yesterday's rainbow had eggs

[Bobby B.]

The 17" rainbow my SIL caught yesterday out of Miller's Lake had 2 egg sacks inside. None of the other 27 rainbows we've caught so far this year had eggs. Is it possible the 17" was the only female or are 12-14" rainbows too young to produce eggs? Also, I've heard these stocked rainbows (Miller's and Carson) don't spawn. Is this true? Or is it they can't/don't reproduce? Are both the males and females sterile?

I did phone Fish and Wildlife to ask the above questions but all I got from their office was a recording even though the message states they are open today and tomorrow.

Bobby B.

[FishingFrenzy]

Originally Posted by Bobby B.

The 17" rainbow my SIL caught yesterday out of Miller's Lake had 2 egg sacks inside. None of the other 27 rainbows we've caught so far this year had eggs. Is it possible the 17" was the only female or are 12-14" rainbows too young to produce eggs? Also, I've heard these stocked rainbows (Miller's and Carson) don't spawn. Is this true? Or is it they can't/don't reproduce? Are both the males and females sterile?

I did phone Fish and Wildlife to ask the above questions but all I got from their office was a recording even though the message states they are open today and tomorrow.

Bobby B.

Thats really weird, stocked rainbows are typically triploids which can't reproduce, and even if it was a diploid trout, rainbows need flowing water to spawn...

Do you have any pictures of the egg sacks?

[madatter]

Back when Cavan Lake near Medicine Hat held water and was stocked regularly we would catch females full of eggs.
Biggest rainbow I ever caught was 8.5lbs and full of them....
This would be about 15 years ago.
Have stocking methods changed since then?
Don't recall catching any since with eggs.....
And carrying eggs and actually spawning are 2 different things really...

[Bobby B.]

I'm just about to shoot some photos but I'm pretty much computor illiterate so I don't know how to post them. I'll e-mail them to whomever is interested. If anyone wants to post them, feel free to do so.

Bobby B.

Nothing strange about that. Diploids cannot reproduce in lakes without flowing water, however they will still make eggs and go through the cycles. This is why BC started stocking triploids, and now AB is following. You can check the stocking reports to see if triploids (3n) or diploids (2n) were stocked into the lake you are fishing.

[Donkey Oatey]

Actually most stocking is not triploid. Rainbows need flowing cool water with gravel bottoms to lay eggs.

Yes the smaller ones would not be ready to produce eggs. Many of these females will just keep growing until they become egg bound and eventually die.

[madatter]

So I have always wondered what the females do with the eggs.
Will they lay them wherever they think is best and the eggs die?
Just how much flow....over a gravelly surface... Do they need to actually need to properly spawn?

[chriscosta]

I hear that they must swim upstream somehow and yes a gravel bed to lay them in a friend has a trout pond at his farm and the trout seem to have been full of eggs for years and are very fat because of it

[Sundancefisher]

Rainbows will produce eggs unless triploid. They wont drop them unless they have flowing water and other important conditions. Some females can die from being egg bound. Other reabsorb the eggs.

[npauls]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Rainbows will produce eggs unless triploid. They wont drop them unless they have flowing water and other important conditions. Some females can die from being egg bound. Other reabsorb the eggs.

X2

I was going to post the same thing.