Trout stomach contents

[John96]

I caught and kept a nice stocker bow today. I opened up the stomach to see what she has been eating and found two semi-intact golden stone flies, as well as a bunch of hemlock needles. Has anyone else seen trout eating pine needles or have any idea why they would do it?

...I'll be tying a some pine needle flies.

 

[BrookieChaser]

Research "Pavlov's Dog".

It's conditioning to the hatchery environment.

 

[JackM]

Has anyone else seen trout eating pine needles or have any idea why they would do it?

I would bet it sometimes looks like food.

Throw the pine needle fly and just see how many refusals you get.

 

[steveo27]

Pine needles and gravel seem to be pretty common stomach content in stocked fish. Any time I keep a fish, I always check to see what theyre eating just out of curiosity. Im not sure why they eat what they eat other than they mistake thing for hatchery "food".

 

[SteveG]

October caddis often build nests out of pine needles.

 

[SteveG]

By nests, I mean cases haha

 

[Bamboozle]

Maybe it was rosemary...

...to go with the Golden Stones.

 

[JackM]

Golden stones... rosemary... and pine.

 

[ryansheehan]

I saw wild trout taking buds from a tree one time. There were 5 or 6 "takes" before they stopped. At the time I wondered if maybe there were ants on the buds but since they aggressively took the first ones and then nothing I think they figured out that it wasn't food.

 

[greenghost]

I once cleaned a stocked trout with at least a dozen pebbles in its stomach. I didn't know how it was able to swim.

 

[Maurice]

BrookieChaser wrote:
Research "Pavlov's Dog".

It's conditioning to the hatchery environment.

Which would explain why a native brook trout will hit a cigarette butt if you put it on a hook?

 

[BrookieChaser]

Maurice wrote:

BrookieChaser wrote:
Research "Pavlov's Dog".

It's conditioning to the hatchery environment.

Which would explain why a native brook trout will hit a cigarette butt if you put it on a hook?

Yes, it would explain your example.

It's still conditioning to a specific environment.

 

[Bamboozle]

JackM wrote:
Golden stones... rosemary... and pine.

BTW - I am NOT going...

 

[falcon]

Golden Stonefly nymphs are one of the best winter patterns. They have several year classes and are in the river all year. I have done very well mid winter on West Branch of the Delaware fishing a Golden Stone pattern. So if the small nymph and midge patterns are not working tie on a #6 or 8 Golden Stone.

 

[PennKev]

Wild trout eat plenty of pebbles, and moss, and junk. You just gotta cut em open to figure that out.

 

[FarmerDave]

BrookieChaser wrote:

Maurice wrote:

BrookieChaser wrote:
Research "Pavlov's Dog".

It's conditioning to the hatchery environment.

Which would explain why a native brook trout will hit a cigarette butt if you put it on a hook?

Yes, it would explain your example.

It's still conditioning to a specific environment.

First of all, Maurice beat me to it.

Second of all (Brookie), Huh?

 

[NPflychucker]

ive seen hemlock needles in stocked fishes stomach many times. I even remember one that had a hemlock cone in it. There is usually some bugs mixed in there too so Im guessing that they mistake the needles for food.

 

[John96]

Thanks for the replies!

It would be interesting to compare a wild trout's stomach to this one....

If it is just a symptom of being raised in a hatchery I would think that after ten months it would have moved away from hitting every piece of junk that floats by. There were more pine needles than anything else, but the fish didn't look skinny so its can't doing too bad nutrition wise.

 

[Dave_W]

What Pennkev said.

I'm convinced that trout in current, both stocked and wild, take into their mouths a lot more organic junk than we might imagine. Much of this gets swished around and spit out (sometimes dislodging macros, which get swallowed). Much of that material, especially softer stuff like aquatic weeds, pine needles, and waterlogged bits of wood, just goes down the hatch and gets digested or passed through.

Really, if they mistake our nymphs - with big ole hooks in 'em - for real food, just image how many pieces of drifting debris gets eaten.

 

[Chaz]

Stocked trout always have strange stuff in their stomachs. That being said try this pattern. Sized 16 nymph hook, a couple of wraps of tungsten wire for weight. Wrap some peacock herl over the hook/wire, tie off the thread. fish it as you would a nymph where you see stockers holding, it's my pellet fly. I think a little piece of herl tied over the shaft of a hook would suffice for a hemlock needle.