BS: Rainbow trout

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 23 Apr 15 - 11:22 AM

Here's an article on trout and trout fishing that appeared in the Sunday N.Y. Times sports section by James Prosek with some nice illustrations of some interesting salmonids.

Click here

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 08:27 AM

It's good to know you're on the job, sciencegeek, and that non-profits are working effectively with government agencies on conservation and restoration projects. I support N.C. and Trout Unlimited and have benefited greatly from their good works.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 03:30 PM

here in the northeast many streams had mill ponds installed to supply power... a big effort is going into removing those old dams, but the buildup of sediment on the old pools make it difficult to do economically and in an environmentally sound manner.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 03:12 PM

I have several like that here also. Ten foot above the Creek a road drain pipe. No fish get up, what were they thinking. Now that small Creek has nothing in it. The steelhead try to go up but stopped at the pipe, they then move elsewhere

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 12:49 PM

"poorly desighed and maintained stream crossings (culverts etc.) that, taken in total, have a major impact in limiting aquatic productivity"

yes indeed! too many town & county hwy depts. are clueless... the one that carries the stream on my farm is a good example of that... it runs horizontally under the road, with the upstream end at ground level and the downstream end sitting at least 8-10 feet above the stream. It does create a great plunge pool that stays cold... but ain't no fish I know can jump up into the pipe and make it upstream. So there you go with about a mile of headwater (we're the first trib. in what is otherwise a trout stream & feeder into the local reservoir) isolated from the system. It's intermittant... goes dry in a drought year, so no resident fish populations survived.

My first job with the Department was as a fisheries tech.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 12:29 PM

Lol yes... No fishing again thunder bangers today still. Dang it

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 11:58 AM

"Where I live, a percentage of the taxes on booze taxes goes toward community conservation projects that enhance aquatic habitat."

Hence the expression, "Drink like a fish."

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: Ed T
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 11:54 AM

A fish habitat biologist recently told me that he sees many poorly desighed and maintained stream crossings (culverts etc.) that, taken in total, have a major impact in limiting aquatic productivity. Where I live, a percentage of the taxes on booze taxes goes toward community conservation projects that enhance aquatic habitat. A good idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 11:20 AM

Wonderful science geek, keep up the good work

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,sciencegeek
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 09:23 AM

one accomplishment I managed to pull off recently was to facilitate a native brook trout restoration project in the Hemlock Lake (one of the Little Finger Lakes) watershed. The project removed an old dam & spillway and replaced it with a more natural stream channel that will allow them to access two miles of headwaters that was blocked to them before. Wow... Nature Conservancy, Fish & Wildlfife Service and the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation managed to work together and get it done. Now the land will be turned over to the parks dept. and become public land.

Two ways to destroy trout habitat... erosion into the stream to destroy spawong beds +----------------------------------and remove all the canopy vegetation... warm water = dead trout.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 02:01 PM

No fishing today sniff sniff, thunder storm here sad. Dang weather

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 01:54 PM

Lol. And yes they jump like crazy steelhead put up a great fight

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 01:19 PM

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 12:11 PM

#, That looks like a trout I caught once... only smaller.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 11:35 AM

I landed this trout and got the picture.

What more can be said?

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 09:45 AM

I don't think John Gierach would agree with your conclusion regarding the veracity of our fishing tales,#. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 09:20 AM

You guys keep telling the truth about your fishing expeditions, you're going to give fishermen a bad name :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 20 Apr 15 - 07:41 AM

Sounds like another good day for you, Dan. I've never fished for steelhead so let me ask, do those lake fish jump like river dwelling rainbows?

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 06:47 PM

Gilly impressive day you had awesome

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 04:15 PM

At the lake two so far

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: gnu
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 02:45 PM

"We all live downstream". I am a member of a FB group Named Upriver Environmental Watch... same concept. Ya gotta be concerned about what's upriver and not just in yer own back yard.

Glad to hear the fishin stories. Keep em comin. Tight lines and straight shootin eh?

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 11:38 AM

Thought you'd never ask, Dan. I live in SWFL so no salmonids but I released 3 snook to 28" (on 3 different streamers) a hardhead catfish and jumped a big tarpon unexpectedly who released himself as they usually do. I also nearly got swamped by a huge manatee who drifted under my kayak and splashed me good when he/she spooked.

Thanks,#, I checked out Suzuki. An impressive man, well represented on youtube. Placed a hold on his "You Are the Earth" at my library via web.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 11:24 AM

Lol yup I am going out again in a bit. Spring time is like a drug to us fisherman. Gilly how did you do.. Any browns or steelhead

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 11:14 AM

Occasionally some young teenagers fly fish in the river out back. They have a ball.

gillymor, I went looking for the 'we all live downstream' observation and find it most often attributed to or associated with David Suzuki.

If you guys are out again today, good luck. One word of advice: if whatever you hooked pulls you in, let go of the fishing rod and get out of the water :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 10:25 AM

Good for you, Dan. I had a good day on the water as well. Ain't springtime wonderful for the fisherman.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 19 Apr 15 - 12:21 AM

Going back out tomorrow. My Mrs said I am going to turn into a fish. Ok with me, fish are beautiful critters, even the wierd ones are perfect

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:23 PM

Got three nice ones tonight.. Loads of fun.. By the way vinegar gets rid of the fish smell on your hands.. Works great

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 12:56 PM

This morning the 8 year old and his 14year old brother hauling in big steelhead one after the other. I got skunked nothing Lol got my butt kicked by an 8 year old. So fun watching the little guys all doing catch and release

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 10:35 AM

Please do use it, #. I didn't invent it. My late buddy Don used to say it and I don't know where he got it. I've been meaning to have it made into a bumper sticker and maybe today is the day.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 10:07 AM

". . . we all live downstream."

I hope you don't mind if I use that, gillymor. It's a darned good and thoughtful statement.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 18 Apr 15 - 08:53 AM

True that,#, we all live downstream.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:53 PM

". . . the current plight of this threatened species."

If we don't clean up our act lickety-split, that threatened is us.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:41 PM

Gnu,
to be clear, I would never " dismiss any credible knowledge" , whether it be local or scientific. Sometimes there are just more than one piece to a puzzle, in this case one that covers very broad geography. While it is easy to be convinced that what we see locally is the entire picture, often the canvas is just bigger and the issues more complex than that. I see no point in deminishing any well meaning attempt to get clearer and less confounding answers-which could lead to the recovery of the current plight of this threatened species.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,#
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:38 PM

' "Your fish warnings are more ominous in Lake Ontario," says Ontario's Environmental Commissioner, Gord Miller. "If you look at the guidelines for eating fish, you'll find that the highest level of contaminants is in Lake Ontario."

Just check out the Environment Ministry's 2011-2012 "Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish." No kids under 15 and no women considering getting pregnant should even think of a fish fry.

Here's an appetizing bit: "In the various species of trout and salmon found in Lake Ontario, dioxins, furans, dioxin-like PCBs, mirex, photomirex, toxaphene and chlordane can be elevated in the same fish . . .
"Consumption of species such as walleye, pike, bass and perch is usually restricted because of mercury. In total, 58.6 per cent of the advice given for sport fish from Lake Ontario results in some level of consumption restriction." '

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:29 PM

In lake Erie there use to be a fish called a blue Pike. At the end of the 1800s the numbers
Were staggering. Commercial fishing caught millions in the early 1900s. Industrial silt from the buffalo steel mills destroyed the spawning grounds. They are all but extinct along with the Erie lake sturgeon. So I have to agree with gnu

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: gnu
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:18 PM

Ed T... good for you on the farmed crap. I agree to disagree on the rest of it. I believe the major factor, by far, is the silting of the spawning grounds and the spraying of Agent Orange and it's derivatives for 50 years. I've caught three eyed fish and fish with other deformities... a lot of them. I've seen streams that you can piss in and double the water flow in August where logs used to be driven in spring. When you dismiss the knowledge of ages, you dismiss yourself.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:05 PM

That's tempting. My mother has a lot of family in Western PA and I went up there every summer as a kid but never did any fishing.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:02 PM

I will take ya there, my secret stream

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 03:01 PM

Pennsylvania bro

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 02:47 PM

Dan don't give away any classified info,(hee,hee,hee) but what area are you describing?

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 01:34 PM

Back in the mountains the brookies are about your size most around 9 or 11 inches. They jump on a fly for sure. I love those fish, absolutely beautiful. The mountain streams are full of them. In my area growing up, the biggest brookie I ever caught was probably 13 or so inches. They were native fish not stocked however the popular fishing holes not in the mountains are stocked with brookies

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 01:30 PM

I should mention that it's actually a char (Salvelinus fontinalis) not a trout.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,gillymor
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 01:01 PM

Yep Dan, I love brookies. They're not native to the west but they are plentiful. I remember one morning catching 7" to 9" brookies right at our campsite on the upper reaches of the Big Hole River and putting them straight into the frypan. My buddy Don and I would switch off casting and cooking and ate until we were stuffed, we even caught a few beautiful grayling that morning which we carefully released.
Yellowstone Park is full of them as well, especially at higher elevations. While hiking to a back country lake in the North Central section of YNP we came across a beaver dam on a side channel of the river we were following and immediately we thought Brook Trout. Brookies can grow large behind beaver dams with the concentrated forage in the slower water and we caught a bunch of 12-14" kamikaze fish on big bushy dry flies. It's moments like that that partially make up for those frustrating days dealing with finicky trout at lower elevations. Came back a couple of years later and the dam was gone.
Most of the brookies I've encountered out west are small (9-10" at most) are easily fooled with attractor dry flys and are most consistently found close to the headwaters of rivers. And they are the prettiest trout I've seen. I understand they grow quite large in eastern Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 12:53 PM

Give it a try srs you will be hooked forever lol

You know no matter how old we get, the memories of fishing with our dads always seems to be our best.. Isn't that true. I lost my dad at 14 but I still see him and I on a remote stream somewhere

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 12:05 PM

Dan, you asked if I fly fish. No, I never have, but I have had the pleasure to watch it, and I love reading about it (have you read any of John McPhee's fishing stories in The New Yorker or in his books)?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 11:56 AM

Anyone ever go after native brook trout. I had a few secret streams high in the mountains. They are not big fish at all but also hard to catch. The native brook trout are so beautiful.
Stu.. Thank you for sharing that wonderful story.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: GUEST,Blandiver (Astray)
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 05:00 AM

Aways wanted to eat a perch from Lake Champlain...

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: Stu
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 04:40 AM

"The brown Trout on a fly is the finest test of a fisherman there is"

You're making me feel better with that statement Dan. I've only ever fly fished but remember a magical afternoon on the River Dove in Derbyshire fishing for wild Brown Trout with my dad some years ago. It was perfect weather, just the right warmth for lots of insects there were mergansers fishing for smaller fish on the stiller stretches. The river was crystal clear.

We stalked along the back for a while looking for trout and at some point Dad stopped to fish. I carried on upstream and eventually spotted a beautiful large brown sculling in the shallows, plucking insects from the surface in that powerful, incredible and indescribable way they curve and twist when they rise. I had a dry fly on and repeatedly cast upstream, gently guiding the fly right above his nose. He was having none of it and eventually I conceded defeat and we moved on. In truth I wasn't sorry I didn't catch him; he seemed like the living embodiment of the river, a true spirit of nature.

I caught a fish later in the day, but it was smaller and I put it back. Wonderful times.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: Ed T
Date: 17 Apr 15 - 04:05 AM

Jumping to conclusions again gnu-actually, I dont eat farmed fish if any kind. The simple reason is tgat I know directly how they are grown.

Your generic and simplistic conclusions from your local haunts and buddies dont "hold water" for the many At. Salmon rivers - many without significant forestry operations that also have seen major declines in returns from the sea for spawning. In many of these rivers, enough juvenile fish were tracked leaving the rivers (various river counts verify this for years), but adequate numbers of adults have not been returning to meet healthy conservation levels. Over time, populations decline to a serious situation. You dont have to be a "woodsman" to realize that. Human activities in freshwater, like farming, forestry, aquaculture, urban development, pesticide spraying, road construction, housing, poorely constructed river crossings, all contribute to habitat loss-that surely makes the situation worse. But, this represents only a part of the salmons life, the at sea portion is a more significant part of the puzzle-and one that is more complex to gain knowledge on.

If you chose to use the same aporoach to salmon, as you seem to have done with fracking-gathering broad knowledge from many sources (research, local and traditional) your assesement would seem better grounded and less "confounding" to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Rainbow trout
From: olddude
Date: 16 Apr 15 - 11:19 PM

Rainy and cold. I went down just before dark. I had one big boy on but he shook the lure when he broke water. No other action. I saw a few small ones chasing some minnows but not interested in any lure. Not a good day. Maybe tomorrow