Originally Posted By: canyoncreek
Wb.jr, why is char reproduction an issue? You now (with the possibility of no winter kill) can have your pick of predators that you could stock that would eat the Char fry and young ones could you not? Say a few NP, pickerel, musky, or even walleye?


Recent article in the PB magazine got me thinking about setting measurable goals.

I could be wrong, but here is my line of thinking. Trophy Brookies is my goal. Char would be cool and nice to have the variety as far as eating them goes, but I don't really care about them. I LOVE brook trout and an 8-10lb'er is my ultimate goal. Secondary goal is lots of fresh fish to feed the family. 3rd-ary goal would be large/trophy tiger trout or splake.

IMHO, it seems the most sure fire way to grow trophy brookies is to have 100% control over any brook trout predators, hence the sterile tiger trout or splake. Tiger Musky is another possible option and also sterile, but I think they get so big they could eventually eat bigger brookies than what I would want removed. I don't want to have a guessing game going on with any other possible predators that could be reproducing especially if they don't taste good smile. Reproducing predators just seems like a big possible complication and not worth the risk.

If I am going to have to stay on top of harvesting and want to be eating fish, I only want to be harvesting the brookies. To me there is no better tasting fish!


Now I know TRUE trophy fishing might mean reduced catch rates and I am fine with that. We have plenty of other fishing options out there where the kids can catch all the fish they can handle.

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