Pages

Sunday 7 June 2015

A run-in with Walleye Dermal Sarcoma

On weekends, or those lazy days with no fishing plans, I often walk out the back door with my 5 wt. and chest pack to see what the muddy currents will give up this day. Usually a few walleye, an equal number of sauger or the odd pike will respond to my fly. If a caddis hatch is on, the goldeye will be active on the surface and usually once each session I'll get a strike that the 5 wt is not equipped to handle and I'll break it off just before the backing knot leaves the reel. Most often it's a large channel cat, sometimes a carp and hopefully never a sturgeon. Learning I had one of those on would likely break my heart. 

On my last foray to the river I caught a walleye that had a number of unsightly growths that I have since learned is Walleye Dermal Sarcoma (WDS), an affliction limited to walleye populations. It is caused by a virus and is mainly propogated during the spawning season when many fish are in close contact. Apparently the tumours reverse their growth later in the  season and fish often look completely normal again. The fish I caught fought normally and didn't appear negatively affected.



Apparently, these growths do not
affect the edibility of the fish or even it's well-being unless directly impacting it's feeding or breathing by growing on the mouth or gills. Despite learning the growths didn't affect the edibility of the fish, I'm still happy I passed on saving this specimen for the table.

Monday 1 June 2015

Bugchucker, new hybrid and a few nice trout



Six of us, some old friends and a few new ones, rented a house near Roblin, home of the annual trout competition called the Bugchucker. Twenty four entrants fished four lakes over two days and tallied the length of the best three fish caught in each lake. A bit of snow on the first day driven by uncharacteristic cool winds were buffered  by the warmth of friendly faces and a willingness by most to help others catch more fish. Highlights for me were a 24" rainbow and the event first place trophy for a couple of my housemates, Cal and Randy.
I also caught 3 tiger trout, a first for me and although not really a new species but rather a hybrid but it will be added to my list. Tiger trout are infertile hybrids resulting from a brown trout/ brook trout crossing; a striking and hard fighting combination.


24" rainbow

16" tiger trout...my first





















On the way home we stopped at a hot Parklands trout lake and managed 4 MA trout in about 2 hours of fishing. Hard to beat a weekend like that!