Trophy Brooke trout

What is the length you would say is a trophy. Please don’t add 2 inches, I need to make a decision

Kept the fish-it was in a stocked pond-so no chance of reproducing.  And, summer temperatures warm enough probably wouldn't survive through the summer.  Breeder fish from a hatchery that they put in this year.  SE Minnesota

 Nice catch ifb  !! Released??  A few years ago I caught a 23” , 4lb brook trout on a Lake Michigan tributary while chasing some migratory rainbows. These Great Lake Brookies that run larger than inland fish are called Coasters . A splake will have a forked tail  where as a Coaster /Brook would have a straight tail , otherwise very similar. I would say an inland 15 “ is a trophy in WI.

Not fly fishing-but this 17 inch I think counts.  Was a stocked lake-so streams I would set the mark at 12 inches often.  Tributary to Great Lakes, 16

About 1977/78 I was fishing at what is known as Sheboygan North Point, a reef that projects into the lake. It's a spawning area for Browns and Brookies on Lake Michigan. Watched a guy land a pretty good fish while casting a blue/chrome Cleo. This fish was a tad over 8#. It wasn't until the fish died on the guys stringer that the colors started to come out and everyone realized it was a Brook Trout...a monster. He ran it up to Trilling Hardware and they weighed the fish on an official scale. They entered the fish in the annual Field & Stream contest and I believe it won.

It really depends where you live. If you're fishing smaller creeks in NY, Michigan or maybe Wisconsin, a 14-inch brook trout is a really good fish. If you're in eastern Quebec or anywhere in Atlantic Canada where you can find sea-run brookies, you don't even bother taking a picture of anything under 20 inches. 

15 inches

This week, I caught a 22 inch brook trout in Lake Superior while splake fishing.   The old fisherman next to me identified it as a brook, not as a splake.

Being colorblind has its setbacks.

I could have caught my limit of brook and splake for 2 days.   But I set my own limit of a total of 3 fish.   I know some will criticize my decision, but the last 2 fishing trips to Lake Superior resulted in no harvest at all.


No, I will not share where the secret spot is at.

It was not caught on a fly, so this might not be the perfect place for this post.

It depends on were your fishing and how often your able to get out.

Thanks guys, I will preserve it. here is a more fitting pic of that fish. Also another picture of that special stream

For Brookies, 15" seems to be the magic mark.  On the same small stream in Marinette county last year at this time, I saw a 15 1/2" a guy kept and the following weekend I got a 15" myself. GORGEOUS fish.  But I was camping and didn't really feel like I needed a mount so it was released.  A guy I lived with after college for a while had a 12" his brother caught on the upper Wolf. Never thought it was that impressive. 

Yeah the fish you caught is a 14 inch tiger trout.  

I'd mount that.  I've caught 2 and both were under 10 inches.  catching one of those things is a pretty neat thing.  

15 and larger is a trophy brook on 90% of streams in Wisconsin from my experience and backed up population surveys from the DNR.

What you have is a tiger trout and I would call a trophy regardless of size. 

I'd say 15 and up is a true trophy for a stream brookie.  Most would go their whole life without getting close to a 20 inch stream brookie.  Lake brookies are another story but not a real comparison.  My biggest stream trout overall was a 22 inch brown and to me that is also a true trophy.  I couldn't imagine a 30 inch brown in a stream.  And by stream I mean not a lake run stream but a regular stream.  

Hard to imagine a 20” Brookie in the waters I fish.  But then again, I never though it would produce a 15” fish and now those are relatively frequent.  Those battles are so much fun.

Kutt, nice pic of a tiger trout.   The few I've caught all have been under 12.   As far as trophy brookies I think 20 is the gold standard, for browns 30.   Such fish certainly swim in Wisconsin streams.