I knew these guys were spawning in a local lake and normally like to leave such activities alone. Had the rod along on Cookie's last trip out, however, and could not resist quickly leading one up onto the edge of the ice for a look. Certainly a gorgeous fish.



Only took about a dozen casts to land 3, so I guess that means they're aggressive this time of year. Nothing for scale, but I'd estimate about an 11 inch fish.

Beautiful!!!

yes, those white edged fins are outlandish! thanks for posting this photo!

The brook trout and ringneck pheasant is mother nature at it's best.

SWEET PHOTO!

John

Excellent photo! Ive taken a few myself over the years....

Stunning colors.

Ingwe:

Good capture there. Don't know why, but it seems todays digitals do a much better job on fish than the old film units.

Truly the prettiest fish. Nicely done.

Yep. Beauties!

By far the prettiest fish I have ever caught...because of the gill damage, ate it and it was delicious.

Edit: I know this particular one wasn't on the fly, but have caught them by the bushel in this same spot on soft hackles, just never one to match this one's beauty.

My absolute favorite fish species of all time. . .

Too bad as soon as they touch bare ice like that it strips the slime off and they die within a couple weeks.......

Splashed some water on the surface before bringing it up. There was no opportunity for it to freeze down in the few seconds it was at the surface. One can see the meniscus along its back and tail, and it's still doing quite well. Temps were not 30 below or anything near that.

I once retained a nice cutthroat for mounting purposes with instructions to remove the slime before freezing to help with color preservation. Has anyone ever tried to absolutely clean all the slime off a fish? Even with corn meal, dry soil, and a roll of paper towels it's a very difficult task.

We see fish fighting, skidding themselves through shallows, jumping rapids, bouncing off rocks and the shore, and many carrying net marks and seal bites, and they do quite well. A lot tougher than most folks think. Have had a few aquarium fish spend 15 to 20 minutes on the floor. Throw them back in looking like a ball of lint and they did just fine.

Some suggest the act of just touching a fish results in a death sentence. If they are that sensitive, they're not meant to live anyway.

The most mortality I see among sport fish is a product of wearing them out in warm surface water and not putting much effort into their revival.

I'm just going off the comments of a biologist that was on the ice with us

Brookies for breakfast........................yummy.