🇳🇿 Finally got my FIRST brown trout this year - in lake Brunner, NZ by Mark Totzke
Finally got my FIRST brown trout this year - in lake Brunner, NZ
views: 81 | Apr 7, 2018

nice sized brown caught on a black fury spinner just after sunset and major time.

Comments

6 years ago by Mark Totzke
emphasis here is on FIRST, as a rather stubborn fella tried to convince me that one of my previous big rainbows was a brown :-) Now here we got a brown. I just wish it would have been during the day to take a better picture.
6 years ago by itsaboat
The photo is OK. Not a bad catch. Probably a Brook Trout, introduced to NZ in 1877. But it found it difficult to compete with the brown trout and is now restricted mostly to lakes but can still be found in some rivers. Although usually much smaller than brown and rainbow trout, it can reach 3kg.
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
haha - it's not a Brook Trout, but nice try.
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
ah - now I remember who I wanted to cross off my x-mas list :-)
6 years ago by itsaboat
Haha...That is alright...I will buy my own FR T-shirts and I will wrapped them in Chrissy paper. Then I will stick a card on it and write in the card "Luv from Mark and Mini Mark"...So there !!! haha
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
LOL - sounds like a great christmas surprise for you there.
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
Make sure you also stick a trout identification chart into your prezzy.
6 years ago by itsaboat
Actually, I was just reading, Lake Brunner is apparently stocked with salmon. Tourism NZ even promote it as a salmon and trout location. Just like your description and photo ticks all the boxes for brown trout...So too would it tick all the boxes for salmon !!
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
lots of trout cruising around the weed bed. I just wish I could catch one on a fly. But they seem rather uninterested in my efforts.
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
no salmon in here, only brown trout and very few rainbow: https://goo.gl/hQLXRr
6 years ago by itsaboat
Yeah...I am also getting email alerts for my own posts. So something is not right. This is the tourist site I am looking at.. http://www.tourism.net.nz/region/west-coast/west-coast---lake-brunner/attractions-and-activities/fishing/fly--salmon-and-trout-fishing/other-listings
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
you're better off looking at the official fishing site. The tourism guys have probably never fished in their life :-) Good promotion though.
6 years ago by itsaboat
Yes, I realise. But like most Gov sites the info is not complete. I am just trying to find that site which said it is stocked with salmon. They even name the location where the salmon are harvested. It might not be a Brook Trout. But it ticks all the boxes except one. Brook trout have a white leading edge on the fins. But...big BUT..would 150 years of evolution competing with the brown trout cause the brook trout to lose the leading edge ??
6 years ago by Mark Totzke
brook trout are very uncommon in NZ and look completely different from brown trout. Have a look at some other pictures of brown trout caught in NZ and you'll clearly see the differences. Stocking lakes with salmon has not proven very successful either. Most salmon are wild and come up the rivers for spawning. The Arnold river that drains lake Brunner is not suitable for salmon. Also there is a power station along the way. So salmon can't really get here and if someone attempted to stock salmon, it would show up on the official fresh water fishing site.
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