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October 2005 FF+FT

Started by Wildfisher, September 20, 2005, 04:23:16 PM

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Wildfisher

Good issue, some good troot-stuff by Stan the man. But did you see the photo of the wild rainbow on page 42?  :)



My question is, if that wonderful fish is a rainbow, what the hell is it we have here in Bonny Scotchland?  :cry:

Actually, back in the days of ?sensible stocking? -  ?60s and early ?70s, with fish of 9? or so,  we used to catch fish almost as good. A Rescobie 2 pounder grown on from a 9 incher was a worthy prize. Bring it on back please  :!:

Pearly Invicta

That's a very good point. I know that when I read stuff by Zane Gray and
John Gierach about catching wild rainbows I cannae equate it with the overbred farm animals we encounter in too many stocked fisheries. I haven't fished for rainbows at all this year but I can remember maybe 3 or 4 times when I've encountered great quality overwintered rainbows which have really given a good account of themselves- including one which took me down to the backing 3 times on Seamaw Loch in Perthshire. So it's not impossible for the owners to source the right fish- just damned expensive. My club water, Monikie, seems to find excellent quality fish- from Devon! Here's a picture of a really good quality rainbow I caught last winter (Dec). I think what it shows is that this to me is a great quality rainbow (look at the tail)- but it still looks like a fundamentally different animal to the fish shown above.

Pearly Invicta

And sorry for posting a picture of a rainbow Fred. I suggest you display it for say, 48 hours for the purpose of illustrating the argument, then delete it from the site. That way it will replicate as closely as possible the life cycle of a UK rainbow trout- post stocking.

Wildfisher

Pearly,

That is a nice fish. Like the wild one above it is ?in proportion?, it is the shape  a trout (charr) should be. The huge body tiny head syndrome screams  pellet-fed  ?stockie rainbow?. It?s not just the fins that are a dead give-away. I feel a bit sorry for some  fishery owners,  some I have spoken with would prefer to stock smaller fish, but the ?bagging up?  ? ?Troutmaster?, ?Trout Fisherman?   mentality seems so prevalent now it is hard to see the current mould being broken.  That fish you posted reminds me of the fabulous ?bows we used to catch on Rescobie 30 years ago.  Stocked at 9?, caught at 2 or three pounds. The amazing feeding in that loch ensured a very fast growth rate. It also ensured the bastards were not easy to catch though!!! I have no problem with quality fish, even if they are stockies, provided they were stocked SMALL and allowed to grow on.

lnelson20

Adam's 5 1/2 pounder from the pass on sunday was a very short fat fish that scream's pellet fed,not a nice specimen in my opinion,a lot of the english reservoir's seem to produce nicel'y proportioned fully finned rainbow's :) Why don't we get them up here :?:
All the best lad's
Chris.
c.nelson

Wildfisher

Quote from: shielfisher
fish grown on for stocking have the potential to be full tailed things of delight

That depends on the extent of the damage Hamish. I once  caught a  stockie brown of about a pound at Tillypronie loch (I used to fish there a LOT) whose tail  had been chewed right down to the flesh. I released him  and low an behold caught the same fish again a year or so later, tail callused and pretty hideous . It HAD to be the same fish I am certain, the pattern of damage was identical and the fish a bit heavier. I would say that stockie brownies usually have even worse fin damage than ?bows as they are in the fish farm for longer, being slower to grow.

On the subject of growing on and 9? fish. Some places use the cormorant damage excuse for not doing this anymore. This I guess is a bit of  smoke screen as small fish are much cheaper to buy and more could be stocked to compensate. I suspect the real reason  is that customers now EXPECT big fish and will no longer tolerate catching some smaller stuff. In essence the fishery-industry has made a rod for its own back by  creating totally unrealistic and,  increasingly in  view of many,  unsustainable expectations amongst their customers.  Can this cycle be broken? I doubt it.

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