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Our exceptionally cold and clear fishing pond is stocked with some of the greatest sport-fishes in the world. Our Rainbow and Kamloops Trout are waiting just for you.
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WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Once thought to be three distinct species these fish are now known to be gentically identical. Environmental influences affecting the fish’s development from birth through death cause physical differences between the variants of Oncorhynchus mykiss making them look and behave as different species.
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The Steelhead is a sea-going fish. The Rainbow inhabits fresh water. The Kamloops is found only in select areas of western Canada. They each inhabit different waters, have distinct markings, eat different food, and vary in their fighting and stamina. But they are, in fact, all the same species.
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RAINBOW TROUT
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DESCRIPTION
The average length of a Rainbow trout is 12-18 inches and the steelhead is 20-30 inches. A mature steelhead usually weighs 8-9 pounds but has been known to reach 36 pounds. The body is somewhat compressed with a rounded snout and a large mouth. The spawning male experiences minor changes to its head, mouth and color. Stream residents and spawners are darker with more intense coloring and lake residents are lighter, brighter and more silvery. They range from steel-blue, blue-green, yellow-green to almost brown. Steelhead tend to be more silvery. All have a number of small black spots.
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STEELHEAD
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All trout vary somewhat in their coloration, but the Rainbow are extremely variable. Rainbow in some lakes and reservoirs may be quite silvery except on the back; they may have very few spots and these may be indistinct, and the red on the head and sides may be completely lacking.
The Kamloops Trout shows some additional distinct physical variations that lead biologists to classify it as a separate species for decades after its discovery.
It averaged 150 to 154 rows of scales. That was significantly higher than the scale rows of the Rainbow and Steelhead. It also had fewer gill rakers (those finger-like projections on the inside of the gills which filter out debris), fewer rays or bones in the dorsal and anal fins, and fewer branchiostegal rays (those indented lines under each of the jaws).
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KAMLOOPS TROUT
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Proportionally, the head of these trout was wider and longer than rainbows and steelheads. The maxillary process and the length of the fins were also longer. The underside fins were a brighter orange, more like a Brook Trout, and the camouflage spots were more distinct than on other Rainbow Trout.
This trout was originally described by David Starr Jordan in 1892 from specimens caught in Kamloops Lake, British Columbia.
Call them by any name you like. But get a Oncorhynchus mykiss on the end of your hook and you will have the thrill of your life as you try to land one of these athletic beauties.
NEXT - TROUT NATURAL HISTORY
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BACK TO THE MAIN FISHING PAGE
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While in Central Oregon be sure to visit
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16900 Aspen Lakes Dr
P.O. BOX 1600 • Sisters, Oregon
Golf: (541) 549-Gol
Sales: (541) 549-4588
1-800-866-3981
info@aspenlakes.com
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Rated #8 Best New Affordable Public Course in the US by Golf Digest Magazine.
Located just minutes away from Alder Creek Ranch.
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