January 2023...
Once in a while I find myself revisiting old posts buried in this blog. I thought this one, even eight years later, still rings true.
Connecticut's current
state record brown trout was caught about two weeks before I originally wrote this and it was certified shortly after. It was 33-inches long and weighed 19-pounds, taken from West Hill Pond just
days after it was stocked from Kensington Hatchery. Not more than four months later, another beast,
likely even heavier, was caught on a spinnerbait in Highland Lake, but the bass angler released the trout without pursuing the record.
I am still in firm belief that CT DEEP should not have stocked fish of record size without creating a way to recognize them for what they are. I would have liked these fish tagged or fin-clipped and, if and when they were caught and broke the record, placed in a subcategory under the state record brown trout listing.
It is highly doubtful any of those 400 monster seeforellens from the
December 2014 stocking are still roaming today. Unless CT DEEP stocks more record-size brown trout, the next one to break the current Connecticut record will have to surpass 19-pounds by having spent some real time in a lake, feeding on something other than hatchery pellets. I hope I live long enough to see that day happen...
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January 2015...
Up until a few weeks ago, “seeforellen” was a rather
unfamiliar term in Connecticut, spoken only within pockets of ardent trout
anglers and inland fisheries staff. Now, after a series of recent trout
stockings and a little public relations, it has become a household name
overnight, one that even carries a bit of controversy along with it.
In the month of December,
CT DEEP stocked over 400 surplus
broodstock seeforellen brown trout in eight lakes throughout the Nutmeg State.
These five-year-old fish were born and raised in Kensington Hatchery and
averaged 15-pounds, with some well over the mind-boggling 20-pound
mark. This created an unprecedented and incredible opportunity for Connecticut
anglers, but it also sparked much debate due to the fact that several brown
trout surpassing the current state record were released.
Reared in our hatchery system since 1992, seeforellens have
a storied history in Connecticut. In a recent
radio interview,
Tim Barry, the supervising cold water fisheries biologist for CT DEEP, shed a
little light on why these fish are so unique. “We are the only state in New
England to have this strain of brown trout,” Barry said. “It’s originally a
lake-dwelling strain that comes from Germany, and it’s known to be a
late-maturing fish and because of that fact they tend to grow very large and
live quite a long time, usually longer and bigger than most other strains of
brown trout. We use them in a variety of different applications, but primarily
in our lakes to try and promote holdover brown trout and bigger brown trout.”
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| One of the over 400 recently stocked broodstock seeforellen (photo courtesy of CT DEEP) |
Since the early 90’s, countless seeforellens have been
stocked in Connecticut waters in all different sizes from fry to adults, but releasing
broodstock
this large is not common protocol. According to a CT DEEP
FAQ,
“normally, these fish would be stocked at age two or age three, however, due to
an issue with a disease several years ago, the hatchery staff needed to retain
a large number of the disease–free fish to restart the strain. Now several
years later they are much larger than we need or can handle. At this size, they
are too large to be kept at the hatchery and are past their prime (their
productivity is decreasing). In order to make room for the younger, more
productive broodstock, we decided to make the most of these fish by giving a
once in a lifetime opportunity to our angling community.”
Before I go any further, let me be clear in stating that I commend CT DEEP for providing
us with yet another unique and entertaining angling opportunity. I’d be lying
if I said it wouldn’t be a blast hooking into one of these things, especially on
a jigging rod through the ice. And if a youngster connects with a 15-pound
anything, let alone a beautiful brown trout, forget about it, they will be hooked
for life. However, hindsight is 20/20 and I think a few things could have been
done differently in this whole process.
First, I believe the
real-time promotion of the stockings
via social media was a mistake. This allowed anglers to be at the precise
stocking sites literally within minutes after the seeforellens were released. I
get it; these fish were meant to be caught—it’s great publicity, especially in
a day and age with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But with trout still milling
around at the boat launches, there were cases of anglers throwing rocks to
break ice to get at them and, much worse, there were multiple reports of unsportsmanlike
snagging. Holding back on sharing the stocking locations by a few weeks could have
allowed the trout to acclimate to their new surroundings a little. And though
time consuming, stocking by boat several hundred feet from the launch would
have given the seeforellens more of a fighting chance.
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| Another example of a recently stocked seeforellen (photo courtesy of CT DEEP) |
It didn't come as much of a surprise when a photo recently popped up
on Facebook of an angler hoisting a 19-pound seef just a matter of days after the initial stockings. It's most likely the first of a handful of "pending state record" brown trout we'll hear about in the coming months. While not everyone cares
about angling records, for those that do, therein lies the hot button issue
with all of this. In June 2011, Tony Urbanowicz broke a 31-year-old
Connecticut brown trout record with an 18-pound five-ounce behemoth from
the Saugatuck Reservoir. Yes, it too was a hatchery fish, most Connecticut
trout are, but his seeforellen was stocked when it was six to nine-inches and survived
years in the wild before eventually reaching its massive 32.5-inch length and 21-inch
girth.
Maybe I was naïve in thinking Tony’s record brown trout was
going to stand for a long time, especially since the previous record of
16-pounds 14-ounces from East Twin Lake lasted for over three decades. With the
exception of a few deep lakes, Connecticut currently doesn’t boast many places
that could produce a holdover trout of that caliber. And most of the bodies of
water that can have certain restrictions (read: no boat fishing, no ice fishing
or both) that make the feat even harder to accomplish.
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| Tony Urbaowicz with the current state record brown trout caught in 2011 (photo courtesy of Fisherman's World) |
Regardless of what happens, I’m in the camp that’s not too keen on seeing a
new state record that was stocked at record size. Perhaps any seeforellens stocked
larger than the current state record should have been marked in a certain way,
like with an elastomer tag or a tail clip, to denote as much. Maybe there could
be a separate category for them in the records section of the Angler’s Guide or
maybe there should be a steroid-era asterisk next to the new record like plenty
of anglers have joked about.
However things shake out, the amount of buzz that has been
created surrounding these giant trout is admirable. I believe the surplus broodstock seeforellen have provided a very cool recreational fishing opportunity, particularly
for the next generation of Connecticut anglers. And while I may disagree with
the stocking of state record-sized fish, the bottom line is that CT DEEP
deserves to be applauded for the incredible overall job they do managing our
freshwater fisheries, especially considering their limited staff and resources—the
seeforellen program is another fine example of that.
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