# Ever catch a Stockerfest hog?



## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

Have any of you ever caught one of the hog trout they put in every year during Stockerfest?
I'm sure you know the ones I'm talking about,the 30 inch browns and rainbows they always put a few of in there.
I managed to hook(and not land ) a brown around 6 or 7 pounds a few years ago and I've seen some rainbows that would pass for steelhead,but I've never landed or saw one landed.
I figured with all the people from this site that fish it someone had,and might have a picture of it 
By the way, it starts on a Saturday this year and I predict a regular zoo out there,but I'll probably be there all the same:lol: I'll pray for a late snow storm,if that's possible this year to keep a few folks at home!


----------



## fishineddie (Jun 15, 2004)

where and when is it i wanna check it out this year??if you dont mind another animal in the zoo


----------



## esox master (Sep 9, 2003)

> where and when is it i wanna check it out this year??if you dont mind another animal in the zoo



It is April 1st at the proud lake recreational area, flies only, no kill until the last Saturday in April.

I landed a 26-inch rainbow that looked exactly like a steelhead and it jumped like crazy like a steelhead, which was kind of cool. It was like the lone fish I have seen that came out of the stocker fest that looked very good with intact fins and amazing color, sadly the fish was caught during very low light and the guy that took the picture of it didn&#8217;t use the flash. I will try to get a picture of both the browns one of my friends caught 3 years ago they were 32 and 34 inches or something, also this spring flyfsh4trt and me saw a dead brown on the bank that had to have been over 3 feet and was the fattest fish I have ever seen. I will have to see if he took a picture of this fish.


----------



## fishineddie (Jun 15, 2004)

thanks ...


----------



## Michigan Mike (May 21, 2004)

Spring Mill Pond in Island Lake Recreation Area is stocked at the same time,but you can catch and release using flies or lures.
This can be a good place for someone a little older whom
loves to trout fish but can no longer get around in the river. 
Excess breeding stock is released here too.


Mike


----------



## unregistered55 (Mar 12, 2000)

I've caught several big ones over 20-24 inches. One in particular- I was fishing upstream 3 guys that had been casting to a pod of fish for hours-they had not gotten anything-They asked me if I wanted to try for them. I waded over,hooked & landed a big old rainbow at least 26" long- on maybe the 3rd cast. His snout was worn to the bone- probably from bumping against raceways in the hatchery.


----------



## Thai one on (Jul 23, 2005)

I caught one of those by hand a couple of years ago! I was walking back to the car from towards the dam and saw him laid up against the bank. I thought he was a dead or dying fish and I went to poke at him with the end of my rod.
He didn't move. I thought this was strange 'cause he still had good color and was swaying his tail to keep in the current. So, I layed down on the bank and reached into the water, slipped my hand under his belly and with the other hand quickly grabbed his tail. Man, It was like this fish awoke from a comma! I stood up with this fish wriggling in a frenzy to meet a couple of other guys walking down the path. They had been watching me laying down and wondered what I was up to. I guess I answered when I stood up with a 23" hook nosed brown trout in my hands minus fly-rod-reel ect. After a brief picture, I let him go. 
Lost the picture since then. But if u are the person who had the digital camera that sunny spring day in 2002, and I know you'd remember the story, Id love to see it again.


----------



## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

I'm glad to hear some of you have caught a few of the big ones.There was some huge fish in there last year.
I was wading through there about 3 or 4 years ago checking the holes and in one of them I spotted a northern pike about 40 inches,I didn't hook him,but I would bet if you filleted him him meat was pink


----------



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I would bet if you fileted that Pike the meat would be white - they all are.


----------



## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

Fishndude said:


> I would bet if you fileted that Pike the meat would be white - they all are.


 Joking about him being in there eating all the trout


----------



## catch&release (Jan 17, 2004)

On May 2, 1999 I caught a 30 inch rainbow that was half dead in Barton Pond on the Huron River, just upstream from Ann Arbor. The dorsal fin was misshaped and it had stubs for pectoral fins. I remember the date well cuz it was the day after the inland pike opener.

The poor fish ate a nightcrawler being fished in the current with a spinner for walleye.

I'm guessing it was released in Milford for the stocker fest there and made its way downstream. It was all slimy and mushy when I pulled it from the water and it fought like a sack of potatoes. Guessing it could have been in the water about a month. Barton pond's water was already in the high sixties as it was a real warm spring and I think the fish was dying from lack of oxygen.

Was kind of neat to pull a complete surpize like that out of my walleye and bass spot.:yikes:


----------



## HOPTOAD (Dec 5, 2005)

Are you able to put in a canoe or kayak to get up stream on the Huron at at Proud Lake during the Stockerfest?


----------



## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

I've caught some pig rainbows, but never one of "the pig" browns you see in there occasionally.


----------



## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

HOPTOAD said:


> Are you able to put in a canoe or kayak to get up stream on the Huron at at Proud Lake during the Stockerfest?


 Yes and I've seen people do it,but with the number of people in the river you'll get a few dirty looks traveling to your spot


----------



## troutchops (Apr 15, 2005)

I caught a few bows around the 20-25 inch mark last spring. I saw some dead browns that were much bigger. This one is from last spring. Sorry about the poor picture, it was the only one I could find.


----------



## CaptainNorthwood (Jan 3, 2006)

I went down there one year and we caught quite a few fish. They didnt seem to be real particuliar on pattern when I was there. We did hook into a few really big fish but to be honest i was kinda dissppointed, they made one or two runs and that was about it, not that I really expected them to fight like a wild fish but i thought they would have had a little more burn than they did. Anyone catch a fish out of there that fought good?


----------



## hooknem (Mar 14, 2003)

Here's one I pulled out of there a couple years ago.


----------



## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

hooknem said:


> Here's one I pulled out of there a couple years ago.


 That's what I was talking about! I saw several of those in a school last year by the dam(while that area was closed to fishing) and if I had been up north I would have said they were steelhead!
Nice fish
Like the Photoshop job too:lol:


----------



## hooknem (Mar 14, 2003)

Actually, I just swiped the pic off another email I got. Not me. Not my fishes. Just screwing around. I just couldn't resist posting it when I saw that picture.


----------



## Bob T (Feb 6, 2000)

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/549/Big_bow.jpg

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/523/trout_in_pool.jpg

These were a couple of pics that I took last year. 

Bob


----------



## Bob T (Feb 6, 2000)

Always takes me a couple of efforts to post the pictures instead of the links!

Bob


----------



## chase n trout (Apr 27, 2005)

I just moved down here from the GR area, how is the crowd at the "Stocker Fest." I am assuming sinve the 1st falls on a Saturday it will be shoulder to shoulder? How is it during the week?


----------



## dinoday (Feb 22, 2004)

chase n trout said:


> I just moved down here from the GR area, how is the crowd at the "Stocker Fest." I am assuming sinve the 1st falls on a Saturday it will be shoulder to shoulder? How is it during the week?


 It's pretty busy at the easiest access spots for sure.There's a ton of people on the river,but you can walk in and get away from most people.
It can be busy during the week,a lot of people will fish before or after work too.
It's fun, you just have to go in realizing you're fishing a stocked river in a suburban area and there will be people there.
I'm hoping for snow that weekend, that tends to keep the tourists at home:lol:


----------



## chase n trout (Apr 27, 2005)

Thanks for the info...can't wait for April...little warm up for the opener this year!


----------

