Small Creek Big Fun

[smarandr]

The fish weren't very big in this little creek, but there were a lot of them to be found.

 

[Wild Bill]

Super pretty fish. What are we looking at for species? Top on looks like a Redband maybe? Bottom a bull? (I am not a trout aficionado)

 

[Ben Lamb]

Nothing finer than 3 weight water. Nice!

 

[smarandr]

Super pretty fish. What are we looking at for species? Top on looks like a Redband maybe? Bottom a bull? (I am not a trout aficionado)

Top one is a generic rainbow as far as I know (don't quite understand the difference between a rainbow and a redband), and the bottom is a brook. There are bulls in that stream, but I didn't get any that day I'm afraid.

 

[CPAjeff]

Gorgeous - I love a little stream full of fish!

 

[old270hunter]

That rainbow is a chunk. Must be a pretty healthy little stream.

 

[R.K.]

Top one is a generic rainbow as far as I know (don't quite understand the difference between a rainbow and a redband), and the bottom is a brook. There are bulls in that stream, but I didn't get any that day I'm afraid.

As a trout aficionado- you might want to look at that "brookie" again. No black on the fins, no blue halos on the red spots. Also has an atypical head:body length ratio for a brookie, but a lot closer to a normal bull trout. I'm fairly confident (95%) it's a small bull.

That fish under the log looks even more like a bull trout than the one you're holding.

 

[smarandr]

As a trout aficionado- you might want to look at that "brookie" again. No black on the fins, no blue halos on the red spots. Also has an atypical head:body length ratio for a brookie, but a lot closer to a normal bull trout. I'm fairly confident (95%) it's a small bull.

That fish under the log looks even more like a bull trout than the one you're holding.

I figured the worm tracks on the back and dorsal fin made it a brookie. Generally the bulls I catch up there are more olive colored than this one. Hybrid maybe?

 

[Irrelevant]

I figured the worm tracks on the back and dorsal fin made it a brookie. Generally the bulls I catch up there are more olive colored than this one. Hybrid maybe?

certainly could be a hybrid

Bull Trout - Brook Trout Hybrid - Crater Lake National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

 

[smarandr]

I figured the worm tracks on the back and dorsal fin made it a brookie. Generally the bulls I catch up there are more olive colored than this one. Hybrid maybe?

Yup, it's a hybrid. A just released article from IDFG from the same basin:
https://idfg.idaho.gov/blog/2022/11...vasions-idaho-high-country-bull-trout-streams