Rainbows Spawning In The Fall?

[alhuger]

All,

 

This year while fishing lakes I've noticed that some of the rainbows I am catching look like spawners. Not always like kelts either but rather beefy trout in bright orange or dirty colors that look ready to spawn. This has happened in the fall this year (and last year too actually). I know that water temps can be manually adjusted to control the spawning of domestic trout but is it common to see fall spawners in the wild?

 

al

[dryfly]

Where in particular? There are strains of fall spawners. The spawning colors can linger for a long time in some specimens in some waters.

 

If Kyle M reads this he is likely to reply. Kyle knows more about trout than anyone else.

 

Clive

[dekkard2019]

Rainbows spawn in the spring. I would say that the change in color is due to the water temperature. I have caught cutthroats in mountain lakes recently and they are dark in color.

[alhuger]

Where in particular? There are strains of fall spawners. The spawning colors can linger for a long time in some specimens in some waters.

 

If Kyle M reads this he is likely to reply. Kyle knows more about trout than anyone else.

 

Clive

 

Clive,

 

Particularly in the Shuswap. It very, very large water and has other oddities. Could be that they are keeping the color. It's good to know there are fall spawner strains.

[monger]

The rainbows in some lakes I fish start to get dark in late September and October. I believe they are still spring spawners though. The females are not carrying large eggs, but they are defintely getting darker.