Why Rainbows????

[thorne]

Just curious if anyone knows WTF the Gov spends all this money on stocking rainbows? Honestly in the ponds they stock them in, they don't taste very good or do very well...more of a moving water variety. How ever Brookies or Cut Throats would do much better, and are VERY tasty...any thoughts??

[WinefredCommander]

Rainbows are cheap. Cutts are not. And brookies don’t bite all the time.

[Mr Flyguy]

Just curious if anyone knows WTF the Gov spends all this money on stocking rainbows? Honestly in the ponds they stock them in, they don't taste very good or do very well...more of a moving water variety. How ever Brookies or Cut Throats would do much better, and are VERY tasty...any thoughts??

I think, make that know, that that they do very well indeed in the ponds. It's not the trout's fault that they don't taste very good, it's the water and diet. If you don't like the taste, don't kill them and just buy your fish at Costco!

[the local angler]

i also wish they would stock brookies and or cutts but these two species of trout maybe prefer colder waters? are stocked ponds too warm for them and maybe rainbows adapt better??

[pikergolf]

Brookies and Cutts would not do better. Rainbows are tough enough, easy to raise and people like them. Perfect for put and take. Browns might do better, but are harder to catch. Any fish out of a pond will not taste good in July and August, unless maybe a Sunfish which we don't have in Ab.

[thorne]

K...fair enough, was curious and now have some good answers...THANKS! They are just not my thing, guess thats why I dont fish em...lol.

[tallieho]

Rainbows are cheaper to grow from our stocks.They tend not to eat there young,are more tolerant to warmer waters.Brooks are notorious for stunting/over populating.Need cooler water to live,are hard to catch.Tend to eat ,there young & not much on adapting to a bug type diet[winter].Cuts.Easier to catch,grow slow,hard to aquire eggs.Not very many stocks that have adapted to lakes,unless crossing with rainbows.

[4extreme]

I`ve wondered why not stock walleye, there seems to be a short supply of them and you always need a tag.

[Penner]

The trout will taste like the lake no matter the species. Rainbows are great fighters usually get air borne and will make great runs once the get a over few pounds and larger, cutties not to far behind. Browns and brookies pull not bad but generally just bulldog. Rainbows are tough to beat pound for pound. BC stocks mostly rainbows as well for reasons others have already mentioned.

I’d like to see more variety just to mix things up. Seems like current minster is doing just that. Different fish require different techniques that challenges ones skills. Some of the others species are more eye catching than bows in my opinion too.

[Penner]

I`ve wondered why not stock walleye, there seems to be a short supply of them and you always need a tag.

Walleye are quite costly to produce. They also need a large forage base to survive. Most stocked ponds could not support a Walleye population because of that.

[flyrodfisher]

I`ve wondered why not stock walleye, there seems to be a short supply of them and you always need a tag.

Sheesh....have you seen the historical walleye stockings in this province....massive numbers stocked...for years...

For example...in 2009 SRD stocked 52,080,000 walleye into Alberta lakes!
YES...that is 52 MILLION

That same year only 2,900,000 rainbow were stocked...
In 2010...18 Million walleye
In 2011...28 million walleye
In 2012....6.5 million walleye

ETC


INFO directly from the SRD annual stocking reports online.

[wind drift]

Really can’t compare trout and walleye stocking numbers. Totally different reproductive strategies. Walleye go for quantity over quality. Walleye eggs are wee and the fry hatch out basically as plankton and drift about eating microscopic critters and getting eaten by slightly bigger critters for a week or two before actin good like real fish. Trout eggs are quite big and the fry hatch out larger, with yolk sacs and avoidance behaviour (ducking into the gravel). I had a bio tell me once, maybe exaggerating to make a point, that you could put 1 million walleye fry in a 5 gallon bucket.

[flyrodfisher]

Really can’t compare trout and walleye stocking numbers. Totally different reproductive strategies. Walleye go for quantity over quality. Walleye eggs are wee and the fry hatch out basically as plankton and drift about eating microscopic critters and getting eaten by slightly bigger critters for a week or two before actin good like real fish. Trout eggs are quite big and the fry hatch out larger, with yolk sacs and avoidance behaviour (ducking into the gravel). I had a bio tell me once, maybe exaggerating to make a point, that you could put 1 million walleye fry in a 5 gallon bucket.

True...just pointing out that massive amounts of Walleye stocking have taken place.

[Red Bullets]

Don't think all pothole trout taste bad. If the pothole lake or reservoir has springs and/or inlet & outlet streams and lots of freshwater shrimp and minnows the trout taste a bit better.

[58thecat]

Don't think all pothole trout taste bad. If the pothole lake or reservoir has springs and/or inlet & outlet streams and lots of freshwater shrimp and minnows the trout taste a bit better.

Depth is a key factor too.....they get a muddy earthy like taste and thier bodies turn really soft.....head to the mountains I say!

[CardiacCowboy]

Rainbow stocking has been going on for over 100 years all over north america. It is a know science with the best strains well studied. The stocked ponds I fish are all in the foothills so spring or creek feed and taste good after 2 weeks in water body.

I think if you are thinking of put and take ponds rainbows are the best. For water bodies with natural reproducing fish variety would be nice but tampering with a health system to add fish rarely goes well.

[CranePete]

Here in BC, rainbow strains like Blackwater and Gerard are stocked in some lakes that have populations of coarse fish such as shiners. They’ll not be able to completely eradicate them, but can help keep the numbers down. Bonus: triploids don’t take time out for spawning, they just get bigger and bigger. Ask anyone who’s fished Sheridan Lake.
Tight lines.

[Jokey75]

I’d like to see more variety just to mix things up. Seems like current minster is doing just that. .

This actually has nothing to do with the current govt minister.
Surveys started 3-4 years ago and most anglers were wanting more fish variety. The Bios answered with proposals for multi species lakes where they felt they would work best. 2 years ago more species like tigers and browns were added to the usual mix of rainbows.

This is all a result of angler feedback so if you filled out a survey (i know I've filled out several over the years) the new species variety is, in part, thanks to you.

J

[Bushleague]

This actually has nothing to do with the current govt minister.
Surveys started 3-4 years ago and most anglers were wanting more fish variety. The Bios answered with proposals for multi species lakes where they felt they would work best. 2 years ago more species like tigers and browns were added to the usual mix of rainbows.

This is all a result of angler feedback so if you filled out a survey (i know I've filled out several over the years) the new species variety is, in part, thanks to you.

J

Since the trout arent supposed to be re-producing anyway, does anyone know what would be the downside of stocking smallmouth bass or channel cats? Just always wondered.

[Talking moose]

Since the trout arent supposed to be re-producing anyway, does anyone know what would be the downside of stocking smallmouth bass or channel cats? Just always wondered.

Smallies were stocked in several lakes unsuccessfully. Island lake by hanmore being most recent. They don’t reproduce.

[Bushleague]

Smallies were stocked in several lakes unsuccessfully. Island lake by hanmore being most recent. They don’t reproduce.

I understand that, my point was, in most cases the trout are not supposed to reproduce either... same difference.

[Smoky buck]

I understand that, my point was, in most cases the trout are not supposed to be reproduce either... same difference.

Cost and availability is the only advantage to rainbows over the species you suggested. There is also the whole regulatory issues that arise from bringing in stock from out of province too but I don’t know Alberta’s rules regarding this

Personally I basically hate fishing for rainbows after working with them for years and would prefer more non trout stocking programs

[NoodlesTM]

Slightly off topic but the book An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World is worth a read.

[Bushrat]

Rainbows are the timex watch of the hatchery trout world, they are cheaper than the others, take a licking and keep on ticking.

[goldscud]

The bad taste comes from the type of algae in the water....not the species of trout/char

[Smoky buck]

The bad taste comes from the type of algae in the water....not the species of trout/char

Correct the bad taste is not do to the species but it is a lot more than just algae that effects the flavor. Water temp, quality, and forage are the factors that all have a role

Some of the waters that are stocked with rainbows will always produce muddy fish do to the conditions. But if you stocked a species(not trout) better suited for the conditions you would see better eating fish

[Penner]

Caught trout and Perch from same lake back in the day. One bite of the trout and it was not edible, Perch tasted perfectly fine.

[Smoky buck]

Caught trout and Perch from same lake back in the day. One bite of the trout and it was not edible, Perch tasted perfectly fine.

No surprise perch are way more tolerant to poor water quality and warm temps

[pinelakeperch]

I've found that putting trout in a saltwater brine for an hour before cooking helps to remove any muddiness.

Man, I'd love to see some crappie and/or bluegill put into some of the prairie lakes.

[aulrich]

I don't know if this is fully applicable but a while ago I read an aussy article about getting better tasting prussan carp (I guess they have that problem too) but the article said that if you are fishing at the upper limits of water temp for a fish it's best to bleed and ice the fish right off, vs having them die slowly on a stringer. the hormones produce by a heat stressed fish either magnify or actually produce the "muddy flavor".

[Penner]

Agreed bleeding out your catch whether it be fish or game helps with quality of the harvest.

[Moosetalker]

Look what happened with the Tiger Trout fun to catch but lots of people went hey nothing in regulations and proceeded to abuse the oversight.

People can be such asses sometimes.

Walleye and Pike have to be stocked as fry so they can disperse as they are too cannibalistic and cannot be raised to stocker size unlike trout species. cannot count the times a 10cm and/or bigger pike/Walleye coughed up a relative only 5cm shorter than themselves upon netting.