How are you trapping them? The browns may be using a different habitat than the other species. I've seen lakes where the rainbows and brooks were bottom oriented and the browns suspended off the bottom. On the other hand I've seen lakes where the rainbows suspended and most of the browns were bottom oriented.
As far as catching them via hook and line vs. brooks and bows they can very hard to catch. When I harvest browns from my trout pond via hook and line there are always about 10 maybe 15 that can only be removed by draining the pond.
Cecil I use homemade cone traps but I usually trap near a fallen tree where the shiners hang out in about 5 ft. of water. Both RBT & BKT get trapped.
When I fish I use nightcrawler pieces on a bead and blade rig under a bobber to avoid snags, rainbows & brookies but no browns.
Maybe they are holding in some of the deep areas, but 8ft is max depth.
CJ recommended fishing a live shiner but I haven't got around to it.
