Trout fishing below the landing

[!)ave]

Fished on Taney for a couple of hours below the landing late yesterday afternoon. Water was flowing heavy. Did pretty well after switching to a gold spinner. Caught probably 20 fish total, nothing real big, but not a lot of the small stockers, all rainbows.

Had a question, I took a mess home for dinner tonight. 3 of the 4 I cleaned had white colored meat, the other was very orange/pink. Any idea why that would be?

[duckydoty]

I'm told the fresh stockers have the white meat. The one's that have started fending for themselve--the meat starts to turn pink. Starting to go wild you could say. I've also heard that eating crawdads causes the meat to turn pink.

Let us know if the pink one taste's any different.

Duckydoty

[Luke]

The white fleshed fish are recent stockers or possibly gut pile feeders and the orange/pink fleshed fish has been filling up on scuds. A pigment called astaxanthin is found in many crustaceans, it accumulates in the flesh of salmon and trout that eat them. This pigment is the source of the orange-red color typical of salmon.

[Thom]

If you pick up some of the underwater cover and from the bank and shake it off you will see very small fresh water crustacea. Crush one or two on something white and that will answer your question. A distinct salmon color will be obvious.

I usualy keep stockers if I want to have fresh fish for lunch to fry. The white meat has a milder flavor and seems to keep longer when refrigerated also. My wife prefers the salmon colored flesh so sometimes I mix it with one or two larger fish from the unrestricted water on the way to the slip.

HMMMMM! Who wants a fish dinner with a fishy taste. DUH