Does corn kill trout?

[duckydoty]

I have been pondering this question for a while now. Why? I really have no idea. I do not fish with corn but I do hear a lot of people asking about it. The stories I have heard have been that trout can not digest the corn and it kills them. I have heard stories about how people have cleaned trout and found corn in their stomachs, there for they must not be able to digest it, so it must kill them. This is the story that has probably got me to thinking the most about this qustion, "Does corn kill trout." One of the things I have thought about has been, while watching others clean trout, I have noticed lots of sow bugs, scuds and midges in the stomachs of these trout. If the theory about the undigested corn equals it can not be digested is true then wouldn't that also mean that the scuds, midges, and sow bugs found undigested are not digestible also? Now that just doesn't make since to me. This evening I have done some google searching looking for studies and there is not much to be found. Lots of hearsay and stories very similar to the ones I have heard though. I did find information on one study....

Commission fisheries biologist Tom Bender at our Benner Spring Fish Research Station conducted a study in 1992 that examined the impact of corn on trout. For the study, two groups of hatchery rainbow trout were held in separate tanks and tested for 54 days. In one tank, 20 rainbow trout (average size 8.3 inches) were fed a diet of whole kernel corn. In the second tank, 20 rainbow trout of the same size were fed a standard trout pellet diet.

During the 54 day study period, no mortalities occurred from trout of either study group. However, study results did show that the trout fed with a corn diet did not digest the corn particularly well. The growth observed by the corn-fed trout during the study period was only about half of that observed from the trout that were fed the standard trout pellet diet.

The conclusion from this study was that there appears to be little reason for concern about the short term health hazards for rainbow trout when whole kernel corn is used for bait. Although there are better diets for trout than whole kernel corn, this study confirms that mortality does not occur when trout ingest whole kernel corn.

Just thought I would share this in case some other member might be loosing sleep on this subject.

[fishinwrench]

I can't digest whole kernal corn either. When eaten off the cob, no problem.

Chew your corn !

[laker67]

I say corn does kill, especially when you add a number 4 hook to the diet. I saw many a dead stringer of trout in the seventies, from the white river guide boats. Just saying.

[Ham]

They can pass Powerbait with hooks in it so I guess they can poop out corn. Good info DD.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I can't digest whole kernal corn either. When eaten off the cob, no problem.

Chew your corn !

Somehow my body puts it all back together after a good proper chewing.

And you can tell what dogs are eating Ol Roy too!

[netboy]

Sometimes I keep a couple of trout for a meal and when I clean them I see lots of snails in their digestive tract. If they can pass a snail shell, then I doubt they would have any problem passing a kernel of corn.

[Clay Goforth]

I don't think it is the corn that kills the trout but more likely the high percentage of those that fish with corn keeping the fish caught. It may be an incorrect assumption on my part but I haven't witnessed a lot of corn fishermen practicing C&R. Which, mind you, I have no problem with so don't accuse me of "trolling." I'm just stating my evaluation of observed behaviors.

And I think Netboy nailed it too...I have occasionally found small pebbles, snail shells, midges, powerbait, etc in the stomachs or tracts of fish...If those things don't kill them, I don't think a little yippin' yeller #5 will do it. Maybe if fed a diet solely of corn over an extended period of time, but I don't know of a digestive system in the world that could handle that.

[Chief Grey Bear]

Maybe if fed a diet solely of corn over an extended period of time, but I don't know of a digestive system in the world that could handle that.

Have you ever been to Mexico?

On a serious note, chickens, pork, and beef eat corn by the ton every day.

[Old plug]

I do not know about corn in Tannycomo but just from sitting on the deck at a rented house across from falls creek last week observing the drifters I bet I could turn a buck if I could mine the bottom of that place for lead.

[Clay Goforth]

Have you ever been to Mexico?

On a serious note, chickens, pork, and beef eat corn by the ton every day.

Ha. True. Authentic Corn tortillas are fantastic.

And the corn fed farm animals is true as well...but even they have additional foods and supplements fed to them. Soybeans, grasses and hays, grains, mineral blocks, etc...