HACKED BY CYBER-ATTACK - ALPERENBTN

[crab_n_fisher]

I went fishing in Seabourne Creek Park today, to take advantage of the 2,000 Rainbow Trout that were stocked yesterday. The entrance sign read, in regards to the TP&W regulations for this public park:

Daily Bag Limit:

5 Catfish, minimum 12" limit
5 Bass, minimum 14" limit
10 Sunfish, Perch or Bluegill, No size limit

A separate sign notified those who came for the trout stocking, that a daily limit of five was to be followed.

I talked to one lady, who along with her husband and father-in-law caught numerous 9-11 inch Channel Catfish. She asked me if I wanted them -- as long as they were of the legal limit. So we measured them and found not one was legal, and back into the water they were safely released. (When they left, they had a total of 17 trout.)

A gentleman fishing 10 yards to the right of me, stated that last week he'd caught 16 catfish but released them all because not one was of legal size. I felt proud of this man, for abiding by the law. (He later went home with only two trout.)

Then along came a man carrying two spin-cast rods and a couple plastic bags. He stopped by and said to me, "Hey, you are still here? I saw you here this morning! Any luck?"

I told him, "Yes, I've caught four trout and five catfish so far."

"Alrighty, then. I'll talk to ya later to see how you did," he replied.

About an hour elasped and he walks by with a double-wrapped plastic grocery bag with a noticeable bulge of fish. I blurted out, "Dang, you have had better luck than I've had this past hour!"

He retorted with, "Yeah. I was catching catfish using just corn, about 10-15 feet from shore."

Having noticed that no one around me had caught one catfish that met the criteria of a legal 12" minimum, I immediately suspected this guy was poaching! (Due to a logical inference, of course. There are exceptions to the rule.) I walked up to him and looked into his bag. He had about four or five of these fish -- all 10 inches or under -- for "his daughter", or so he claimed. (Yeah, for his daughter who stayed at home!...And I'm collecting donations for the needy, Mister Ocean Drive mansion owner! LOL)

Various comments I've heard today:

"No, the game wardens do not care about stocked fish in a pond. These trout will die anyway when spring comes. One game warden over in Sugar Land told me that they are under-staffed and do not care about public ponds."

" I've seen a game warden earlier this week at this other recently trout stocked pond. He was checking everyone's license."

"I saw one lady who must of had 80 of these beauties in her ice chest last year. Game wardens just don't check."
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My legal limit of trout today, plus my only legal-sized catfish:

http://img136.exs.cx/img136/8763/sbirdandfish0145xe.jpg
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[Vern]

It is a shame, there are still people all over that either dont care, or dont bother to know the rules and regs pertaining to what ever they are catching. My brother got a ticket a few weeks ago for one speck that was about 1/4" short. He said he measured everyone when caught but did not allow for shrinkage. I dont know how much a fish actually shrinks on ice, but my brother was serious when he told me so I guess they do shrink a little, or he didnt measure it right. Hopefully one of these days the ones who dont care will get checked and and ticketed, then they will think twice about keeping all of the little ones. With the fine my bro had to pay just for one, I cringe to think about that multiplied by 7 or 8. I know from now on I will allow at least a 1/2" or better to be on the safe side


That is a nice mess of fish, never ate rainbows before. any comparison to specks?

[crab_n_fisher]

Vern,

I've always noticed that when I put fish on ice, they do seem to curl or bend some as they stiffen up. Surely, the game warden who wrote your brother a citation knows of this natural occurence and has encountered it many times. Did he even try to bend that fish straight? It is very hard to do!

I haven't eaten a pan-fried Rainbow Trout since 1987; so I couldn't compare the taste of them with their saltwater relatives, the Speckled Trout. The five that I caught the other day were cleaned and frozen. I wish I had a couple Speckled Trout fillets here to compare the two.

Prior to this recent trout fishing trip, I only caught them in the Colorado River between Bulkhead City, Arizona, and Lauglin, Nevada. They were mixed in with huge schools of 2-20+ lb carp which frequented the ferry loading areas near the hotel/casinos. We'd watch vacationers throw food into the cold, clear water from a covered walkway that extended over a stretch of it. You wanna talk about heart-pounding, not knowing which fish is gonna bite at any given moment? A carp is a great fighter. The Dink Rainbows would fly through the air. Both were fun to catch! (Both have small mouths, justifying our use of small, short-shanked hooks to catch both species.)

I chatted with my cousin from Alaska last night. He likes to fish Wasilla Lake and rivers and streams near him. He made the claim that the Rainbow Trout he catches averages "anywhere from 5-15 lbs." He also said that his largest last year weighed in at 29 lbs! .....Without telling him he was "full of crap (!)" prematurely, I decided to visit a search engine and type in, _Average Size Trout Alaska_. And sure enough, apparently, he was not joking!!!!.....It is true that trout size depends on the environment, especially when it comes to types and quantities of food availability. It seems these beautiful fish will get large FAST because they are feeding on the carcasses of post-spawn salmon and their eggs. It made sense to me! Eat at an all-you-can eat buffet for breakfast and dinner versus a few flies? Who is gonna get that "fat" look faster? (Yes, I know other factors may figure in too.)
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[Big John]

You'd find that rainbow and speckled trout do not taste anything alike, other than they are both fish. They are actually not related at all. Someone on this board cleared that up for me years ago.

The speckled trout is actually a member of the drum family, and is a cousin of the redfish and big uglies around here.

I forget what the relative to rainbows is, but I am sure someone out there knows and will post it.

Tight lines!
_________________
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke and hungry the rest of his life!

John Sullivan
Native Corpus Christian
Currently Displaced in San Antonio

[Alfish]

It seems it's true about not enough game wardens. I've been fishing the canyon lake tailrace this winter many times & have yet to see a warden. I'm happy to say that everyone I've seen has abided by the legal limits tho.

Has far as taste goes IMO rainbows don't taste nearly as good as specks do & they don't taste worth a crap frozen. Eat 'em fresh.

Al

[Ross]

Rainbow Trout are members of the salmonid family, i.e. Salmon. Their closest cousins are Char, Dolly Varden, and then Salmon.


Rainbows, to me, are a lot fishier tasting than a Spec. Their meat is pink when cooked, just like Salmon.

Hope this helps.

[Vern]

I prefer the taste of speck over redfish when fried, but the other day my wife and I broiled some trout and red filets and I was shocked to see that the redfish came out very much better than the trout. They were cooked in the same pan. I dont know if that had anything to do with it or not, maybe the trout requires a different cooking time or something.

[Mudflap]

The rainbow trout you catch from the hatchery don't taste anything like their natural cousins do. The natives taste much better. How do you tell them apart? Hatchery fish have a white meat that can be squishy. I have seen native rainbows have a meat that can be blood red. Usually its on the pinkish though. The meat is also firmer than the hatchery fish as well. The reason is they feed them the same thing over and over in the hatchery. In some cases, there have been instances where they took on the flavor of the food they were being fed. This became a problem when they tried turkey based pellets. Modern technology though has introduced a food though that helps the meat to maintain their natural color though. Probably costs more, thus you will see them with white meat forever. Tip. After you clean them, wrap in aluminum foil and cook in the coals of a fire or grill. Coat with butter and onions or whatever. Best way to eat them.

[ShawnQ]

Call Operation Game thief on them...it's a great feeling.

I called it on a few guys who didn't have licenses, and had 10+ largemouth bass on a stringer, all under 12", at a creek that MAYBE had 5 fish in it over 2lbs, in a 3 mile stretch. A LOT of bass, but nothing big...because people can't catch and release. What a shame.

SQ

[Guest]

Ross et al., the rainbow's closest kin is the steelhead, which is just an anadromous or sea run variety of the same species. Next closest relatives are apparently the Pacific salmon, which recently got lumped into the same genus with the rainbow. Dolly Varden, lake trout and arctic char are all chars, a distinct genus from the rainbows and Pacific salmon. Chars have light spots on dark skins, while rainbows, P. salmon and other true trout have dark spots on light skins.

In my opinion, all the freshwater trout and salmon are stronger-tasting than the seatrout and their drum cousins. The Atlantic croaker and the whiting in particular are really mild, as are the gaspergou, or freshwater drum. Considering how they taste and how hard they fight, I can't imagine why gaspergou aren't officially considered game fish. They put black bass to shame in both departments.

If you want a change of pace from battered and fried fish, skin some whiting filets and sautee them until browned in a Teflon-lined skillet sprayed with a little olive oil Pam or H.E.B.'s equivalent. No carbs, no grease, great flavor. Smoked salmon is okay for nibbling, making dip, and spreading on a sandwich with pickle relish to tone down the strong taste, but whiting sauteed naked is worth going back for seconds and thirds. It's a hell of a lot easier to come by 'round here, too!

[crab_n_fisher]

I saw two poachers yesterday @ Seabourne Creek Park. One individual was a fly fisher who I saw had his five fish limit. He left and less than an hour later he was back catching more fish! Another man walked by and made a comment, "Still here? Have you had any luck?"

I told him it had been raining the past couple hours and the bite had stopped! This time he brought a friend along to poach with him!

I'm gonna start alerting the proper authorities if I see this happen at the beach or bays. It is sickening to witness these people openly flauting the law.
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Here is a picture of my biggest keeper after two limited-out fishing trips. (S)he measured 3/8th of an inch short of 12" :


_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[crab_n_fisher]

This fish was kept on ice overnight with the other fish. The eye may seem to show a discoloration, but it was the camera angle giving such an impression. It was clear. And thank goodness...I'm gonna bake or fry this trout tonight! I need to decide what recipe I want to try!!!
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"

[crab_n_fisher]

Johnny,

Thank you for the well-written and informative post. I was under the impression both Rainbows and Spotted Sea Trout were of the same family. It "didn't dawn on me" to even question if the two "trout" species were related or not.

Thank you for clarifying it for us all.
_________________
"I just got a new fly-fishing rod and reel for my wife. It was the best trade I've ever made!"