The Battenkill's Biggest Trout

A couple weeks ago, my wife Deanna and I were poking around the river on yet another mild November day. We were hoping to find a new spot where a few fish might be feeding on the daily hatch of tiny blue winged olives we had been enjoying for the past several weeks. I suggested we check out the big pool that forms just below the old covered bridge located in Shushan.

While the covered bridge is no longer being used, it remains in good shape and is now a museum. As with many small museums, this one is staffed by volunteers and hours tend to be a bit unpredictable. Deanna and I were surprised when we parked in the designated space to see a car by the entrance. The door to the bridge itself was open but we saw nobody there. We decided to scramble down the steep bank to have a look at the river. We saw only one rise and were about to walk back up the short path when a gentleman looked down from the embankment and asked if we were there to see the bridge or the river. Confessing that we were there for the river the gentleman invited us up to take a peek at the museum. He happened to be there for a little cleaning up and welcomed us in. Our dog Roscoe charged in before we were able to ask if he could enter and the fellow just smiled. We followed behind to make sure that the pup didn't cause too much trouble.

As soon as we entered the bridge I glanced to the right and there on the wall was an aging mount of an enormous trout. Was it THE trout I wondered with excitement? Underneath the trout was a hand written plaque that confirmed that this was indeed the famous trout that Roy Brown caught100 years ago this past May.

Note the date, May 11, 1923. Not all is as it appears.

Now, before you question my math skills or make a note not to ask for me to help on your taxes, there is a story behind that date. Read on and I shall explain.

When John Merwin came out with his book The Battenkill I read it in a day, sneaking away from my desk to find a quiet spot to consume the book as quickly as I could. I will allow you to guess where it is I found the peace and quiet to enjoy the book.

When Merwin discussed the introduction of the brown trout into the Battenkill he mentioned that a "young Roy Brown" caught the massive fish mentioned above on May 11, 1930. The fish came from the deep, dark Dutchman's Hole. I took the date as gospel truth until I began doing research for my book. To my surprise, the famous fish was not caught in 1930. I discovered this very much by accident when I did a quick search on the website Newspapers.com. It was there that I found an article from the Rutland Daily Herald published on May 16 offering basic details of the catch; not in 1930, nor in1923 but in 1924!

In trying to learn a bit about Roy Brown I discovered that he was, in fact 18 years old at the time; having been born in February of1906. Young for sure, but not the freckle faced youth that I imagined. I had always pictured the monster of a trout being reeled in by an 8 or10

year-old kid, perhaps playing hooky and becoming something of a legend in the local village. May 11 was a Sunday. Perhaps he skipped out on church!

Years later Brown owned the Tackle Box that was located adjacent to the bridge by the popular Spring Hole. His obituary noted that he operated the shop for 14 years. He passed in 1979. My friend Rich Norman, who used to work at the Anglers Nook, advised me that Brown sold the Tackle Box to a fellow by the name of Al Wiles in 1975. The Tackle Box became more of a hangout for anglers than a tackle shop. It is now a private residence, though the bridge is referred to as the Tackle Box Bridge to this day

Of course, it is entirely possible that a larger trout has been caught on the Battenkill. I ran across more than a few photos of large trout from the 'kill while reviewing newspaper articles. The closest that I saw was a very large specimen caught on the Vermont side of the river in the mid 60's. It tipped the scales at a touch over 11 lbs.

During the 1970's John Randolph, who went on to become the editor of Fly Fisherman, wrote about seeing trout as large as 10 lbs. lurking in the waters of the old stream. Randolph was discussing this in the context of the last dam on the Vermont section of the mainstem Battenkill having washed out after a storm. Folks who wanted the dam to be rebuilt (located at the present-day Red Mill access site) believed that large trout would have no place to call home with the loss of the deep-water pool that existed above the dam. Randolph was adamant that plenty of habitat existed to house large trout.

When Ken Cox came on board as the district biologist for the state of Vermont, population studies using electroshocking were revived after having lapsed for several years. During the course of many years Cox never brought any fish approaching the size of Brown's trout to net, but he did miss one that got away (larger trout are surprisingly difficult to capture via electroshocking). Having seen and measured thousands of trout, Cox was confident that the specimen he missed was at least 28 inches long.

More recently my friend Greg Cuda came upon a pail along the river containing three trout that had their skin fileted, but the heads and tails were intact. He took the time to measure them. Two were 19 inches long and the third was an astonishing 34 inches from head to tail! So, it is possible, if only just, that somewhere in the depths of the Battenkill a trout larger than Roy Brown's lurks.

For now, though, Roy Brown's record still stands. Sadly, the skin mount that hangs at the Covered Bridge Museum is a rotting relic of a time that has long since passed. Unfortunately, I have not yet located a photo of the record catch but if I do, I will post it here. Until then, this is all we have:

The tattered remnants of the grand trout caught 100 years ago this past May 11th.