33 pound brown trout on a jig

[bombora]

Thought jigcrafters may be interested in this.
 A local Oz fishing mag has a story about monster wild trout from a very interesting New Zealand fishery. It's a series of man mad canals for hydro power connecting several natural lakes. The trout in these canals are absolute monsters. Both browns and rainbows. All wild fish, no stocking in the lakes or canals, apart from the initial introduction decades ago. Not hatchery breeders released after their use-by date. 
The article says the reason for their huge growth is a constant year round perfect water temperature, which also creates luxurious weed beds full of food: minnows, snails and aquatic insects. They caught most of their fish in the canals, but the giants are also taken from the lakes.
One of the Aussie fishos who went there was Frank Prokop, who has being trying to switch on Down Under fishos to the effectiveness of tiny hair jigs on trout for many many years. He's the reason I started tying jigs for trout. 
Anyway his black possum hair tailed jigs were a killer in these canals.
His best, a 33 pound brown!!!!!!
View attachment 6
The biggest these guys caught was a 37 pound brown, though it fell to a sinking minnow lure.
View attachment 7
And here's a stud rainbow:
View attachment 8
The bloke who wrote the story isn't a BS guy and he talks about the fish taking 150-200 yards runs, on 10 pound braid. 
This fishery has been the site of 40 pound fish.
Amazing!!!!!

 

[LedHed]

DAMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!

"150-200 yards runs, on 10 pound braid." TALK ABOUT SMOKIN DRAGS!!!

That would make a bucket list. Bombora, how come you ain't fishing there?????

 

[bombora]

I know ledhead trying to figure out how I can get there!!! 
The guys who went also do a TV fishing show and it was just on the box this arvo. 
They weren't joking about the runs; video shows near empty spools after the first couple of runs with the fish on the other side of the big canals they inhabit!!
 And these fish jump too, one was power porpoising across the canal like a damn spotted submarine!!!! As you can see in the pics they aren't flabby fish; fit and muscular beasts. These canals are apparently just starting to get a global reputation for their behemoths.
There's a couple of salmon hatcheries in the canals but the show said scientists trying to figure why they grow so big don't believe they eat pellets from the hatcheries as there is very little if any pellet waste because of specific hatchery salmon feeding methods. And they'd have to eat a hell of a lot of pellets if that was the reason for their size. They may however be cleaning up any small salmon which escape the hatcheries but again that apparently is uncommon.

 

[bombora]

Below part of the study into their sizes: 
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]So why are trout and native fish doing so well in the canals? Well, in many ways, the hydro canals are like one giant artificial spring creek. A constant flow of oxygen-rich alpine water of the highest quality (pre-loaded with some nutrients bonded to the glacial flour) protects salmonids, native fish, and aquatic insects from the wild forces of floods, which regularly decimate their populations in rain-fed rivers.[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The lakes feeding the canals also moderate water temperatures so that, unlike wild rivers, the canals seldom approach or get below a point where fish can continue to grow at a steady rate, even in the middle of the South Island winter. These environmental conditions, coupled with an abundant food source, can result in some phenomenal growth rates for salmonids.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]To visualise this point, I have included a figure comparing fish weight for two different feeding scenarios: the first (A) illustrates growth rates for a calorie-rich diet (pellets), and (B) fish feeding exclusively on invertebrates. As you can see, a fish feeding on pellets under the salmon farms can easily exceed 20lb after just four years.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]However, when we compared the size at age for a selection of the fish we salvaged in the upper sections of the Tekapo Canal (blue dots) with two harvested by anglers next to the salmon farms (red dots), it becomes apparent that fish can reach the magical 10lb mark in about six to seven years by feeding on invertebrates alone.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Moreover, if only 25% of their diet is made up of forage fish (such as bullies and juvenile salmonids, which are very abundant in the upper canal) they can also easily reach 17-20lb in the same time. [/font]

 

[Bucho]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing! There´s a 100 ways to fish a jig for trout, can I have more details please?

 

[Hawnjigs]

Um um um um um ... Wow !
Oz has black possums? Are they harvested for - what?

 

[LedHed]

Yep - going to have to add this spot.......

 

[jackie53]

WOW.Thanks not HiJacking.living on the Great Trout Water's of The White and World Record Brown Red River.Really enjoy fishing for the big ones.They spawn in the Fall here and can hunt them with good SunGlasses (Cow Shoals,Little Red) They are an amazing Fish.Thanks for the Pic's.Make a trip our way sometime will not be disspointed.

 

[Fatman]

Very cool!!

 

[jiggerjohn]

Bombora, Very exciting report! Any chance that you can get us information on Frank Prokop's trout tactics and possum jigs?

 

[JUNGLEJIM1]

Incredible fish !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[bombora]

Hi guys, Frank makes jigs just like you guys do!  and fishes them like you guys do!
Simple ball head jigs, thread ties usually though some have chenille bodies, and died black Australian possum hair tails, though he also does them in rabbit and marabou. Uses black 80 per cent of the time, but will change to olive green or brown if things are slow. 
Cast upcurrent or up and across and drift down hugging the bottom with the odd twitch and lift. Doesn't use a float. Favours 1/32nd size heads. But will go lighter or heavier depending on current, depth, river size etc.
The article says one thing he did do was use an interesting tear drop shaped weight, moulded onto a swivel, and attached  just in front of the jig to get the small jigs down in up to 30 foot of water with some current.

 

[davidriley]

Wow! I bet they pull the string.

David

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hi Bombora, Thanks for the info on Frank's trout jigging! Of extreme interest to me was your mention of the swivel weight right in front of a light jig for deeper work . My son & I found a very similar set-up down at the Outer Banks (saltwater) this past Fall, using one of Hawn's sliding, walking sinkers bumping our smaller headed (1/28 and 1/14 oz) jigs. Even hardcore locals could not remotely match our results on seatrout, flounder, and mullet. Certainly this a viable concept that should be pursued further! By any chance could you get a photo of Frank's swivel rigged jig?

 

[Bucho]

Very interesting, thanks! With right in front, you mean like a "jika" or "jig rig"? Its meant for Softbaits, but I use it for USD Streamer/hairbaits.

https://scontent-frt3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...5979_1096566427034856_22078587620658093_o.jpg

 

[jiggerjohn]

Hi Bucho, While we're awaiting, hopefully,Bombora's thoughts & pics on this weighting idea, I can,at least, offer my experiences. Yes, my idea stemmed from the jika rig idea somewhat(tho hated all that messy snap&swivel set-up), also influenced by Doc's Goofy Jig concept, used so much on the Gulf Coast of Florida. For the ocean currents,tho mild in the shallows of OBX, I really wanted to get my favorite 1/14 tin ,gliding HU jighead (by Hawnsjigs) down a bit without getting the plummet of a heavier jig. Keith had previously sent me his usual perfectionistic crafting in a tin alloy of a 1/4 oz walleye walking sinker (line sliding hole up top). I figured it would slide right up against and "form fit" around the pointed ,hook forward jighead and cast reasonably well. It did that just fine, and hugged the head in riding near bottom just as I'd hoped. Also gave a bit of clicking or vibration with its bumping into the main jighead which seemed to draw fish in. My 34 yr old son,Sean, who usually outfishes me , was being whomped 5 to 1 or better, for 3 straight days as he tried to weight with several heavy split shots up his line. Only when he FINALLY agreed to try the walking sinker smack-dab in front of his jig, and ignored what he termed as "weird looking", did he get back to his usual status of being the top stick in the family!!

 

[bombora]

Here's a copied pic from the magazine of the lures they used, showing the "micro jig" and weight system. Though I think the Oz idea of a micro jig is bigger than the US description! Looks like a 1/16th saltwater jighead with heavier hook commonly available here.
View attachment 4

 

[bombora]

Hopefully better size of above pic:
View attachment 5

 

[bombora]

ps pics of lures obviously not to scale.

 

[Bucho]

Thanks again for the details! The size of the lures remind me of this article http://www.in-fisherman.com/trout-salmon/brown-trout/winter-brown-trout-symposium/

Got two takes from 2-3lbs browns on casting spoon yesterday at he kiel canal, while another angler landet a 8lbs brown on a weighted fly while my light jig rod lay in the car... time to finally give the rabbit jig a go.