Bullshead

[packhuntr]

Nate is holding dips in the pics, but I have seen trips caught on my one and only time fishing there this winter.

[lippy]

Originally Posted by ishootbambi

you sure there is trips in there? for some reason im thinkin not?

yes..stocked with trips and some are getting to be a nice size..the "trips" in Spruce are getting to be a nice size too!

[bloom]

Dale, they'e stocked trips in BH for the last 3 or 4 years. Some of the older fish will still be diploids as they will live ~5 years there. All of the younger fish you catch will be trips.

The 'trips' are really only female trips. We will still find males in the future going through the spawning ritual (kypes, darken up, milt, etc) but we should not be seeing any females in the near future doing this (ie. egg laden)

[ishootbambi]

could you imagine the size of the fish if they had chosen cavan for this type of fishery instead of bullshead?

.......drooling........

[Guitarplayingfish]

Nicely done Nate! Those are pigs!! Man I wish I could head out with you on sunday but as you know, mothers day. I work next weekend but I will have the monday after off if you feel like doing a trip east or west. Let me know

[Pudelpointer]

Originally Posted by Daceminnow

This fish is likely a triploid. The other two are diploid fish. At this time of year any fish (over 14" or so) that is that chrome is a triploid.

[goldscud]

Female diploid...bright pink spawning colors, grey belly full of eggs with distended anus
Triploid females will be chrome

[npauls]

The female was spitting out some really red eggs so I tried to be as quick as possible with the picture and got her back in the water and recovering. She swam away really well and hopefully had no distress and will lay those eggs in the near future. Those males will milting pretty good also and went back pretty quick.

[goldscud]

This is what chrome looks like

[chubbdarter]

Originally Posted by goldscud

This is what chrome looks like

nice fish scud

[Pudelpointer]

Originally Posted by npauls

The female was spitting out some really red eggs so I tried to be as quick as possible with the picture and got her back in the water and recovering. She swam away really well and hopefully had no distress and will lay those eggs in the near future. Those males will milting pretty good also and went back pretty quick.

I stand corrected. The hens I have caught in Bullshead have all been a fair bit darker then Nate's fish, but then photos can be tricky. Every 'bow I catch looks just like that fish - all year long!

So that begs the question, is anybody catching any Trips in Bullshead? Photos? I thought I had one last year, but it was in the middle of August, so who knows.

[goldscud]

Beautiful fish Chub...but not mine. Chrome vs spawners....

[ishootbambi]

Originally Posted by npauls

The female was spitting out some really red eggs so I tried to be as quick as possible with the picture and got her back in the water and recovering. She swam away really well and hopefully had no distress and will lay those eggs in the near future. Those males will milting pretty good also and went back pretty quick.

she will lay them....but so what? they wont hatch.

[npauls]

I think there is a couple of spots in there that could possibly have some spawning going on. The moving water over the sand/gravel areas is what I have heard needs to be around for a successful spawn.

[bloom]

Lots of trips have been caught in the years. Just not so many this spring...if any. No surprise though as they're tougher to find in the spring. Diploids are easy to catch as we all know where they will be in the spring. Triploids are new and a little more sneaky.

We'll likely start seeing more of them when the hatches start.

[Pudelpointer]

Some of the fish do lay their eggs but most just end up re-absorbing them. Trout eggs need well oxygenated water moving through (upwelling) gravel. No rainbow (or any other trout AFAIK) can successfully reproduce in lakes, they all need an inlet stream or river. This is part of the reason for stocking triploids - no spawning stress.

[npauls]

There is some flowing water with some small gravel patches in the area where I caught all 3 of those fish so I guess there could be a possibility then. They current was strong enough that I was fishing it like a stream or river with my indicator.

[Pudelpointer]

Water temp and oxygen levels will be unsuitable. No natural reproduction. None.

[ishootbambi]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

Water temp and oxygen levels will be unsuitable. No natural reproduction. None.

not to mention the only flowing water is a small, silty, barely trickling most days, creek. it is a slough with no gravel beds that im aware of....just the odd rock or two.

[ishootbambi]

Originally Posted by Pudelpointer

Some of the fish do lay their eggs but most just end up re-absorbing them. Trout eggs need well oxygenated water moving through (upwelling) gravel. No rainbow (or any other trout AFAIK) can successfully reproduce in lakes, they all need an inlet stream or river. This is part of the reason for stocking triploids - no spawning stress.

im not gonna look it up so forigve me if my memory is off, but i think that is one of the species indicators. true trout have light colored bodies with dark spots (rainbows, cutts, browns etc) and need flowing water while char have dark bodies with light spots (bulls, brooks, lakers etc) and can reproduce in still water.

[Pudelpointer]

ISB, your question/comment got me thinking, so took a nose dive into the reference material and this is what I found regarding successful spawning (i.e. eggs hatch):

Rainbow - moving water or possibly (emphasized) spring fed shoals in lakes (eggs require highly oxygenated cold clear water to hatch)

Cutthroat - streams and rivers (one observation of spawning activity in a lake, but success unknown)

Bull Trout - streams and rivers

Dolly Varden - streams and rivers but also some lakes

Brook Trout - same (cold and clear water required)

Brown Trout - streams and rivers (clear water)

Lake Trout - gravel/rocky areas in lakes

Bullshead has some gravelly areas (quite silty), but any eggs laid in a redd will not survive.

[goldscud]

I know of a pond that has quite a bit of ground water percolating up through some shoreline gravel...the rainbows are spawning successfully there. Pretty rare set of circumstances.