Dugout Rainbows And Brookies Are Growing.

[packhuntr]

5-6 inches ice on the dugout. Had a family fun afternoon last weekend and slayed em. Just got off dugout again, spent an hour on there for kicks and released about 20 in about an hour. Young ones currently range from 10 to 15 inches (100 stocked in the spring), 50 brookies this spring nearing prob 10 inch, last years rainbows put in as 8-10 inch (200 trout) are avg'ing 20 inch, and 2 years ago thirty 2.5 to 3 pounders at stocking time are turning into HOGS. Biggest stuff is knocking on double digits. Heres a pic of one of the big girls and another of a trout I 2 years ago named "humpy". Shes a very unique fish, one of a kind in our dugout anyways LOL. We see these trout daily in the open water season as we feed twice per day (first light and last light) if we can. Some will feed right out of your hand, others dont like being caught and released and are abit more wary. Though they are DIRTY smart bast*rds and can be tough as heck to catch (they recognize the attributes of a hook very easily),, Ive caught one fish over 8 times on the fly (one eyed jack, jack for short), and myself or the kids can hand feed it off the side of the dock daily. They are pets no doubt about that! Pictures dont do these fish justice. No one with me to catch a fast photo so did it alone. What a joy these trout are let me tell ya! Not only that, if we want to catch a trout or two it doesnt cost us a crisp 100 dollar bill and a full day trip to somewhere to catch a bunch of baby stocklings. We have the biggest trout around these parts that Im aware of, what a blast.

[Guitarplayingfish]

hahahaha that second picture makes me laugh haha Looks like a blast man!

[Houndogn]

How big is ur dugout ? I want to put some in mine this spring....any info be awesome never tried it before.

[Woolly Bugger]

Very cool.

[npauls]

I will be up there over the holidays to slam some bows Wes.:sHa_shakeshout:

Good looking fish.

[packhuntr]

You better Nathan! Make sure youre rigged right, that rod beside those fish is not an ultalight set up, its a medium action rod and a shimano symetre off one of my spinner bait rods (medium, model cant recall off top of head, its outside on the dock). For sure 8 pound flourocarbon, nothing lighter, its scary out there!

[packhuntr]

How big is ur dugout ? I want to put some in mine this spring....any info be awesome never tried it before.


We are about a million gallons. 23 feet deep in the middle and aerated beyond rational. The trout are doing well to say the least! Research it heavily and do it right you wont regret it. Google is your friend. It will become very time consuming with all the information but you will learn things from aquaculture all over the continent. Have fun!

[npauls]

You better Nathan! Make sure youre rigged right, that rod beside those fish is not an ultalight set up, its a medium action rod and a shimano symetre off one of my spinner bait rods (medium, model cant recall off top of head, its outside on the dock). For sure 8 pound flourocarbon, nothing lighter, its scary out there!

The Frabill bro series rods will tackle those fish with no problems.

I will let you know if I do actually get a chance to get up there. Am I bring whiskey or beer?:sHa_shakeshout:

[SonnyJ]

I think I would like to "Occupy" this dugout...j/k...:)

[packhuntr]

The Frabill bro series rods will tackle those fish with no problems.

I will let you know if I do actually get a chance to get up there. Am I bring whiskey or beer?:sHa_shakeshout:

This is whiskey country. Bait ban on everything else!

[BeeGuy]

very cool

[Bhflyfisher]

something i've wanted to do since i was 3 years old and started fishing. I am envious of you. Very lucky man, i can only hope i'll live somewhere with enough land to make a dugout of my own....

:mad0030: <--- very jealous.

[Dust1n]

something i've wanted to do since i was 3 years old and started fishing. I am envious of you. Very lucky man, i can only hope i'll live somewhere with enough land to make a dugout of my own....

<--- very jealous.
x2 but having enough land and a pond dosent mean you can stock your honey hole with fish you need permits from your county and if its close enough to another water source they will deny you. (i tried)

[packhuntr]

Ya its a hoot for sure, the dugout is only 75 yards from the house, set right up for recreation, dock, picnic tables, fire pit, archery range, trap range, everything is a stones throw from the house, shes a slice of heaven right in the yard! I hear ya the permiting process is simple JUST as long as all the criteria are met.

[spotnstockhillbilly]

those buggers are smart !!! the one i had one put up a decent fight too. that was a while ago now. have you eaten one yet?

[Alberta Bigbore]

Nice fish and nice gimp!!

[packhuntr]

Heres a couple pics of the avg in the two oldest age classes. There are bigger representatives but the biggest stuff is pretty smart, tough to get one to hit LOL, weve had alot of fun with these babys. Just did a family fun hour and 2 rods caught about 15 rainbows, only 2 little 14inchers bit today, everything else older age class. It was fun the kids have a blast. I know i know, the gut yankin pliars are not used, rarely need any hook out aids but on pets you want to be surgeon sure and fast so like anywhere else they gotta be handy, have 3 sets on the dugout full time, had the wife bring a set to show size quick and she brings these monster calf pullers LOL

[packhuntr]

Heres a picture of what the big guys looked like as stocklings 2 years ago, avg on the 30 fish at the time was 2.5 to 3 lbs. I had just finished a 10 thousand dollar work over with cats and hoes on this old dugout when I stocked them, that would explain the dirt banks. I transplated aquatic insects bt the 5 gal pail full to jump start the ecosystem a month before stocking began. It took off like a wild fire!

Edit, this fish is now a cranker that we call "hairlip", I have caught and released it multiple times, its top lip ended up being very short in comparison to the bottom jaw. We have a fair number of them we can identify daily in open water season by unique markings etc etc. Its pretty cool.

[packhuntr]

Next I had a load of 200 8-10 inch roll in about 2 weeks after self stocking the first batch. they are currently avg out at around 22 inch I would guess? I never take the time to measure so can only estimate could be way off on the averages.

[BGSH]

Do you have minnows in there for them to feed on as well.

[packhuntr]

Heres a couple pictures of beginning of clean out after I drained the dugout. The dugout was full of stunted out perch, so just as I was getting the last of the water out I rolled in a bunch of manpower to try to net the perch out and salvage as many as possible for the frying pans. It was not a super succesful venture, but we did get a bunch. Unreal how much black sludge gave way on those banks when I got the water out. There had to have been 3 to 4 feet on the sides and 5 feet in the bottom. This was an OLD dugout, and was a very healthy ecosystem before I began dismantling it. Its brand new now and we have never had better house water,, not that is was bad before, but we were starting to run into some issues.

[packhuntr]

I cant seem to find any of this years stocking photos from the spring. I put in 100 6 to 8 inch rainbows and 50 6 to 8 inch brookies. I built 2 cages, one is pictured here and cage cultured them, brookies seperate from the bows for the summer. I had been seeing some loss due to cormorants every spring so I thought I would get smart and get at it. The cages turned into a gong show as the fine mesh would gum up with algae and needed to be swept off every 3 or 4 days. Not only that but it made feeding every day before work and at dark a dirty devil I had to launch the 12 foot aluminum every time to feed.

[npauls]

That looks like a sweet set up.

I want to get out for some ice fishing and open water with the fly stix and battle with a few of those brutes.

Nice work Wes. I only wish I had a place with a stocked pond like that.

[packhuntr]

Do you have minnows in there for them to feed on as well.

Yes unfortunately. I stocked 9 sticklebacks first thing this spring. I thought I was doing myself a big favour,, ya right. They went on a rampage like you cannot imagine. They number in the THOUSANDS,, upon thousands and maybe another thousand more. I am wishing I had never done it. Each one of those little hens drops eggs, and believe me, when the hatch is on all you can do is sit down drink a beer and wonder what now... I will have to wait until the spring when there is limited vegitation and open water, they will be cruising the banks in tight schools. I think I will have to set minnow traps and possibly even shoot the schools with the shotgun just to trim the numbers back. You simply cannot even imagine the disaster that has taken place with this, I cant believe it. The trout are eating them, they work in packs and school the minnows, they tend to work the schools into the dugout corners and hammer them. Its cool watching. I just wish they would eat more of the little bastards. I hope my minnow reduction program really comes around and turns it on soon. Those little brookies are gonna raise some hell I hope.

[npauls]

If you want another minnow trap I have one as long as I can have some minnows for walleye fishing.

Its perfect. You have the rainbows eating them and you also have your own minnow farm for bait. All you need now is to introduce some cat tails and leeches and make a compost pile and get a worm farm going and you will be set.

[packhuntr]

Thats right Nathan! With the price of bait a guy should be gettin at er. I already net shiners, not here though, I have a worm garden and grow them up in the shop in the bait fridge, but a leech farm I do not have! Chasing walleye would be much easier with available leeches. That driving for them or searchin all over sucks man.

[packhuntr]

IF THERE IS ANYONE THAT IS CLOSE BY THATS WANTS THESE CAGES, THEY CAN HAVE THEM. i LIVE IN THE COUNTY OF NEWELL, PM FOR DETAILS BUT DO NOT WASTE MY TIME IF YOU ARE NOT SERIOUS ABOUT TAKING THEM. TOTALS FOR CONSTRUCTION RUN IN AT APPROX 250$, NOT EXPENSIVE BUT TIME IS... FREE IF ANYONE WANTS THEM, THEY WILL NEED A WORKOVER. THANKS.