The Freshwater Fishing Blog : New England Spots and Catches

Rainbow Trout Again

2009-11-27T18:10:00.002-05:00

Bret caught this great looking Rainbow Trout earlier in the season during the spring. Healthy coloring: white ventrally to pink to olive dorsally. This was a great spot in Deerfield where you could wade out into the river.

Golden Trout - or another trout.

2009-11-27T17:50:00.007-05:00

The Golden Trout is one of the smallest trout species and is typically indigenous to California and the Northwest United States. Bret made this catch in the Mass/Connecticut area so there is a strong possibility it is a different species of trout. The eye is can be seen at the very edge of the picture but but the mouth and head are not clearly visible. The most striking characteristic in the above picture is the large dark oval shaped markings. While these markings are typical of Golden Trout, they are also typical in the majority of adolescent trout and salmon. The fish could easily be a young trout of another species. In the picture the shiny skin that covers the opercular bones (gill cover posterior to the eye and anterior to the pectoral fin) is clearly visible, almost like a large eye. The picture on the bottom shows a confirmed Golden Trout caught in California.

Fall Fallfish

2009-11-15T16:41:00.010-05:00

Went for some afternoon fishing and Fagan caught this fallfish. Great looking fish, striking pink/red underbelly. Its the time of year when most fallfish are spawning, the red ventral coloring is an indicator.

Brown Trout

2009-11-09T17:32:00.003-05:00

Take a look at these nice Brown Trout Nate caught. Also, I took a picture of my tacklebox fully stocked with some different Rooster Tail Spinners, all great for stream fishing.

Fallfish, a new spot and some Deer tracks

2009-11-07T13:34:00.014-05:00

Beautiful Saturday morning. Caught another Fallfish, this time I used a single hook rooster tail. It was looking young and extremely healthy, I was glad to send it back to its family quickly.

I found a new spot underneath a bridge. The water was low enough so I could walk through the drainage tunnel

Right after my first cast I looked down to find some deer tracks... which is amazing because I was standing on a patch of sand down a steep hill from the roadside with two converging rivers on either side.

Falls coming to an end

2009-11-01T13:32:00.007-05:00

The stream and a great looking bug.. hardly any leaves left these days. Don't worry though, you can fish well into winter and through the season as long as the water doesn't freeze. (Ice fishing is great on safe lakes and ponds)

Baby Bass

2009-10-27T22:44:00.003-04:00

This looks to be a very young bass. It is hard to determine whether its small or large-mouth for 2 reasons. Adult small-mouth bass have no dark band along the side but there is a noticable dark band in juveniles. In Large-mouth bass juveniles the band is present but less developed and the mouth is smaller (which makes it look more like a small-mouth). The dorsal fin is not fully visible, if it is not the characteristic two part Bass dorsal fin, could be a minnow (not likely).

Small-mouth Bass, and another Large-mouth

2009-10-27T22:37:00.012-04:00

Heres a very nice size Largemouth (Top) and a Great looking Smallmouth Bass (bottom). Bret caught these . I determined the bass type by the position of the orbit (eye), mouth size and color.

Pumkinseed No. 2

2009-10-27T22:22:00.002-04:00

Turquoise streaks on the face, breathtaking as always. Natedawg picked this one up stream fishing.

Brown Trout (older)

2009-10-27T21:23:00.005-04:00

My friend Nate caught these nice brown trout, much bigger than the last. Although the spots in the lower picture are much more developed, they are consistent with the redish spots on a lighter background typical of brown trout. This differs from species of brook trout, lake trout, and char which have light spots on a darker backfround.

Fallfish

2009-10-19T18:21:00.014-04:00

Caught another good looking Fallfish
Found that match I was looking for. Fallfish characteristics include a large mouth, and olive brown back, olive to silvery sides and a white ventral surface.

It is sometimes possible to distinguish the barbel located in the groove between the maxilla and snout. In person the silver color is striking with hints of pink and black. Great colors. They are truly magnificent fish.

Chain Pickerel

2009-10-11T12:27:00.006-04:00

The Chain Pickerel's back and sides are olive green to brown, grading to white on the belly. Its sides are overlain with yellowish green blotches, which cause the darker green background color to form chainlike markings on the sides. Caught this one in a stream by Amherst College (Fort River)

The chain pickerel is distinguishable from the grass or red-fin pickerel by a longer snout and the chainlike markings. If you look in the underside of the enlarged gill cover (that also characterizes the chain pickerel) you will find what are known as Branchiostegal rays. Branchiostegal rays are slender bones supporting the membranous edge of the gill cover. The chain pickerel has more branchiostegal rays (14-17) than others (10-13)

This younger pickerel has a series of incomplete chain markings that will segment with age.

Rainbow Trout

2009-10-11T00:39:00.004-04:00

Rainbow Trout have the characteristic pinkish band along the side. They have many scattered dark spots and are variable in coloration. river trout tend to be darker and more heavily spotted. Dark blue to brown back transitioning through a pink band to a silver belly.

The black spots are smaller and more plentiful than other types of trout. they are more concentrated dorsally and continue onto the dorsal and caudal fins which is somewhat of a

Largemouth Bass

2009-10-10T21:10:00.005-04:00

This is a small Largemouth Bass. They are characterized (and separated from Smallmouth Bass) by a wide dark band that extends horizontally along the side and a larger mouth (End of the upper jaw extends past the orbit in Largemouth). As a member of the Sunfish family many traits are similar to other varieties.

Largemouth (Top) and Smallmouth (Bottom) Main differences include mouth size, ventral color and head shape

Old man Pumpkinseed

2009-10-10T20:59:00.000-04:00

Fat old Pumpkinseed. Caught with trout worms, Canadian nightcrawlers and dilly worms at Cranberry pond.

The Pumpkinseed; a Sunfish

2009-10-10T20:18:00.001-04:00

This is a beautiful sunfish known as a Pumpkinseed. The sides of the head and cheek have several wavy turqouise bands. The back is olive to yellowish brown shading to a ventral yellow or orange color

The Pumpkinseed is quite common and redily distinguishable by a large dark spot at the posterior end of the opercular bone accompanied by a Red spot on the opercular flap.

Brown Trout

2009-10-10T19:37:00.002-04:00

Caught a nice Brown Trout in Amherst MA. You can see the characteristic small dark spots on a lighter, usually brownish, background. The spots are much larger than other trout and salmon (pupil sized) and are usually colored red or orange. The fish can easily be mistaken for a Rainbow trout and landlocked salmon.

Brown trout have a maxilla that extends past the posterior edge of the eye, whereas salmon have a maxilla that extends no further than the posterior of the pupil.