fall colors

[shorefisherman]

got this guy over this past wknd, just half inch shy of legal size. i tried to take nice underwater pics like gil does , but man it aint easy.
now everyone knows the legal size of brown is 24" , what u think about raising the trophy size to 30" from 26" ?

 

[Rowdy]

Pretty fish

 

[easy45]

nice

 

[Tree Tramp]

Awesome.

 

[JoninTN]

Nice catch! Those leaves hitting the water put them browns in the mood for love!

 

[shorefisherman]

Nice catch! Those leaves hitting the water put them browns in the mood for love!

word !

 

[redcorn]

the trophy length doesn't need to go any higher. The majority of people wont catch any that big anyway, and the serious trophy fisherman who do catch them, usually don't keep many.

The only people who are catchin a lot of big browns are the ones fishing with shad.

If you were talking about your own personal definition of trophy length, then that is up to you; I think a 24 inch brown is a trophy.

 

[B.D.]

I think the trophy size brown cutoff at 26" is just about right. However, since the Caney is now intended to be a "trophy fishery," I wouldn't mind seeing the legal size limit being raised to match that "trophy" 26" mark.

bd

 

[LA man]

good pics

 

[Anonymous]

Here are a couple that we are getting up this way as of late.. 10 pounder and 14 pounder..

 

[mathews338]

cool!

 

[gil1]

Good job, Shore, and great feeshy!
Great seeing you on the river last weekend.
It was pretty slow for us. Here's a decent rainbow I caught and another of my buddy hooking up.

 

[shorefisherman]

it was good seein u again gil. looks like u did better than me, i got skunked that day. i was trying somthing different and timed the flow all wrong

 

[shorefisherman]

the trophy length doesn't need to go any higher. The majority of people wont catch any that big anyway, and the serious trophy fisherman who do catch them, usually don't keep many.

The only people who are catchin a lot of big browns are the ones fishing with shad.

If you were talking about your own personal definition of trophy length, then that is up to you; I think a 24 inch brown is a trophy.

well, in a fishery where legal size limit is 24" , i just dont see 2" above the legal limit would be considered a trophy imo. youll be suprised how many 30"+ browns are here in tn. but i know what u mean....iguess they aint targeting bigger fish

 

[B.D.]

well, in a fishery where legal size limit is 24" , i just dont see 2" above the legal limit would be considered a trophy imo.

Except that the legal size limit is specifically intended to create a "trophy fishery" where only fish near "trophy size" may be harvested.

youll be suprised how many 30"+ browns are here in tn.

You'd probably be equally surprised at the number of largemouth over 22" and smallmouth over 20" too (using the TARP program measurements for reference). That doesn't mean it's an everyday occurrence to catch them though. They still represent a relatively small slice of the overall population.

bd

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Good pics! A trophy is in the eyes of the beholder.

 

[shorefisherman]

Good pics! A trophy is in the eyes of the beholder.

true that HH !

 

[shorefisherman]

You'd probably be equally surprised at the number of largemouth over 22" and smallmouth over 20" too (using the TARP program measurements for reference). That doesn't mean it's an everyday occurrence to catch them though. They still represent a relatively small slice of the overall population.
bd

thats true, if they were easy to catch id loose interest. thats why i fish/hunt for it. caney has the abundant forage and habitat to grow big browns relatively fast, i say with the new limits caney will be a trophy fishery next fall !

 

[B.D.]

I'm just hoping and praying for a relatively dry winter and spring this year and next so we can really see what the river is capable of doing with the new limits in place. The weather trends seem to be pointing more toward another wet one, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I'd kinda like to see them run their generation pulse in the afternoon too, now that mid-day heat isn't an issue. It would sure make it easier to time a productive float.

bd

 

[shorefisherman]

not i , i hope it rains. but this winter its lookin like a dry mild winter.........i was out today and saw the funniest things.... saw a 18"ish brown with a hoola hoop ring stuck around its belly and a 14"ish brown swimming in sync with school of shad.. ive seen more doin this, and they would be the the smart ones ...

 

[B.D.]

If you look at the long-term history of the river, you'll see that growth rates are better and you get more fish moving into the large size classes in dry years.

Not sure what you mean by a ring stuck around the fish's belly - you mean like the fish picked up a piece of plastic trash? If so, that's pretty awful.

It's not unusual at all to see smaller trout integrate themselves into the schools of shad. I see it all the time - rainbows and browns alike. The shad dislodge sowbugs, blackfly larvae, and other benthic inverebrates as they forage, and the trout are there to eat them. I doubt this was predatory behavior toward the shad - at 14", even the browns are eating a lot of bugs rather than baitfish, and gizzard shad certainly aren't on the menu yet. From what I've seen, brown trout seem to be somewhere around 16" when they go through the profound behavioral changes that make them start acting a lot different than rainbows as they move on a track toward a piscivorous diet. Two inches doesn't sound like much, but a 14" brown and a 16" brown are very different fish.

A 6 lb. brown will track a shad school around not much differently than a striper will - and not much different than a lion hanging off the edge of an antelope herd. But when they get to that size you certainly don't see the prey species letting the predator fish hang out and swim in sync with the school any more.

bd

 

[JohnnyBond]

 

[shorefisherman]

i meant that fish had gone thru some ol ladys back in the 80 s hoola hoop ear ring , dont get me wrong the 80s were my favorite times...

but to see a 14" trout swimming along with a school of 5-7" shad in snc is funny.... u have to see it, it didnt look like it was eatin...but it was flowing with the flow .....now i dont dought tha they eat whatever the shad stirs up, but u know... a boat passing by does a better job

 

[Tubakka]

You wanna talk about a joke of a "trophy mark" in this state? 40" MUSKY! I oughtta mail in for 45 of those things this year...the only true trophy musky mark is 50". Period.

 

[DOC1187]

sweet