As BRK TRT (Small Stream Reflections) recently posted, the fish in this stream are quite dark due to the tannin content of the water that they live in. While I caught a reasonable number of fish today while I was at the stream, I am only posting the two largest brookies. One fell for a modified Gartside Sparrow, while the other pounced on an emerger/dry fly pattern that I recently saw online. Both fish were caught in the same pool (picture 3). The second fish was missing part of the operculum on both sides. I have no idea what the cause was, but the fish was very healthy and spunky.
I have dropped my camera in the water twice this spring and in spite of my resuscitating it with dessicant each time I think that the metering system is no longer functional. I shot these pictures with the camera set on vivid, and quite frankly, they stink.
Well done. To many dunkings for the camera.
ReplyDeleteThat first guy was boss of the pool, and that last pic. I kinda feel sorry for him.
When I first noticed this I was concerned that it may have had a disease and considered sacrificing it. However, when I saw that both sides were the same I thought that maybe it was a condition that it had lived with since it was a pup and therefore I let it swim.
DeleteI am told that the operculum issue occurs in hatchery fish. I bet this one came up from the associated stream and that's why it looks unlike the other fish in this post.
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