Trout In Feeder Stream

[zthomas]

Went up to the inlaws’ outside Marshall for the weekend. With the Buffalo high and fast, decided to try one of the feeder streams instead (to remain unnamed—sorry—father-in-law’s favorite “sucker-grabbin” spot). Found gorgeous, gin-clear water and good numbers of healthy, hungry smallies. Also caught my very smallest smallmouth ever (fourth photo)—and for me, that’s really saying something.

Amazingly, I fished it both Sunday and Monday and never saw another angler or vehicle, even though it's public land.

Toward the end of the morning on Sunday, I swung a crawdad pattern across the dropoff at the head of a deep, gravel-bottom hole (the one in the fifth photo) and got hammered. Fish ran hard downstream. Fight didn’t last more than a minute, but it was one of those where the outcome is anything but certain.

Anyway, fish starts getting close, and it flashes silver, not gold. Had no idea what it was. Then a second one of similar size appears, following the hooked fish. Then I recognized the green backs. A few seconds later, I had a nice, chunky female rainbow laying in the shallows.

Didn’t weigh or measure her and don’t want to hazard a guess about weight or length, but she was, for me, a very nice fish. She was all beat up, though—scratched and scarred with a big puncture wound on one shoulder. Gar? Otter? Definitely not spawning type injuries. Also pretty sure she was a hatchery fish. I’m no expert, but she didn’t have those white-edged fins I usually associate with wild rainbows.

So where did this fish come from? Did it really swim well over 40 river miles up the Buffalo and then another one or two up this feeder stream? Why? Any other possible explanations? Maybe someone upstream is planting trout in a spring-fed pond that was breached by all the rain?

Either way, it was a fun fight and a great surprise, and she swam away strongly when I released her.

Other photos show a sucker my father-in-law snagged (how do you all eat those things?), and some weird red minnows I saw in the same creek. What are those? Do smallies eat them?

[dryfriomonroe]

Great pics; don't you love those types of surprises? I'm planning to float the Buffalo this weekend, is the water still pretty high? I'll be most likely at Ponca / Kyle's Landing area and floating down.

[gotmuddy]

the trout swim up from the white. My wife caught a rainbow between buffalo point and rush in april this year.

[zthomas]

Yeah, I knew they were in the lower river sometimes, but I was a very long ways from Buffalo Point.

[flytyer57]

With all the rain lately, the water temps have only been in the 60's. Trout can survive in that. How long it took to get way upstream and how long it will take to get back to the White, I would have no idea. But with the heat we're seeing around here now, the river will warm up and if any trout in the Buffalo don't head back soon, they will die.

Of course there may be a cold water spring flowing into the Buffalo way up river where trout can survive year round.

[DaveMac]

I too have caught trout in feeder creeks of the trout streams, usually in early spring before the smallmouth fishing heats up. Big Creek is a feeder of the the Little Red that holds trout in the spring. They fight like crazy when hooked! Great pics, BTW! Thanks for sharing.

[laker67]

The puncture wounds on the trout are most likely from a great blue heron. Herons will kill or attempt to kill fish that are too large for them to swallow. I have watched them drop them on the bank and walk away to kill another. Puncture wounds from herons are most always on the upper shoulder area near the head. Nice photos, thanks for sharing.

[zthomas]

Aha, blue heron must be it. Interesting!

[tjulianc]

.

[hoglaw]

One of my group member caught a rainbow just below Snow on Crooked Creek one time. It was probably in April. That's a heck of a long way from the White too on an even smaller body of water. No doubt the rainbows will come a long way during the colder months. With the big amount of cool rain we've had, I would think there are still a few scattered around that are making their way home.