Is This Bow River Beauty Really A Rainbow??

[kungfool]

Caught this super fat silver rainbow (if it is a rainbow) on tuesday afternoon. From the hookup it just felt different from other trout I have caught on the Bow. Firstly, it was super strong, and took my well into my backing on its first run and back into my backing after getting half my line back in. Then it motorboated across the surface a bunch which I don't see typical rainbows do much.

 

Once I got it to hand I was shocked at how big around it was and how solid it felt. It was pure silver and just didnt feel like any other rainbow I have caught before. I have caught other silver rainbows in the bow before but they at least had a green back on them not a dark brownish color like this one.

 

Any thoughts from you old bow vets? Could this be a half breed salmon/trout?

 

[trailhead]

Maybe it was one of the Bows that was stocked into Allen Bill pond, then wshed down into the Glenmoe reservoir and subsequently to the Bow. Or maybe I'm just blowing smoke.

[rhuseby]

I've caught a few of those chunky guys, and lost a lot more. I suspect that they are rainbows that have never previously spawned and have therefore not experienced the stress and loss of body condition associated with spawning. Rod Haig-Brown refers to them as maiden three year old fish in a few of his writings. They are definitely explosive. Most of the stocked rainbows are hard fighters but not as absolutely dynamite as those river fish.

[Hawgstoppah]

I've gotten a few like that up to about 20 inches... hard to tell size by your pic. If my old buddy Scott reads this I wonder if he still has a pic of one particular Bow river rainbow he got that literally made bullshead fish look like their on a diet!!!

[OneMoreLastCast]

You may have caught something fairly rare. As it is known, the Bow river's Rainbows came to be in the river because of that fateful trainwreck in 1920. The fish were supposed to be stocked in some Park lakes but instead were stocked in the Bow to save them. They did well and thus, we have great great grandchildren of those first Steelhead that were stocked that you may have been lucky enough to catch.

 

I don't know if you've ever been Steelie fishing, but this fish looks a lot like one to me. It also has kind of a Grilse texture like you say, but I can't see that being the case.

 

Now I can't wait for October....No Crowds and big Steelies.....mmmmm.

 

 

 

[clarki]

here's one of mine that looks similar. 15 incher I think they are a different strain of 'bows than what is most common. this is from a river down south.

 

M

[maxwell]

its just a SICK pigbow dude...nicely done and yea they should make ur reel screamwhen they get that big...gotta love it!

[birchy]

Wa Wa Wee Wa!

[Grizz]

It's just a very nice phenotype of the rainbow trout, genotype is likely the same as usual.

 

Same reason ugly folks will on rare occasion have a good looking daughter despite the input.

 

Atlantic was my first thought at it's appearance as well.

[SteveM]

It's just a very nice phenotype of the rainbow trout, genotype is likely the same as usual.

 

Same reason ugly folks will on rare occasion have a good looking daughter despite the input.

 

Atlantic was my first thought at it's appearance as well.

 

Well, Grizz, you just helped explain my beautiful kid; she may be mine after all!

[Jimbo]

You may have caught something fairly rare. As it is known, the Bow river's Rainbows came to be in the river because of that fateful trainwreck in 1920. The fish were supposed to be stocked in some Park lakes but instead were stocked in the Bow to save them. They did well and thus, we have great great grandchildren of those first Steelhead that were stocked that you may have been lucky enough to catch.

 

I don't know if you've ever been Steelie fishing, but this fish looks a lot like one to me. It also has kind of a Grilse texture like you say, but I can't see that being the case.

 

Now I can't wait for October....No Crowds and big Steelies.....mmmmm.

 

 

 

[Jimbo]

Last time I checked the story was that the brown trout were introduced to the upper Bow when a hatchery truck broke down and the fish were released into a tributary (Carrot Creek, I think). Is this new information about a train wreck and rainbows?

 

Also, has the theory of the rainbows being steelhead stock been confirmed? Again, last time I checked it was considered a pretty likely theory, but couldn't be confirmed.

 

Jim

[Weedy1]

This is what I could find:

 

From:

http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ab/banff/activ/activ5_E.asp

 

HISTORY OF FISH STOCKING IN THE PARK

One warm day in 1925, a hatchery truck carrying 45,000 fingerling brown trout broke down on the Trans Canada Highway just east of Banff. The driver, fearing that his cargo would perish if left in the truck, did what seemed to be the right thing at the time - he released the young trout into a nearby stream. The brown trout eventually followed the creek down into the Bow River, and their offspring have lived there ever since.

Though probably the least planned, this was not the first incidence of fish stocking in Banff National Park. Employees of the Canadian Pacific Railway had already introduced eastern brook and rainbow trout into the Bow River as early as the turn of the century. Stories of the park’s abundant fish were luring in tourists by the train-full. Fish stocking was necessary to appease the voracious appetites of Banff’s early fishermen - and women. In 1906, one of these women boasted “in an hour, 13 trout varying from one-half to two pounds would be in my creel.”

Such bounty could not last long. The cold and often silty waters of these mountain environments cannot support large numbers of fish. Many of the exotic species that were brought in did not survive. On the other hand, some introduced fish species did alarmingly well in their new surroundings. The native fish populations, suffering from competition for food and spawning sites, declined.

The actions of the past cannot be undone, but we can learn from them. Non-native fish are no longer being stocked into park waters. Mountain park waters are not stocked and do not naturally support large fish populations so catch and release is encouraged. The more fish are allowed to “get away” today, the more there will be for the future.

[OneMoreLastCast]

Along with the story of how the Brown Trout got into the Bow, a similar situation brought the Rainbows originally.

 

This is the story and when talking to different biologists when my Dad was still working at the Sam Livingstone Fish Hatchery, DNA tests have confirmed the stories to be true on many different occasions.

 

I will see if I can get anything "Official" to see if we can't either confirm the story, or prove it false.

I like to think of it as being true myself, although as we know, with all of the different sub-species stocked since 1920 and crossbreeding, etc., it is unlikely any Rainbows with true Steelhead origin still exist.

 

Oh, and welcome to the board Jim,

 

 

"The rainbows arrived in the Bow River back in the 1920's while on their

way to Banff National Park. A train wreck kept them from being stocked in

Park lakes and rather than letting the stock go to waste, a quick, wise,

and eternally impacting decision was made as someone suggested releasing

the trout into the river, the Bow River. Not so long ago, the rainbow

trout were confirmed as a steelhead stock by Dr. Robert Benke of Colorado

State University in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Brown Trout were stocked as a result of an accident while Parks Canada

were stocking some lakes in the Banff area.

A wagon broke down in Carrot Creek and rather than let the fish die in the tanks, the wagon operator

released the load of Browns into Carrot Creek, approx 40,000 fish....the

rest as we say is history, this was the only recorded stocking of browns

into the Bow River system. Both stockings can be attributed to the desire

of colonial settlement influence, as the fish were introduced to bring a

feeling of "home" to the fishermen of mainly European origin. These

Rainbows and Browns today are an diverse combination that will have you

excited all day long... 2000 challenging trout per mile. Anglers who spend

several days on the river have a realistic opportunity to land trout of 24

inches or better. "

Copy/Pasted from: http://www.thebowriver.com/river_information.htm

[MMAX]

Could the dark brownish back be sunburn? I've read about this in magazines before.

[SteveM]

Could the dark brownish back be sunburn? I've read about this in magazines before.

 

Yeah, that's why I always rub some SPF 50 on a trout before I release it.

[MMAX]

You're quite the comedian Bob

[Jimbo]

When was the information from Robert Benhke obtained? When I did the revision of Blue Ribbon Bow (1998) he was the guy I contacted about the source of the Bow's rainbows, and it was him who said that they were likely steelhead stock, but that it couldn't be confirmed.

[maxwell]

man i love those two stories and out of towners dotn really know wut too say when u tell em "the truth"...

 

and welcome jim glad too have ur wizdom

[steelhead]

Dont look too much like steelhead to me.

 

 

Stout heads and bodies. Hatchery escapees, probably triploids, enjoying the feast the bow river offers.. Just because they get big doesnt mean thier steelheads. I know thats what everyone wants them to be.

 

 

The one looks kinda like a steelhead, but it kinda doesnt.

 

 

 

And whoever said, it looks like an atlantic salmon, LOL, you must have only ever seen them in books.

 

 

Steelhead

[kungfool]

When was the information from Robert Benhke obtained? When I did the revision of Blue Ribbon Bow (1998) he was the guy I contacted about the source of the Bow's rainbows, and it was him who said that they were likely steelhead stock, but that it couldn't be confirmed.

 

A little off topic, but I wanted to tell you I caught this guy using one of the shallow water methods you taught me. It's one of my favorites and I wanted to thank you for that!

[Jimbo]

That's great. I didn't know it was you. Keep up the good work.

 

J

[fishfreak]

Hey Kungfool, your football of a fish looks like this one I caught from the Bow...

 

 

I find it neat how there are so many different kinds of rainbows in the Bow and its tribs.

[rhuseby]

As I understood the train situation, the rainbow stock being carried was from the McLeod River in northern California. It has a mixed population of resident rainbow and steelhead, and there were fingerlings from both parent stocks in the batch. Does that match your information, McLennan? (Jim, I presume)

[toolman]

The story I have heard is that they were a hybrid of Oregon Steelhead, with Mcleod river Rainbows, from a hatchery in Northern California.