Those are some great looking trout Cecil, how old were they?
The browns I got in the spring of 07 at six to eight inches at a year + old. So they are now 3 years old. The brooks I got in the fall of 06 at the same size but they were stunted due to cold water (hatchery ground water near Lake Superior is only 45 degrees year around) and they were 2 years old. So they are now 4 years old.
Both fish come from northern Wisconsin sources (Original brook broodstock Lake Nipigon, Ontario Canada) where the water is colder than mine. When they get into my water which runs in the low sixties in the summer they explode in growth.
I will be getting an Eastern X Lake Nipigon cross in the future from Michigan that are not stunted. I should be able to grow larger brook trout. The brook trout seem to start dying off at about 4 years of age and my thinking is if they are larger at 2 years of age they will be larger at 4 years of age.
Even though the brooks were stunted I have grown out 5 pounders in two years after they were planted at six to eight inch 2 years olds and once even got to 6 lbs. 4 oz. However this was when there were only brooks in the pond vs the mix of browns and brooks. Browns are more aggressive and stress brook trout especially if the brook trout are smaller.
Brooks age 2 -- six to eight inches
Brooks age 3 -- 12 to 14 inches
(average -- some bigger some smaller)
Brooks age 4 -- 16 to 18 inches
(average -- some bigger some smaller)
Browns age 1 -- 6 to 8 inches
Browns age 2 -- 13 to 16 inches
Browns age 3 -- 18 to 21 inches I tried the bacteria once and I'm skeptical. Bill Cody did a study on bacteria which he presented at the Pond Boss convention, and didn't see any results. He had more luck raking the bottom of a section of a pond and exposing it to oxygen.
