AMID THE perennial noise about failing salmon numbers, untreated sewage, and river stocking, one group of gamefish seems to have gone unnoticed: our big, wild, native brown trout; glorious leopards of fish weighing three pounds at least but preferably even double that. There’s a UK history of these powerhouse river beauties; think AE Hobbs and his more than 800 Thames leviathans 100 years ago. But what of their status today? Are they in decline or merely overlooked? Where and how might you catch the trout of a lifetime by design? And how will you know whether your spot-splashed monster is, in fact, wild?
Perhaps it doesn’t matter whether a catch is a true nature’s masterpiece or a well-mended trout off a lorry long ago but we all know it does. Those keen for the challenge of catching big brownies are probably already trout connoisseurs, and the genetics of even a half-pound fish will be important to you. When finally after a session, or even season, of effort the rod bends to that extra weight and the reel screams, you need to
