could it produce trophy Browns?

[salmotrutta]

I have fished a  pond in N.H. for about 9 years now.It is stocked with Browns( 700 browns per year).The pond is about 50 acres in size with a depth of almost 50 ft.I believe the only forage is golden shiners.The fishing pressure is very minimal.I have caught many browns(200 +) but no size .The biggest being 17".Average fish is probably 13 inches.Is it capable of producing big Browns?Your opinion please.

[grumpymoe]

absolutely!! if there is enough forage, it should produce a fatty, although as you have found out, average fish will predominate. sooner or later, you'll get him.  my 2 cents  grumpy

[Fish Monger]

50 acres is kind of small, but it's not impossible. The state record for Browns in Maine came out of a 900 acre pond. I guess it would depend on the volume of Browns against their food source. Too many browns will hinder them from getting big, otherwise you should be able to land a nice one.

[Fishrmn]

Salmotrutta,

A small pond I fish in southern utah has produced browns to 20 pounds.  It isn't more than 25 feet deep, and probably 7 acres in size.  There are two forage species in there.  Utah chubs, and redside shiners.  The browns are self sustaining.  I would think If you are catching small fish, the problem might be that there are too many of them, or they are being harvested before they make the switch to eating the shiners.  

Also, are you using small lures or large lures?  The adage of big baits for big fish holds true most of the time.  Can you use live shiners?  Have you taken notes of what the fish you are catching have been eating?  They may be eating insects or amphibians or something other than the shiners, and only switch to shiners after reaching a certain size.

Big browns are very wary, and often feed only in very dim light or at night.  Probably even more so than walleyes.  Are you fishing dusk and dawn?  If so, try twilight or nighttime.

Good luck.

Fishrmn

[salmotrutta]

I trolled f11 and hj9 rapalas last year and still caught average fish.

[Sasquatch]

I think the limiting factor for size is the amount of forage, not the size of the lake.  They sure get big in some of those small hatchery pools.  It may be a good idea to keep some of the mid-sized fish so that the population does not become stunted.  I know that that makes a difference with bass and panfish. Too many small fish may consume so much forage that is not enough left to grow big fish.

[TroutFishingBear]

There is a fairly large lake in colorado called vega lake. It used to be with the rainbows that they averaged like 20" because they stocked less. the fish also reproduce here, and could self-sustain. The size of the rainbows has lowered when they lowered the bag limit from 8 to 4 for all colorado lakes. Since your lake has light pressure, spread the word about it and encourage people to keep the small ones. This will increase the size. Big baits DONT mean big fish NECESSARILY, ESPECIALLY FOR BROWNS SINCE BROWNS ARE SO AGGRESSIVE!!!

[deadsmelthead]

Could be the strain they are stocking, some strains of Brown Trout do not do well in lakes..Here in Ny I have heard that in some of the Brook Trout ponds it takes them  10 years of stocking a lake or pond to figure out what stain of brook trout works best and every body of water is different..