Big Bull

[Doug C.C]

My son helped me catch this Bull on the Clearwater in 2005. This picture was originally sent into the AO magazine then posted in the fishing regulations promoting the Rocky / Clearwater area. That picture caused an unbelievable stir in the province. The Fish & Game Office was getting so many phone calls
(because of the 0 limit) they had to redirect calls to outlying offices. I know this because one of the Higher ranking Officers phoned me to hear my story.
We landed him, i cut a twig so my son could hold him, took the picture, and released him. It was a good strong release. When he was swimming away i said to my son " he will be even bigger next time we catch him"

[Kyle]

when I saw that picture, I figured it was a laker or something...no way someone would put a stick through a bull trout's gill. I guess it was a bull trout as the picture does dictate, sad to see such uneducated C&R fisherman...

[TROUTONIC]

That picture makes me sad

[Splitbrow]

There is an easy way to handle bulls under their jaw bone without putting anything through the gills (only if the bull is big enough)... but not with a stick... next time opt for the memory instead of the picture...

Keep in mind, for a bull to reach 21 inches in length it is about 12+ years old. I am guessing you Bull is bigger than that so next time your out fishing think how hard that Bull had to work to live that long run in the river.

I caught a 30+ incher 2 summers back and a landed a 40 inch bull for my brother in law in 04'... We took pics of the big bull but were unable to handle the fish properly to get pics with the tape without hurting the fish.. biologist saw the pic & measurements and aged the fish at roughly 30 years old... it may have cost my brother in law the new provincial record but we both know how big the fish was and would rather handle it properly instead of win a pointless award. Neat part was the fish was older than both of us :)

I know you will get alot of heat over the pic just keep in mind how unique the bull is and how lucky we are to have it... and suck up the criticism

Cheers

Split...

[Lethalconnection]

Just a suggestion but maybe next time just leave the fish on the ground and have your kid sit beside it if he is unable to hold it properly cause although it didn't show any immediate damage to it, you could have done serious damage to this fish.

[KyleM]

Sounds about the same as keeping a Muskie back in Ontario....serious no-no.

Keeping it on the ground would infact do the fish more harm then good.
Once you wipe the slime off they are as good as dead.

How about gettin down and dirty and actually going down to the river bed.


Glory shots are over rated anyways LOL

[7mm]

Nice catch. I bet your son was excited when you guys pulled that out of the water.

[jrs]

"Keep in mind, for a bull to reach 21 inches in length it is about 12+ years old."

Not sure where you read that but that only applies to very unfertile streams, of which some bull trout never even get that big. In most lakes, reservoirs, or large rivers it would take significantly less time. In regards to age an issue with bull trout is they don't mature for spawning until they're fairly old (often 6-7yrs). The oldest fish i can find record of is around 20 yrs old (you can't get an accurate age without killing large fish, scales may work but not always, kind of unfortunate). They do not live as long as lets say a lake trout or sturgeon. They are one of the most vulnerable fish to angling as they are very opportunistic (as many guys on here would know). A friend of mine landed one that would have exceeded the record a few years back now, on a fly rod none the less. A pretty neat fish, its amazing how cold and unfertile the streams are where they spawn and the young slowly grow. Growth is extremely slow until they take on there true calling and begin eating whitefish/rainbows/sculpin/each other. The Clearwater is a incredable bull trout system, i have read of one that attained at least 34'' fork length (would be 35''+ total length). Big fish, that would probably try to eat the biggest of mountain whitefish if given the chance.

Doug C.C, i remember seeing that photo (or one very similar,can't say for sure), i wasn't calling fish and wildlife but i remember wondering what was going on with it. Neat to hear what the story was behind it.

Do you have some pics you could post of the big one Split? Sounds like a awesome fish. They are definetly one of my favorite fish for many reasons.

Kyle TROUTONIC What good came from your posts? Educate as you condemn. If your going to make a comment maybe back it up, with a link or something. Just a suggestion. the fact it made a stir showed the education programs and catch and release regulations had the proper effect.

[Kyle]

If your going to make a comment maybe back it up, with a link or something. Just a suggestion.

http://www.fishsniffer.com/recipes/salmon5.html

refer to 2nd recipe...:innocent:

[fishman]

Maybe alot of you are surprised on how this fish was handled...it doesn't surprise me at all as the farther north you go it seems the more people are uneducated or just don't give a dam anyways......what really surprises me is somebody posting how they were handling the fish on a fishing forum.........i think after all the flack he has got about this picture he will handle the next fish alot diffrent............but the biggest thing that surprises me is people telling about all the fish they r keeping and pictures of them to.........your limit is 5 trout fine but that is not 5 everyday and i have nothing against people keeping fish but leave some for your kids when they grow up they will have the same oppurtunity as you to catch fish and maybe they will actually be able to take one home..............don't get me wrong i like to have a fish once awhile like i maybe keep 2 or 3 fish a year, but people r in thier rights to keep thier five so they do............but maybe some people should read what aggerate is that means what u r aloud in your freezer..............just food for thought and hopefully maybe awaking somebody by this post or maybe i will get a agruement that is fine i am with my facts and the prove is in the pudding what is happening to all our bodies of waters need i say anymore

[Splitbrow]

JRS,

That is right from SRD and well, biology. Up here in Grande Cache I dont know if you will find more infertile streams. Down south it may be different and if you have other data I would be really keen on reading it.

A 30+ inch Bull isn't an abnormal fish in many of the streams in the Athabasca and Smoky drainages. As mentioned above I wouldn't know what it is like down south.

Here are the pics I spoke of (they have been on here before)... cheers, Split.

Here is a 30+ Bully from the Berland I spoke of... (caught on a flyrod)
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n213/sean_uphill/bull1.jpg

Here is the monster I spoke of that I landed for my brother in-law in '04 out of the athabasca.. (caught using a minnow immitation under a splitshot on a spin rod) *take a look at the size of the front fin compared to my hand, lol... and the smile should say something.
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n213/sean_uphill/bully.jpg

[Buck Krazy]

Meh, bull trout are WAY overrated!!

[jrs]

Slitbrow,

Those are some nice bull trout. Did you post the pic of the big one on here before? I seem to remember seeing that picture but i must not have read into the size. Beautiful fish, thanks for posting it. I bet he made lunch of some very respectable size whitefish in his lifetime.
I don't have digital access to very many Alberta papers. Lots of the age work done in our province was done before internet was mainstream (i would think because killing bull trout for ageing is frowned upon as they're a sensitive species). Here's a few links i found interesting myself.

Not a paper, but they have the length growth chart in the bottom from their study, remember fork length is used in biology, not total so those bullies are getting to be in that 21'' angling range when 6 to 7 years old (50 cm fork).

http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/planning/mgmtplns/tsilos/chilko_lake_bull_trout_population_status.pdf

This paper (not in Alberta but pretty close-(map in it)) found they grew up to 13 cm a year.

http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/org_NWS/NWSci%20journal%20articles/1989%20files/Issue%204/v63%20p133%20Fraley%20and%20Shepard.PDF

I've played with lots of bullies in the Mcleod River drainage and there's some pretty slow growing fish. The little streams at the headwater are home to some neat bullies, only seem to grow to about 30-35 cm. I would think the fastest growing bullies in Alberta are the ones in the Oldman, Castle, and Crowsnest River, i think the slowest are the ones in the Tri-Creeks basin in WMU 438 (lots of little streams like that out there, i know research has been done and i see it reffered to in many resources but it doesn't seem the actual papers are online). The Athabasca is a big river full of whitefish so they can get pretty big, the Clearwater is a substancial river as well, lots of food in the form of whitefish, brook trout etc. I still think there's some bigger bullies in the Athabasca that would rival the monsters they get in BC, its just such a large river, never know what you may pull out. I have never been on the Berland, stopped for a look a few times but the weather was always snotty, looks like a pretty nice river.

Anyway, hope you can catch some more big ones. Since you seem interested, i'll see if i can get any links to the Alberta projects. Lots of variation but also lots of good bull trout water.

jrs

[fishman]

Meh, bull trout are WAY overrated!!

In what sense

If u r a flyfisherman and can catch a big bull on a fly u r doing something right as usually the smaller ones r the ones caught on the fly.....i have fished the athabasca many many times over the year for the bulls on a fly and anything over 6 pounds on a fly is unreal as i have fished with a a fly and a friend with a spoon at the same time and watched him catch monsters and all i could catch is the smaller ones with a minnow pattern

[KyleM]

fishman, one of the best ways to catch lots of big fish is to become extremely versatile.

There will be days when fish wont bite a spoon...a flyrod will always promise you a softer more finesse way of presentation. I always carry a spinning rod and my flyrod. You can bet if theres a day where spoons and spinners are out producing the flies, Ill be switching over.

I dont understand the guys that say flyfishing is so much more then fishing.
Im there to catch fish and then enjoy the scenary and quiet.........im not there to enjoy the quiet and scenary first. Dosnt matter if its on a spinner or a recent hatch.

[nekred]

Jrs....
The clearwater is a cold infertile stream.... That fish is easily that old....
I aged a 37lb lake trout my dad caght.....

You dissect the head and get an otolith (earbone) and sand it smooth and then char it and look at it under a microscope and count rings.The lake trout was 78 years old and was caught in a high Alpine lake. it was 38 inches long. this mean it averaged a 1/2 an inch a year.

There are other methods as well. like scales as you mentioned.... but these shed so on old fish it becoms inaccurate. you can get a minimum age but not a max!....

River fish usually grow even slower due to expended energy. That fish is easily 12.5 years old.... i am guessing even older.

It is unfortunate about the stick in the gill plate.... Fortunately Bull trout are pretty tough....

Nice fish... You should be proud.

I have caught a Bull Trout/Dolly Varden (Jury is still out on what it was!) in the Peace river that weighed 35 lbs. What a fight and awesome eating... back when you could keep!....

I caught a bull on a fly in a fish pond off of the Trunk road.... I suspect it got in there because of the flood.... It weighed a good 8 lbs.... I could see her and she would not take anything.... until i bounce a wooly bugger of her nose..... She took it then... I did not know it was a bull until I landed it. I had suspicions when she fought deep and would not surface....

One of the most beautiful fish I caught... i was hopng to release her in nearby stream but it was too far to transport.... Quite a few folks were watching me try... They were very courteous and left me room to try... no one else tried to catch her.... when i finally got her to take they were all pretty excited.

It was a hard fight (I only have 4lb test) and she was pretty tuckered out but she revived well and went back to her spot.

I met a co and mentioned the fish to her to see if they could transfer the fish back to the stream..... Not sure if it happened... probably not....

Pretty good memory.... I hope that we can keep this fish alive in Alberta!... But their aggressiveness may end up dooming them....

[fishman]

I realize that r times that spinning reel will out fish the fly rod....but i am a die hard i only use a flyrod actually don't own a spinning rod....i fish everything with a fly rod...perch,walleye,jacks,whitefish,trout u get the idea..........i look at it this way when the times r hard to catch a certain specie i try harder and hopefully learn something so maybe the next time it might be a little easier and so on and so until u r catching fish always on a fly rod............i remember a time on slave lake fishing from the boat with my fly rod and thier was probably 20 boats around me and i couldn't keep them off pretty soon the boats got closer and closer...........they couldn't believe they were getting out fished by a guy flyfishing....there is times one works better then the other i agree

[jrs]

nekred,

Lake trout are one of the slowest growing fish species in existence as an evolutionary trait to exist in cold deep infertile lakes. They can also live a long long time, just look on Google and you'll see they reach age 40 fairly often. They have a lot slower metabolism than most salmonids, look how deep they stay in the summer, they'll be in cold deep water year round in most systems (in the spring when the surface is cold you can catch them shallow, same with in the fall or when ice fishing). I've aged a few fish in my lifetime, i referred to having to kill the fish to get an accurate age as being a reason most of the data is fairly old in one of the first posts.
Comparing lake trout growth to bull trout growth is comparing beavers to muskrats.
And compared to many systems in Alberta the Clearwater could be considered fairly productive. There's a lot of streams where you're seeing bighorn sheep and mountain goats well before the bull trout run out. I'm not saying its productive compared to something like the Crowsnest River/ Lower Oldman River/ Lower Embarrass River but compared to the Upper Gregg River, upper Sphinx creek, upper Drinnan Creek, upper Castle River its pretty darn good.

I guess it all boils down to bull trout being an extraordinary species that in my opinion are fun to catch on spinning gear/fly gear or even icefishing. They do seem to finally be recovering in parts of Alberta, thats nice to see.

[LongDraw]

Looks to me with the ammount of debris on the fish, as well as a youngster holding the stick above a steep cut bank it was a bit of a sideshow to get a photo. ( I know exactly where this hole is, you can see big bullies hiding under the steep bank) Whats done is done, but I guess next time with the same set of circumstances it won't be worth it just to get a picture. Handling like this did this old fish no favours.

BTW- I've seen fish bleeding from the gills that have a "strong release". Don't think they fare too well once they swim away.

[nekred]

nekred,

Lake trout are one of the slowest growing fish species in existence as an evolutionary trait to exist in cold deep infertile lakes. They can also live a long long time, just look on Google and you'll see they reach age 40 fairly often. They have a lot slower metabolism than most salmonids, look how deep they stay in the summer, they'll be in cold deep water year round in most systems (in the spring when the surface is cold you can catch them shallow, same with in the fall or when ice fishing). I've aged a few fish in my lifetime, i referred to having to kill the fish to get an accurate age as being a reason most of the data is fairly old in one of the first posts.
Comparing lake trout growth to bull trout growth is comparing beavers to muskrats.
And compared to many systems in Alberta the Clearwater could be considered fairly productive. There's a lot of streams where you're seeing bighorn sheep and mountain goats well before the bull trout run out. I'm not saying its productive compared to something like the Crowsnest River/ Lower Oldman River/ Lower Embarrass River but compared to the Upper Gregg River, upper Sphinx creek, upper Drinnan Creek, upper Castle River its pretty darn good.

I guess it all boils down to bull trout being an extraordinary species that in my opinion are fun to catch on spinning gear/fly gear or even icefishing. They do seem to finally be recovering in parts of Alberta, thats nice to see.


I stand corrected... Even though both are Char..... Lake trout and Bull trout very different... i looked up some Bull trout growth rates and in fact found they are completley different.....I was actually shocked at how fast they can grow ithey have measured age to length using growth rates (tagging fish and recording size over a period of years)

[Buck Krazy]

I know spots where you can get em every few casts- stinky buggers!! Why do ya think they got so rare- its not because they are hard to catch! They do quite a number on the cutties! I just don't get the big deal with bull trout! IMHO

[Splitbrow]

Cutties take a fly off the top of the water... I have seen bullies take birds skimming the water after those same flies, lol… Different take on imitation I guess, try imitating a swallow, and then cast it into a deep pool and hook onto a bully in a little stream as big as your leg…

And btw buck, aren’t you into pike? I am trying to figure out how bullies are any less exciting….

Cheers,
Split…

[Walleyes]

I know spots where you can get em every few casts- stinky buggers!! Why do ya think they got so rare- its not because they are hard to catch! They do quite a number on the cutties! I just don't get the big deal with bull trout! IMHO

X2

[Kyle]

they start to get fun once they get past 2 feet, hopefully well passed..:innocent:

[Sheepriverrules]

My son helped me catch this Bull on the Clearwater in 2005. This picture was originally sent into the AO magazine then posted in the fishing regulations promoting the Rocky / Clearwater area. That picture caused an unbelievable stir in the province. The Fish & Game Office was getting so many phone calls
(because of the 0 limit) they had to redirect calls to outlying offices. I know this because one of the Higher ranking Officers phoned me to hear my story.
We landed him, i cut a twig so my son could hold him, took the picture, and released him. It was a good strong release. When he was swimming away i said to my son " he will be even bigger next time we catch him"

bull trout are built as tough as nails trust me

[perchie15]

I'd say sturgeon are the slowest growing fish!!!