Chain Lakes South, November 16th 2014

[NCFlyfishin]

Hey guys, just thought that I would let everyone know that chain has 4 - 4.5 inches of ice as of today (November 16th) action came in waves, I'm thinking as a school would travel by. BUT I will say something that honestly made me a little scared for the future of the lake. When I was gutting the one decent size rainbow that I kept, I did it the normal way, up the belly starting at the anus stopping just before the gills and then cutting the head halfway down from the top so that the guts would come out with the head. NOW what concerned me, when all of the guts were out ( and I mean EVERY last bit of guts ) there was a large growth (around the size the stomach should be) stuck to the inside of the ribs, even after I pulled all the guts out it was still attached by a thin string that seemed to be connecting the vein to the growth, it was really light pretty much skin colored with one really dark red spot and one vein through the middle and lots branching off the vein in the middle. I think it was very possibly a cancerous tumor. And also the meat was DARK red, almost purple, looked almost exactly like an Ahi Tuna steak should look. When I iced the fish ( it was around 12in long) it had a small skin colored worm crawling on the outside of the skin as well, but since this worm came off no problem at all I thought the fish would be ok. Also no visible scars on the outside of the fish, so it couldn't have been scar tissue that did that. If someone could tell me what this is I would GREATLY appreciate it as I did not bring the fish or the tumor to the fish and wildlife officer that is stationed there. I just threw it in the garbage as I did not want to take any chances by eating it. I will try to attach a picture in a bit but it usually doesn't let me
NC

[NCFlyfishin]

Here is what I thought was a very large cancerous tumor, also note the coloring of the meat.

[NCFlyfishin]

Sorry the picture uploaded sideways, kinda gotta tilt your head to see better

[sblair27]

Appears to be one side of the male trout gonads, there likely was another one on the opposing side that may have been missed while scraping out the rest of the guts. Can't be 100% sure due to orientation in picture, however very likely not a tumour. Flesh looks healthy. Assuming the trout in question was hatchery stocked, explains the presence of spawning characteristics as the cycles of these fish are commonly not in sync with the wild spring spawning rainbow trout. Development and reabsorption of gonads in both male and female stocked rainbow trout can occur, even in the case of sterile triploids.

[TROLLER]

Originally Posted by sblair27

Appears to be one side of the male trout gonads, there likely was another one on the opposing side that may have been missed while scraping out the rest of the guts. Can't be 100% sure due to orientation in picture, however very likely not a tumour. Flesh looks healthy. Assuming the trout in question was hatchery stocked, explains the presence of spawning characteristics as the cycles of these fish are commonly not in sync with the wild spring spawning rainbow trout. Development and reabsorption of gonads in both male and female stocked rainbow trout can occur, even in the case of sterile triploids.

Great first post, welcome to AO

[NCFlyfishin]

that's a relief for me that it wasn't a tumor, it completely makes sense that it was the male spawning parts now, I fish for Lake Superior run steelhead in the spring in Ontario and that makes sense now, but I've never seen the red lines throughout the parts before, the different colored meat made me not want to take a chance eating it. that sucks that I wasted a perfectly good fish, I'm not one to do that but I didnt want to risk anything. Thanks for the answers guys I appreciate it.

[trainerdave]

Thanks for the fishing update. Now you know "the rest of the story".

Chain lakes fish are wormy. You should see how wormy the suckers in there are! Creepy. Make sure you cook those fish up good. I read that freezing kills the worms too*. Minimum -20 degrees C for 7 days or an internal temperature of -35 C for 15 hours. Cook to min. +63 C (+145 F) internal temperature. If you freeze them and cook them then you are doubly worm-less.

*Information retrieved from the B.C. center for disease control. ( B.C. C.D.C.)

Dave.

[wildcat111]

Originally Posted by trainerdave

Thanks for the fishing update. Now you know "the rest of the story".

Chain lakes fish are wormy. You should see how wormy the suckers in there are! Creepy. Make sure you cook those fish up good. I read that freezing kills the worms too*. Minimum -20 degrees C for 7 days or an internal temperature of -35 C for 15 hours. Cook to min. +63 C (+145 F) internal temperature. If you freeze them and cook them then you are doubly worm-less.

*Information retrieved from the B.C. center for disease control. ( B.C. C.D.C.)

Dave.

i gutted one in the summer and the worms were crawling over everything it was gross, on a side note not very many fish dropped in the lake this yr, catch them why you can

[spinN'flyfish]

to be honest I'd just freeze it and ask the community and the COs. Otherwise it looks like something natural but still looks ''suspicious'', and the flesh looked fresh and delicious.

[TippyCanoe]

Only 55,798 rainbows stocked in there this year! That's surprising low and I wonder why. Historically, they have stocked between 200,000 and 250,000 with the exception of 2013 due to the flood affecting the hatchery.

[slivers86]

interesting indeed. I wonder why they didn't stock as many. Could possibly affect the bite of an important kids event

[WayneChristie]

Originally Posted by slivers86

interesting indeed. I wonder why they didn't stock as many. Could possibly affect the bite of an important kids event

not in my tent
gotta love fish that supply their own worms!