What is with all the small Rainbows?

[The Royal Coachman]

Fished the Musky yesterday and one of my stops was the TCA. In a riffle I caught around 9 rainbows from 5 to 8 inches long. Most had good color but I still think they were hatchery fish. I know some on the board help stock there, did you guys notice all those little Trout or did I hit a school of stream born fish?

 

[Vance]

Hello Royal, I fished the TCA area yesterday Wed. and caught 2 rainbows both about 12" long also had a few on but lost them..It was hard fishing because the water was up..I caught mine on a caddis emerger with a green egg sac. It looks like a drowned caddis..Will fish the Ramapo next week and maybe the Flatbrook Take care, Vance

 

[skipper3245]

Hello Royal, I fished the TCA area yesterday Wed. and caught 2 rainbows both about 12" long also had a few on but lost them..It was hard fishing because the water was up..I caught mine on a caddis emerger with a green egg sac. It looks like a drowned caddis..Will fish the Ramapo next week and maybe the Flatbrook Take care, Vance

Fished the Ramapo yesterday near oakland. First time out. Its some decent scenery, no one else fishing when I went, but there are no fish comparied to SBR and musky, BFB. Im sure I dont know the river well, but 1 fish in 3 hrs. Good luck if you decide to hit it.

PS. they also stock on fridays, so it might have been empty only because I went the day before stocking.

 

[Matt Grobert]

When we stocked the Musky TCA last Friday, there were quite a few smaller rainbows in with the other fish, but plenty of larger fish. We also put in a good number of brood stock browns - 16+ inch fish.

Now we just have to get the state to make it a year 'round TCA.

Don't forget, there's a ton of other open water below the TCA that a ton of fish get put into every Friday.

Matt ><)))))'>

 

[GARYB]

Aren't the stockies all about 10" and above ? Never heard of the state putting in 5"
rainbows ??

 

[skipper3245]

Aren't the stockies all about 10" and above ? Never heard of the state putting in 5"
rainbows ??

I caught a 6 inch bow yesterday at ramapo

 

[Agust]

Hatchery Culls. These are the excess fish from next years batch, that would have been killed in previous years to make room in the raceways for next years fish. Instead they get stocked, usually in places where there is a hope for them to hold over.

We normally see more rainbows than brookies or brown, I'm not sure why but suspect it has to do with egg hatching success rates.

These "culls" are not actually counted in the number of fish allocated for stocking. So if a river is slated for 1000 trout, they get their thousand 10.5 inch trout and may get a few hundred culls scattered in.

Consider it a stocking stimulus package.

 

[JeffK]

Agust,

Explains a lot, and may be the source of the "wild" bows in the SBR.

I did the creel survey on the Musky TCA last Friday and, with one exception (a 13" bow) all the fish I saw were the regulation 10 1/2" more or less bows.

 

[Stonefly]

The first two weeks of the inseason stocking was all Brookies 96% of the standard 10.5 inch fish, a couple of rainbow breeders in each place we stock on the Musky. The last two weeks habe been rainbows the vast majority that we had were the same standard 10.5 inches, along with Brown Trout Brood stock.

I understand starting tomorrow we'll be putting in almost all Brown Trout.
Overall this season we have been putting in really nice looking trout.

If you have a boat or don't mind shore fishing over 4,500 trout; a mix of rainbows and browns went into the Merill Creek Resv last week along with some hugh taged brood stock. I've hit it twice by the intake tower and have done really well, one 14 or better rainbow, which has been their awhile from the bright colors. The WCC Volunteer I was fishing with got a 24 inch tagged brown!

 

[Ryan R]

Aren't the stockies all about 10" and above ? Never heard of the state putting in 5"
rainbows ??

Yeah they are, a few will be only 8 ot 9 inches. It may be the more common case of "angler size guesstimates" not being as accurate as an actual measurement! Just like a 17" trout being "about a 20 incher" I've seen a decent 10 or 11 incher become only 6 or 7 inches to an angler.

 

[Vance]

Hello Everyone, Fished the Ramapo on Mon. evening Just a few hits and no fish. Went back on Tues. 5/19 and hjad a ball only in the morning then went back after supper abouy 6:00 and caught 3 Browns and 2 Rainbows. Only saw 1 fish rise everything was under the water. The biggest was a 14 inch Rainbow I know it was 14 inchs because I have tape on my rod to show different sizes. Fished again on Wed. morning only had 2 hook ups but never landed them both got off. I fished way upstream from Glen Gray bridge on Wed. Never got another hit after 11:00 until 3:00 in the afternoon There are a lot of fish in the Ramapo Talk Later ...Vance

 

[dcabarle]

I take offense to your title. I recently caught two once in a lifetime rainbow over the Delaware and thought it was a pretty damn respectable size. Come on now... This was a double header.

Now... whatchyou gotta say bout dat.

 

[iflifish]

Can't compare with a double bow, but I must have seen a similar instance a few miles upriver that same day... man the fish really turned on to caddis popping off between the showers ...