Why Fish for Wild Trout?

The difference between stocked and wild trout was forcibly driven home to me a few years ago, when I accepted a neighbor’s invitation to fish in England. It was to be a week-long tour of the famous “Chalk Streams” – the same streams that Isaak Walton writes about in the Compleat Angler. We visited his tomb in Winchester Cathedral, which was only a few minutes’ drive from the country inn where we stayed.

These fisheries are now all on private land, and managed by private sporting clubs. On many, the banks are manicured right to the water’s edge. The ranunculus weeds which provide food and shelter on the limestone stream beds are delicate, so wading is forbidden, and you’re expected to cast from the banks, which are devoid of cover. So it’s difficult to catch wild fish, even on streams that support decent populations of them.

The clubs deal with this problem by stocking the streams lavishly. Not the standard, 9” state-issue fish for these gentlemen. No, big bruising Brown Trout, averaging 16-20”. Occasionally the clubs will stock one or two even larger fish, so their members can brag about the 5 lbs. trout they caught. Good thing they’re typically caught the day they’re stocked, because these fish are so bloated that they can’t support their own body mass, even in such fertile streams.

On this day we were fishing the Lambourn at Weston, a lovely stream that supports a healthy population of wild browns. Because the chalk stream combines outstanding water quality, even temperatures and flows, and an ample food supply, the wild fish can live for years and grow quite large...much larger than you would typically find in an eastern US freestone stream. That afternoon there was an active olive hatch, which caused the wild fish to be more vulnerable to angling than normal. Quoting from an email I wrote to a friend that evening:

I catch a 19” stocker. It puts on one rush, nosing downward, then virtually gives up, allowing itself to be led directly into the net within a minute. The 10" wild fish caught next puts up a longer fight (lacking only the heavy first rush). A few minutes later, I hook a 16” wild fish. It's relentless. Nosing down, virtually slashing through the pool, tearing line off the reel, fleeing the net with renewed energy just when you think it's under control. It takes 10 minutes to land.

Wild trout are simply more fun. They’re harder to catch, and they put up a better fight when you do hook them. They’re more beautiful, typically much more brilliantly colored than stocked trout, and their fins are usually intact, not stunted and splayed by overcrowding in the concrete chutes of the hatchery.

Yes, wild trout in eastern streams are generally smaller than hatchery-raised trout. But stocked trout, like America’s other size obsessions for full-sized SUVs and breast implants, steal resources better spent elsewhere, and are less attractive the closer you examine them.

Fishing for wild trout, you learn that size is simply relative to the stream. You catch beautiful, wary, hard fighting trout that, on a good stream, average 6-9”. You learn that an 11” or 12” fish is the catch of the day (maybe even of the season). And if you get into something larger, you recognize it for a significant achievement.

The largest wild trout I’ve taken on a small, New Jersey stream is a 14” brown taken on a deep nymph in a large plunge pool formed by a pretty significant waterfall. This spot is often impossible to fish because hikers use it as a swimming hole. But this late September day, no one was around. I lengthened and weighted my tippet, and added a second indicator for extra flotation. The powerful fish seemed as surprised as I was when I hooked it at about 8’ of depth. It fought doggedly, first trying to shake the hook, then diving even deeper into the hole. After a few minutes, however, I was able to reel it in. It was obviously an older fish, with the hooked jaw and developed teeth normally found only on larger brown trout caught on more fertile streams.

I’m as proud of that fish as any I’ve caught anywhere.