transport tank would experts suggest I would need for 50 10" trout? I have good friend in the gas business and already have an O2 tank available and areator pump.

I was thinking of around 100 gallons but I really can't find much information on transport tank size. It will be about a four hour trip maybe a little more.

I may be wrong but I think 10 inch trout are about a pound or less so you are dealing with about 50 lbs of trout. That means about 1/2 pound per gallon at 100 gallons which would be O.K. for hauling as long as you have sufficient oxygen.

I would use both oxygen and an aerator pump. You should have a regulator and a flow meter but you can probably get away without a flow meter.

I would add about 0.67 oz. of non-iodized salt (available at the grocery store) per gallon of water, which comes out to about 4 lbs. of salt to 100 gallons of water.

Salt reduces osmotic stress, which can make the difference between all the fish alive and healthy and a stressed fish and a few dead ones. It really makes a difference.

You could reduce their consumption of oxygen by adding ice and thereby reducing the water temperature.