More Big Swift Browns, A Farmington Question, Brookies

"Finally! Amidst a crowd of 4 rainbows somehow he was the one to eat the soft hackle (P&O of course). Took a leap out of the water and started bulldogging for a log - thank God for trout hunter 4.5x 6.1 test" - Commentator Lenny on ANOTHER big Swift River Brown.

Another big Swift River brown comes to the net. There have always been the occasional monster seen and sometimes caught on the Swift BUT NOT LIKE THIS YEAR!!! Just like the brookie explosion in the earlier part of this decade the browns are expanding in range and in size. Let's examine some reasons for this:

It's a tailwater - In the long run this is the main reason for our browns and brook trout populations on the Swift. You have a steady, cool flow of water that is not ravaged by seasonal floods and droughts which can greatly impact a trouts survival.(winter kill is the major natural cause of death, outside of predators, in a freestone environment)

Brookies on the menu - When the biomass of available food increases so will the creatures who consume it.  Three years ago I saw a 4lb brown grab a 6 inch brookie and then take about two minutes to swallow it. If you've been to Cady Lane in the summer you will know what I mean - Schools of 4 to 6 inch brook trout can be seen everywhere.  The 4 to 10 pound browns see them too and that 17lb monster saw them too when it was a kid. Now it eats adult suckers and 14 inch rainbows!!!!

Catch & Release, Stupid! - Big trout have to run the gauntlet year after year to get to  the "measured in pounds" size and ending up in the freezer will not do it. Also, the browns are the premier piscatorial predators on the Swift and to maintain a health fishery WE NEED THEM! The top of the food pyramid is not as populated as the bottom. The top keeps the bottom in control. A year round C&R policy on the Swift for browns could insure this.

Mother Nature in Control - The brook trout and brown trout explosion appears to have been accomplished without the hand of man involved (yup, we created a tailwater and stocked some browns but that's it). No State agency has taken credit for this. That begs the question about the genetic work being done on the Farmington in Connecticut. The Survivor Trout Program had the mission to "create" a brown trout that could withstand the thermal challenges found in freestone environments, namely the Housatonic River among others. To accomplish this Farmington browns would be "mixed" with other wild browns (Housatonic for example) and the offspring would be a hardier fish. That is great and certainly noble but why are many of the offspring going back to the Farmington?? It's a tailwater, remember, cold water all summer long with steady flows etc, just like the Swift!! I've only been fishing the Farmy for 15 years but I've caught some BIG browns there and seen some scary monsters in that river and that was long before the the survivor program started.  Wouldn't the Housy and other freestones benefit more from the "survivors" than the Farmy????  Hmmm........

Added Note - Notice that the brown in the above photo was caught on a P&O soft hackle. I posted a photo of another monster taken on a #16 scud. I know of another 4lb brown taken on a #20 Griffins Ghat. The lesson here is that you don't have to toss mouse patterns to get these guys!!!

Swift Brookies Don't fall for the conventional wisdom that the brookies are off the Redds for the year. Not so!!! You just have to know where to look. If someone has an underwater camera you could get some great shots in that skinny water!!!

Ken