Stocker Gone Wild!?!

[NorthJerzyG]

Took my pops out to do some trout fishing on Saturday for Father's day since I had to work Sunday. Hit the water around 7:30 and soon after I hooked into a decent fish. Hit hard and fought well with some acrobatics. Once I got em in I noticed it was a pretty unusual looking brownie. Front end looked wild, back end was very bland, and it had some real nices blue hues coming in. Thought it was a tiger for a minute but I'm thinking maybe it's just a stocker gone wild? Either way, it was my catch of the day!!

Unfortunately the day wasn't action packed. Once the sun was up over the water the trout seemed to lay low but the smallies turned on. Dad got got a few river smallies and I got the one trout and one decent smallies. Eh, wasn't great fishing but we still had a great day. Stopped for lunch on the way home and I bought him a pint........ Or, a few. :D

[icebadger]

well done lads.. a great day with your dad on the river priceless. that brown trout is interesting never seen a trout with that color pattern before you are probably correct on the assumption of it going wild it might have something to do with what it is eating and genetics.

[FASTEDDIE29]

Looks like a club fish that’s been in the river for a little bit possibly. Still a good fish in my opinion! :D

[kcritch]

Now that's how to treat your dad on Fathers day! Very nicely Done! Cool trout too. I don't know how you catch them on those Rapalas though. Been throwin those things for a few years now and never got a damn thing on them...same exact color and size both floating and count down as you have in your picture. Must be the waters i'm fishin as it can't possibly be my fault. :D

[thmyorke1]

Beautiful fish, man. Good thing smallmouth exist, they fill in the gap when conditions arent right for trout :D

Now that's how to treat your dad on Fathers day! Very nicely Done! Cool trout too. I don't know how you catch them on those Rapalas though. Been throwin those things for a few years now and never got a damn thing on them...same exact color and size both floating and count down as you have in your picture. Must be the waters i'm fishin as it can't possibly be my fault. :D

Very slow retrievals, sometimes just laying it in fast water while you hold it upstream, not touching the reel, have worked for me along the raritan and its branches.

[NorthJerzyG]

+1 All about the technique.

Sometimes I like floaters better in fast shallow or slower water. What I like best is the option to cast or not. If it's tight, j can just flip it out and let it float down while I feed it line. Once it's in the desired spot I flip the bail and start to retreive it. Sometimes I even catch em topwater on the "drift" downstream!!

For faster or deeper areas, I go with the CD to get down to the fish. Then I just experiment with different retrievals. Steady, erratic, fast, slow, stationary in the current. All work at times, but some better than others. Also, experiment with different sizes depending on the size of fish you are after........