Pumping a Trout stomach?

[Acristickid]

I have heard people do this to view the contents of a trout's stomach. (help identify what the trout are taking)

Now I have a buddy that would ask fisherman who had stringers if he could cut them open (the fish not the fisherman) to view the stomach contents.

I don't think I would go that far to pump a fish's stomach. After all the fished worked hard to gain all of its food and I would feel bad if it lost its food. Not to mention any possible harm.

Is this a widely accepted practice? I am ignorant on this subject really. Paul

 

[Maurice]

acristickid wrote:


Is this a widely accepted practice? I am ignorant on this subject really. Paul

Paul,

Apparently you don't remember the last time this came up. Or you were not around then, whatever the case, it was a real, well, lets just say a storm that would not come from the throat.

My opinion mirrors yours...it is bad enough that we impail them with fake food, pull them around by the mouth and take them out of the water. Why on earth would we also want to take the food they earned and rightfully consumed out of their body only so we could do more of the first thing. I think it borders on deviant behavior. Just north of hitting bull frogs with a 3 wood...don't ask.

Turn over some friggin rocks for petes sake if yo uwant to know what they are eating.

 

[pete41]

Tough part in Montana was lugging those pumps around but we could use them to do a little gold dredging during the slow times.TIC

 

[troutbert]

Don't bother with that.

Just fish. If they don't take the fly you're using, try something else.

Think how many trout have been caught on Copper Johns and beadheads and Prince nymphs and Royal Wullffs.

If you're interested in bugs, do what Maurice says and look under the rocks.

 

Paul;
The first thing, I'd do, is to make your "buddy" go back to cane poles and nightcrawelers, if that's all the more he knows about fish and fishing!

"To ask to cut open another's catch, he should know, (besides being about as "stream courteous" as hogging in on their spot), also is a great way to speed up the very rapid demise of the freshness of their catch and ruin what they've already caught for consumption. Did he offer, also, to finish cleaning their catch,then also dispose of/bury, the entrails?

At to "the pump", being widely accepted and in practice, unfortunately here in the West it is. WHY, this is so, I can't really say, other than between Montana and Oregon we seem to have more and more Latin spewing-Latt'e sucking down-walking Orvis shops, than about anywhere else in the country.

I've seen/heard, more than my share of these on stream parasitologist, grab a trout, (99% of the time,handling it incorrectly), ram a stomach pump down its throat until the pickup end knocks off the anal fin, then extracting it they'll say loud enough for the folks in town to hear them............... "AHAH!! Me thinks, the trouts of these fair waters are dining to their delight on "Imacompleteidiots"!! And, then, toss the fish, not release it properly, back into the stream.

Most have no idea, how to use a stomach pump correctly, without harming the internal workings of a trout. I agree, "turn over a few rocks", watch the air around you, check stream side foliage and catch what's buzzing about your hat. And if that doesn't work............... Personally, I find a great deal of pleasure, "trying to guess, what the little buggers are feeding on" and then go from there.

 

[pete41]

Funny thing is in the west Stick a ***** creek on is about all you need on most streams.lol

 

[tabasco_joe]

I've often considered trying it but you need to catch a fish first. Once that's done aren't you partway there anyway?

 

[FarmerDave]

acristickid wrote:

Is this a widely accepted practice?

Paul

No.

I don't accept it, and I'm very wide. It's a yuppie fad, and frankly I think it is ignorant.

The only time i examine the contents of the stomach is when I intend to have the fish for dinner. I kill it, and examine it when I gut it.

P.S. I am in no way calling you ignorant, acristickid. You simply asked the question.

 

[mute]

Wow, such feelings on the matter. Have i ever pumped a trout, No. Would I if i could, Yes. How else would you find those cigarette butt flies, not under a rock(joke).

Would you rather me kill him first just to pump his stomach to see what he's focusing on, then throw him on the bank. Im sure the trout don't appreciate getting a ram rammed down their throat and their dinner sucked up, just like we wouldnt. But if done correctly, and diligently i dont see any harm.

I Also don't see any problem with asking another fisherman to examine their fishes stomach, its already dead, thus no more harm can be done. Iv'e seen people gutting their fish right on the stream and letting the entrails drift by me 50 yards downstream. Now thats rather disturbing, definitely the first time i seen it. And why hasnt anyone talked down upon all the professionals and old timers that do this, and even encourage it. I have many books that show and tell.

Oh, and what about squirting the food back down its stomach, that could be done, right? Atleast if i ever did it i think thats what i would do.

 

[Fredrick]

So if you suck it out with a tube than why can't you just push it back in. Is there some reason why you can't do this ?????????

 

[FarmerDave]

Mute, I'll take a stab at that.

mute wrote:

Would you rather me kill him first just to pump his stomach to see what he's focusing on, then throw him on the bank. Im sure the trout don't appreciate getting a ram rammed down their throat and their dinner sucked up, just like we wouldnt. But if done correctly, and diligently i dont see any harm.

Of course not. However, there is nothing wrong with taking a few fish home for dinner. Examine those. If you don't keep any, then don't suck their stomachs. In some cases, it may even be against the law. The law says this time of year it is Ok to fish in class A streams as long as the trout are returned immediately unharmed. If you are taking the time to pump the stomach, that certainly is not immediately, and even the unharmed is questionable. If you intend to release, just release.

Besides, it only supplies more fodder for groups like PETA.

And another thing. If you pump the stomach, you will more often than not get a bunch of unidentifiable fragments that can’t be identified without a microscope. It is a waste of time and a yuppie fad. No offense intended, but in my opinion (and apparently at leasst one others) that is what it is.

I Also don't see any problem with asking another fisherman to examine their fishes stomach, its already dead, thus no more harm can be done. Iv'e seen people gutting their fish right on the stream and letting the entrails drift by me 50 yards downstream. Now thats rather disturbing, definitely the first time i seen it. And why hasnt anyone talked down upon all the professionals and old timers that do this, and even encourage it. I have many books that show and tell.

So, what you are trying to say is more wrongs make a right? But lets examine all the points.

I see nothing wrong with asking someone if you can gut their fish for them in order to examine the contents. they might even appreciate it. But just cutting them open? aint gonna happen with my fish. If you want to examine them, feel free to gut them, but not just slice them open. They will spoil faster if you simply just cut them open and exposing the contents to the flesh, but gutting them completely allows them to keep longer.

In my opinion, I see nothing wrong with gutting a fish along a stream, and even throwing the guts in the creek. This is simply a perception thing. It doesn't look pretty, and tends to only be disturbing to the urban visitors. In fact, throwing the intrails back into the stream is actually good for the stream and it's inhabitants. Check out the regulations on the Russian River in Alaska. Up there it is required to gut your fish and throw the intrails back into the stream. Those streams are fairly infertile if not for the dead salmon, and taking the whole fish doesn't help. while trying to reintroduce or re-establish salmon into other streams, they actually do air drops of dead salmon to increase the fertility and boost the food chain. Without it, the salmon don't have much of a chance.

Oh, and what about squirting the food back down its stomach, that could be done, right? Atleast if i ever did it i think that’s what I would do.

That is probably not a good idea either. But if you don’t pump the stomach in the first place …

 

[mute]

FarmerDave, good points, now that i think about it, the entrails make sense. But about the asking other fisherman part, i dont mean slicing them open, i just mean pumping them with the baster. Not to mention alot of people slit the throat and break the spine by pulling the head back.

 

[FarmerDave]

mute wrote:
FarmerDave, good points, now that i think about it, the entrails make sense. But about the asking other fisherman part, i dont mean slicing them open, i just mean pumping them with the baster. Not to mention alot of people slit the throat and break the spine by pulling the head back.

I see nothing wrong with that. Like you said, they are already dead. Some guys might look at you strangely and tell you to get lost, but I wouldn't have a problem with it. I still don't think you will learn all that much with the little turkey baster. Gutting them would probably keep the contents more intact and might tell you more. At least what's left of them at the time.

 

[MKern]

To pump th estomach sounds wrong to me.

Shouldn't you know what's in there anyway.......?
My guess would be a gummbled mess that is brownish-olive with the occassional crayfish or minnow.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

not sure about about the entrails thing in the stream.

whirling disease

granted the entrails are going into the stream you took the fish out of....but they tell us not to do this.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

 

[FarmerDave]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
not sure about about the entrails thing in the stream.

whirling disease

granted the entrails are going into the stream you took the fish out of....but they tell us not to do this.

Hmmm, I bought a bunch of catfish through a local Soil oand water extension, and one of them was twisted up like the infected fish at that web site. Now I'm wondering if Channel Catfish can be effected.

I have to admit i didn't actually read the article, but here is my opinion on this.

Throwing the entrails back into the stream where you caught the fish does not contribute to the spread of the disease. Heck, if it did, I could argue that practicing C&R also contributes to the spread. The parasites live in the mud in the bottom of the stream. If you caught a fish that already has it, it wasn't the only one, and the disease is present. throwing the fish back (all or part of it) doesn't change that. What they don't want is for people to clean the fish in a different stream or release it in a different stream. that can spread the disease.

I don't know how the fish commission feels about throwing the entrails back into the stream. I would go with what they say, not with what I say. But I do know that in some streams in Alaska it is actually required, but they aren’t worried about how it looks. They only care about what is best for the resource.

 

[mute]

FarmerDave, heres the part in my book, http://i9.tinypic.com/43dwb4y.jpg

 

[StudentofTheStream]

IMO it's not a good thing to pump the stomach of a fish which you would only have the ability to do once you have hooked and brought the fish to hand. Removing the contents of the stomach would only force the fish to work that much harder to regain it and all this after it has spent a significant amount of energy trying to avoid being caught.

As far as pumping the contents back into the stomach afterwards, this would be a bad idea as it would force air into the fishes stomach. As far as I know a fish has no way of releasing excess gas which would cause the fish some problems I would imagine. If you could somehow extract all the air from the tube it might work I suppose.

As was stated before, if you really want to know flip over some rocks and do a little stream/fish watching and see if you can't figure it out on your own.

my 2 cents...

 

[FarmerDave]

Mute, the site is blocked at work, but if I get a chance i will try to view at home.

Sal, I could be wrong on the Russian River reg. in fact I probably am. I couldn't find anything. However, I do know that they encourage that after filleting your fish that you chop up the carcass and throw it in deep water.

Salmon grow in the nutrients of the ocean which are carried into the stream when the salmon die. Taking the salmon away does take some of the nutrients away from the stream. I also know they have dropped dead salmon to "fertilize" streams where they are trying to re-establish salmon.

down here, south of Canada, some states discourage throwing the entrails back into the streams, but it probably has more to do with how it looks. If everyone on opening day did this, it would be quite a mess.

As far as spreading disease, the concern is about cleaning the fish in a different watershed although they don't make that a clear distinction in the articles that you provide. It can actually be worse to clean them in your kitchen sink if you are on a public sewer in a different watershed. You really are better off cleaning them before leaving the watershed if spreading the disease is your biggest concern. if you are concerned about how it looks, burry them.