More on wild bows

[Chaz]

I've said this many times in the past, but I think it is worth repeating, buying rainbows from down south where we already know that wild bows are a threat to brookies is a dangerous precedent, I’m afraid the damage is already done. I’ve caught wild bows in paces I had no business catching them, of course I fish so many streams that so few fishermen ever think of fishing maybe they’ve been there a long time and no one knew. But I don’t think that is the case. It’s just too coincidental that all of a sudden everyone’s catching rainbows that appear to be wild. If they are we have only a matter of time before brookies are history in the streams we're finding them.

 

[flyman]

I thought from reading the PFBC site that the purchased rainbows from NC were being stocked in lakes?
PFBC News Release - Commercial Trout Stocking Pilot Program
Tried to put a link in here, didn't work. :-(

 

[Chaz]

Lakes and reservoirs are NOT closed systems fish move especially rainbows as proven by the trout mvement study.

 

[5footfenwick]

Several years ago while fishing the head waters of a small brookie class A I managed to hook and land what appeared to be a wild rainbow. It was about 7-8 inches in length. beautifully colored and all fins were in perfect shape. I released it (like an idiot !) because I release everything and never got any photos.

What is strange is the class A feeds into approved trout water. but not for about 4 miles down stream. Now I have caught countless rainbows at the mouth of this creek where it dumps into approved trout water, but never caught any in it, except for this one. This is an extremely small extremely cold mountain stream about 4 or 5 feet wide. I thought alot about this, and from what I can tell this fish had to be the offspring of reproducing bows for 2 reasons.
First off I can't imagine a stocked fish getting dumped into 50-55degree and warmer water with plenty to eat, and then making a 4 mile swim up a barren cold 37-43degree's trickle with not much food.( well besides small brookies) but a 7 inch fish isn't finding alot of brookies small enough to eat. (last year I did however catch an 8inch brookie with a 5 inch brookie down is gullet all but the tail) so maybe there is some food, but I just don't see it happening 4 miles through runs and plunge pools isn't something that I would think a stocked trout would do.

Second off, I have never seen such a small rainbow be stocked. In the approved trout water below this class a, the rainbows average 12-15 inches. I don't know if I have ever caught one under 10inches in the approved trout water.

only thing that i can think of is if 2 energetic bows made their way up during summer rain maybe a mile to one of the nicer pools, and then we didn't have alot of run off and heavy rains the next spring then I wouldn't know why they couldn't have spawned.

just an interesting story I though I'd share. Has any one else ever had this happen to them? It would be interesting if anyone has any input on this.

"tight lines to all"

~footfenwick

 

[FarmerDave]

Chaz, I fish a couple streams that have wild rainbows, and they have had them for decades. One of them is even a class A for rainbows. On all the streams, the further upstream I go, the more brookies i catch, and the fewer rainbows. It could be that the brook trout simply do better in the headwaters, which means they will never be wiped out. Or it could be that these particular headwaters are just a little too acidic for rainbows. I don't know. Also, it is the brook trout that are displacing the rainbows out west.

I agree that stocking these rainbows is a problem and should be stopped, but I'm not convinced that they will have as significant of an impact as they have in North Carolina.

 

[KenU]

FarmerDave, I think you will find that it is the cutthroats that are being displaced by brook trout in the west not rainbows. At least that seems to be the situation in Oregon.

 

[Stone_Fly]

KU is correct, but I'll add that it is Brookies rainbows and browns that have pushed many populations of cutthroats. The primary target is apparently brookies, even though many restoration projects target only brookies. For instance, the Jefferson River has a major effort to restore flows, but in all of the literature there is nothing about restoring cutthroats to the river. This is the same river where Lewis and Clark wrote that the Three Rivers were full of trout, cutthroat trout.

 

[flyman]

I caught this 13" fish in the Breeches. All the fins were perfect and white edged. As you can see it has excellent color, also check out the orange-red slashes on the throat area. If I were out west I would say cuttbow. Another chapter in the wild bow mystery.

 

[LigonierA1]

Interesting with the cutt bow. I guess I shouldn't be suprised but I wouldn't expect that.

Here's one I got last year out of a Class A water in Potter County. It might just be the prettiest fish I've ever caught. Perfect fins, white tips on the rear two, and just look at those spots. Of course I can't say for sure if it's native as it wouldn't tell me, but it looks pretty convincing: