Trophy Rainbow Trout

[Fisher_Girl]

Please share your 'smarts' with a rookie .... What is the length and/or weight that determines a rainbow is "Trophy"?

[Jester]

If it makes you grin from ear to ear then it's a trophy..

[The Fisherman Guy]

I agree with Jester, it all depends on you! If your fish was caught with a heck of a story, it is most definately a trophy!

[lambski]

25''

[tonyflyfish]

a fish of extraordinary size. A 12" rainbow is not trophy but a 20" would be out of some places. Other places may have 20" rainbows as the standard. I agree with the idea of if it makes you smile it is a trophy!

[lambski]

Most of the pot hole lakes I fish are small in size and not all that deep. These lakes are very rich in nutrients and feed which in turn allows trout to grow big in a rather short period of time. People who fish ocasionally do not believe me when I tell them that their is a chance of hooking an 8 or even a 10. These fish are down there, you just have to know how to catch them and a little luck doesnt hurt

[marlin1]

well the record for Alberta is 20 pounds out of Maligne I think. To me a trophy rainbow is anything over 4 or 5 pounds . There is some pretty bigs boys cruising the Bow river,and its considered trophy water as far as I know .

[McLeod]

I will be happy when the Alberta Rainbow record is finally broken by one of the triploids. Say what you want , the Alberta record fish as it stand today was not caught out of Maligne !

[Cal]

I dunno man, I dont think a fish geneticly modifyed to put on weight fast should be elligable for the reccord. Maby its just me but I think theres something wrong with that. If you happen to cantch some freak of nature that got big because it does not spawn thats one thing but geneticly modifyed trout are another thing entirely.

[Morph1]

Originally Posted by lambski

Most of the pot hole lakes I fish are small in size and not all that deep. These lakes are very rich in nutrients and feed which in turn allows trout to grow big in a rather short period of time. People who fish ocasionally do not believe me when I tell them that their is a chance of hooking an 8 or even a 10. These fish are down there, you just have to know how to catch them and a little luck doesnt hurt

Agreed x 2
2 years ago I hooked to a 7 - 8 pounder out of star,
I couldn't believe the size, my best one before was 22.75" , the one from little Star lake was 25" with 16.5" girth - stupid me .. I ate him
Long regretful story.

[McLeod]

Originally Posted by Cal

I dunno man, I dont think a fish geneticly modifyed to put on weight fast should be elligable for the reccord. Maby its just me but I think theres something wrong with that. If you happen to cantch some freak of nature that got big because it does not spawn thats one thing but geneticly modifyed trout are another thing entirely.

You may have a point but that's how it's going to be..

[marlin1]

Originally Posted by McLeod

I will be happy when the Alberta Rainbow record is finally broken by one of the triploids. Say what you want , the Alberta record fish as it stand today was not cauht out of Maligne !

so where do you say it was from ? one of those footballs from Crawling?

[madatter]

I'm hoping that they make Bullshead a Trophy Lake....ZERO limit catch and release only!!!
It would be amazing to see just how big they can get in there.

[Pierre]

Trophy means different things to different people.

A few years ago on another board a well publicized author felt that a true 'trophy' trout should be approx 75% of the provincial 20 lb record.

[Chris K]

Depending on where the fish was caught plays into the equation. A 16 inch native Athabasca rainbow is massive, and a 16 inch rainbow from the Bow is not. When trout grow over 20 inches they start getting pretty impressive looking in my books.

Chris K

[The Fish King]

Ya i pulled a 14 inch Athabasca Rainbow outta the Gregg last year and in my books that was a trophy

[smitty9]

Fish King;

Was doing some research based on reading the illuminating book "Fishes of Alberta", and I came across this post.

Unfortunately, we have to be careful what we refer to as Athabascan rainbows. Hatchery rainbows have been stocked all throughout the region, and its likely many formerly Athabscan rainbow creeks, hybridization may have occurred.

Unless there are an impassable barrier such as waterfalls, very few spots are left in the Eastern Slopes with true native, Athabascan rainbows.

However, a 14" rainbow, regardless of DNA, is still a very impressive fish.

Any trout from the Mcleod watershed north to Grande Prairie, that is 14" or over is pretty darn awesome.

Bull trout being the exception.

Smitty

[BigRackLover]

Originally Posted by Jester

If it makes you grin from ear to ear then it's a trophy..

Yup!

[fishman]

Originally Posted by marlin1

so where do you say it was from ? one of those footballs from Crawling?

Valley of the five and it was closed

[Fishfinder]

Likely varies pending on lake but pretty sure standard is 50 or 51 cm (can't recall) or 20 inches. My opinion comes from the only trophy trout lake that I fish and it's regs are 1 fish only to keep n must be 50 or 51 cm. Better go with 51 just to b safe Happy fishing!

P.S. - I do agree with the forum though....if ur grinnin ear to ear, then u my friend, have wrangled urself a trophy

[AndrewM]

Another telltale sign is that your knees shake when you pick it up!

[troutpirate]

Originally Posted by smitty9

Fish King;

Was doing some research based on reading the illuminating book "Fishes of Alberta", and I came across this post.

Unfortunately, we have to be careful what we refer to as Athabascan rainbows. Hatchery rainbows have been stocked all throughout the region, and its likely many formerly Athabscan rainbow creeks, hybridization may have occurred.

Unless there are an impassable barrier such as waterfalls, very few spots are left in the Eastern Slopes with true native, Athabascan rainbows.

However, a 14" rainbow, regardless of DNA, is still a very impressive fish.

Any trout from the Mcleod watershed north to Grande Prairie, that is 14" or over is pretty darn awesome.

Bull trout being the exception.

Smitty

a lot of dna testing has been done in the east slopes since then and the results showed minimal hybridization. which makes sense because there wasnt a whole lot of stocked waters with good escape oppurtunities downstream of jnp and the two pike infested wastelands brule lake and jasper lakes.

just out of curiosity i was wondering what the biggest stream caught bona fide athabasca rainbow ever documented or photographed would be. i have pictures of a brilliantly colored fat 23.5-INCH athab rainbow with the river in the background that i caught 8 years ago. my group of fishing buddies and a lot of local fisherman who have seen the pictures think it might be some kind of unofficial record.

does any one have any info on this?

[mistamikel]

I do all my fishing from shore and my best was an 11lbs laker out of banff, on sunday my wife who just started fishing this season caught a 7lbs brown outta carsland......I got skunked that day

[Sundancefisher]

A trophy is location dependent. A 4 foot wide stream with a 16 inch cutt would be a trophy. A 25 inch cutt in the Elk would be trophy. A 7-10 lb rainbow from Sundance would be a trophy. A 16 inch rainbow from Maclean Pond would be a trophy. A 18 inch grayling from wedge pond is trophy.

IMHO

[goosefrabba]

Originally Posted by Morph1

Agreed x 2
2 years ago I hooked to a 7 - 8 pounder out of star,
I couldn't believe the size, my best one before was 22.75" , the one from little Star lake was 25" with 16.5" girth - stupid me .. I ate him
Long regretful story.

Must have been a long regretful evening after eating him too lol.

[Fishfinder]

Originally Posted by madatter

I'm hoping that they make Bullshead a Trophy Lake....ZERO limit catch and release only!!!
It would be amazing to see just how big they can get in there.

Bullshead is a trophy lake.

[PoorTurtle]

My Trophy Rainbow was a 26" out of the Bow. caught on a ultralite rod with a spinner in front of two drift boats flyfishing with guides. they had to watch it dance around them for 5 min. before I got it on my pontoon. It was a beautiful fish.