Injured trout numbers up this year??

[MillerPhoto]

I can't believe how many injured trout I have seen caught this year.. Eaither missing part of a fin, of Lamprey marks, or large scrapes down their side or absesses ontheir belly .. But today.. I was in grafton again and caught these two.. both 18" weighing in just under 2lbs each. I really didn't feel comfortable taking them home due to the marks on them, so I released them to grow bigger and hopefully live on and heal.... But i don't know how well the one will heal! Just can't figure out what made that amount of damage!

 

Even the fish I can see in the creek and others that have been caught out of there and in Cobourg and at the Ganny... lots of marks! whats going on this year with all that!

 

 

Pic 1 - Fish looks perfect including the sun glaring off the beautiful skin.. right.... think again. look at pic 2 of the same fish!!

Pic 2 - One hell of a lamprey mark... or something else?

[kemper]

This time of year the water temps get high and trout do not get along well with high water temps. I assume it is much easier for bacteria and such to affect them in the warmer water and they are probably not all that resistant to infection being that they live in extreme cold temps most of the time.

 

I have landed quite a few the last two days and lots are marked up, its all part of the spawning process lots of pike are marked up this time of year too.

 

That mark is nasty though, looks like a lamprey mark with a bad infection

[Zubris21]

looks to me like someone shot or speared it. Wild animals can be pretty resilient though, hopefully it survives.

[MillerPhoto]

I hope he survives too. I only had him out of the water for about 1 min max to shoot the pic and weigh and measure, had to hold him up in the water for about 2 min before he kicked off. I have a feeling he might not survive, cause there was fresh blood coming from the wound..

 

Eaither way.. life cycle.. he dies.. and other fish and creek life feed off his body.

[niceguy]

Does anyone know if the salmon are in the mouth of the ganaraska

Yet.

[Musky or Specks]

If these are river fish that looks an aweful lot like a fresh heron spear. They get a little carried away sometimes with what they think they can kill.

[BillM]

Does anyone know if the salmon are in the mouth of the ganaraska

Yet.

 

No.

[craigdritchie]

Definitely NOT a lamprey mark. Damage is almost certainly from a heron. A great blue heron will eat 16 - 17 inch rainbows like you or I go through a bag of popcorn.

[BillM]

I heard from a very reliable source that salmon aren't going up the Ganny this year.

 

Yup, they are going to spawn in the blue zone instead!

[Christopheraaron]

Definitely NOT a lamprey mark. Damage is almost certainly from a heron. A great blue heron will eat 16 - 17 inch rainbows like you or I go through a bag of popcorn.

 

yup.

[john from craa]

100% heron damage...very common. With the low water from drought conditions and often trout seeking out shallow areas with cold water inputs like springs along the bank they are more exposed to heron predation than most years. As Craig said, a fish that size is a quick meal. I've seen them pull out fish up to 22" and have seen larger resident browns that died from heron spear marks.

 

John

[adolson]

I caught a speck with its bottom jaw split in the middle, as if it was on a stringer and ripped through to free itself. About a month later I caught a speck with only one eye. Better only one than a third, I think.

[Musky or Specks]

I caught a speck with its bottom jaw split in the middle, as if it was on a stringer and ripped through to free itself. About a month later I caught a speck with only one eye. Better only one than a third, I think.

Dana with you fishing stocked lakes these are most likely hatchery deformities.