Lost Fish - Huzzah Oddity

[joeD]

It's just a trout. Good grief. Get over it. Not that big of a deal. Dead pigs? Big deal. Think of the wasted bacon.

[405z06]

Bumping an old thread to announce - to joeD's chagrin - that I caught 2 rainbows on the Huzzah on Saturday while smallie fishing. Both were caught on 1/4 oz Booya tandem spinnerbaits. The first I would estimate was ~ 3 miles above Dry Creek/Hwy 8, and the last ~ 1 mile above. I had never caught a trout in my life before. I cant say I was impressed much. 7" Goggle Eye fight better.

[Gavin]

Still plenty of trout at Westover. Might be a few more in the Huzzah since Westover added the stretch below their low water bridge. No access at the bridge, Tom watches that like a hawk. Won't let paying guests park there.

[Haris122]

How big were those trout 405? It's funny you mention that. I had a mirror image experience at Meramec Springs. I caught a smallie there, after having caught a couple of trout and even though that particular smallie tied for the biggest fish of the day, I felt like those trout and in particular a smaller one I had hooked into and lost because of it's crazy jumps, fought better than the bigger smallie (granted it was probably only like 10-11" itself). That being said, I haven't caught many smallmouths either.

[405z06]

probably about 12" each

[Al Agnew]

It all depends upon water temps and where the fish was caught. Having caught a lot of trout and smallmouth, I'd say that if the water temp is below 55 degrees, the hatchery trout are usually a little faster, and wild trout are far faster, jump higher, and may even be stronger. Above 60 degrees and the smallies come into their own. Even with wild trout, some just don't fight well, though.

The old Henshall quote, "pound for pound the gamest fish that swims" is not really true for smallmouth. Plenty of fish are stronger and wild trout at their best are faster and jump higher, and have as much stamina if not more. The things that make smallmouth great are their aggressiveness and their combination of strength, speed, stamina, and jumping ability. Other fish may do one or another of those things better, but not many do all of them as well. As much as I like watching a trout slurp a dry fly or chase down a streamer, there's nothing like a hot smallie attacking a topwater lure.

[ozark trout fisher]

Nothing like the surprise trout where it doesn't quite belong. A 12 inch trout on the Current River wouldn't make me blink but when I've caught the same fish in a place where it never occurred to me that I might catch one, all of a sudden it feels like a heck of a fish.

As for whether smallies or trout fight harder...it depends. In fast, western rivers, with wild trout, I would say trout fight a little harder, but that's aided by a speed of current you're almost never gonnna deal with while smallie fishing. If you are comparing smallmouth to drab, stocked rainbows in a trout park (or a lost escapee of a trout farm) then it's no contest. I've had stockers put up surprising fights, but just as often I've had them in my net before they even knew what was happening. That will almost never happen with a wild trout, which, even if it's too small to put up any resistance, will always make it clear that it's pretty pissed off at the situation.

I also think in Missouri browns (regardless of size) tend to be a bit more game than rainbows...less acrobatic and showy, but overall, a better fight.

[Johnsfolly]

Some of the best fighting fish that I caught last year were 10-15" wild trout from Spring and Barren Fork's creeks. Both of these are pretty small creeks, but those fish ran up and down stream and jumped like crazy. For an all time pound for pound fighter, bluegill and readear sunfish rank at the top of my list. Feral Oscars fight harder, but their range is restricted to Florida. I would doubt that anyone would be able to land a 10 lb bluegill if they could ever get that big.

[ozark trout fisher]

Some of the best fighting fish that I caught last year were 10-15" wild trout from Spring and Barren Fork's creeks. Both of these are pretty small creeks, but those fish ran up and down stream and jumped like crazy. For an all time pound for pound fighter, bluegill and readear sunfish rank at the top of my list. Feral Oscars fight harder, but their range is restricted to Florida. I would doubt that anyone would be able to land a 10 lb bluegill if they could ever get that big.

Yep, the wild ones fight harder. From a fishing perspective (how easy it is to catch them, how they fight, what they look like) wild rainbows and stocked rainbows might as well be two different species.

The oddity is that doesn't extend to all other species of trout, to the same extent. A freshly stocked brown is as dumb and gullible as a green sunfish. But they tend to wise up in a hurry, fight hard, and generally act wild if you let them stay and grow in a river for awhile. It's why it's not rare at all to catch a stocked rainbow-who is large and clearly been in the river awhile-on an orange egg pattern in mid-July. But (though it certainly does happen) that's a pretty rare occurrence for a brown that's been a stream-resident for any length of time. I have no scientific explanation for this but I definitely believe it's a thing.

[Johnsfolly]

OTF - Do you think that has more to do with brown trout switching to a minnow or crayfish diet and passing on the smaller food items unless they are in abundance. Whereas rainbows always seem to be likely to go for the smaller food items when they pass by. I'm not saying that they don't also eat the fish and crayfish. They seem to be more opportunistic.