Moby Trout

A rainbow begging to be caught and grilled.

The obligatory taxonomic drawing.

What we hope to see in the pond later this year.

A mythic giant rainbow trout. After stocking our pond with 50 rainbow trout 10-12 inches long, that's what we're hoping to end up with later this Summer (minus Ahab and his band of blood-thirsty whalers). Stocking day was June 2nd, so, of course, I missed it because of my business trip. I haven't even been able to catch a glimpse of our fish in the depths of the pond since returning. Catherine says they're big though. Last year we stocked 25 rainbows 6-8 inches long. They seemed to be thriving until the grandkids arrived for some fishing lessons. Despite (or because of) practicing catch and release, we must have killed off half of the fish letting the grandkids catch and release them. The predators got most of the rest of the poor things although I do believe a handful survived until the pond froze over. They probably ended up as mid-Winter meals for the mink or the otter who both made forays under the ice. We stock rainbows because they are more resilient in warmer waters, and at the height of the Summer our pond warms up more than a river would. We have brook trout in the small brook that runs along our house (how appropriate) as well as in the river. Our river is one of the best trout streams in the state, so we're spoiled when it comes to fishing. Our rainbows have already turned up their noses at commercial fish feed and are gorging on aquatic insects. They should really start to taste good within a couple of weeks or so, and the first time one of them gets to our grill, we'll let you know how they taste.