If you can't find the answers to all your fishing questions here, try asking one of our experts. IGFA Record 35.9 lb. Today they can be caught in the Northeast, the Appalachians, the Upper Midwest, and the mountainous regions of the West.
Browns can grow to huge sizes.
The current all-tackle world record weighed 35 pounds 15 ounces, but a much smaller fish might be considered big, depending on the habitat in which it is caught. In a small mountain stream, for example, a 16-inch brown is a beauty, while in the tailwaters of some large American rivers, you might catch a fish weighing 10 or even 20 pounds or more. The biggest of big browns, however, come from lakes, and it's likely that somewhere in one of our Great Lakes lurks a brown well over 40 pounds. For the majority of fishermen on the majority of American streams and rivers, browns between 8 and 12 inches are the norm and anything bigger is a bonus. Most average-size browns make their living by eating aquatic and terrestrial insects, but a significant number of browns over 12 or 13 inches turn to larger prey such as sculpins, dace, crawfish, and even their own fry.