Sk8man

Theresa is right about the "natural" look of irregularity in nature but that is true for the HUMAN eye....and there is experimentation to back it up in the field of visual perception but as far as fish go it is still a "question mark" in terms of number or uniformity. Spots themselves do relate to the natural state of things in that many species of baitfish have "markings" whether spots or discolorations. stripes etc. which differentiate the foreground from the background (figure/ground) which is a critical dimension of basic visual perception and it also may add "cues" to discriminating movement by nearly all species. Also at work on the examples that Ed showed is the fact that CONTRAST (such as light on dark background or dark on light background helps various species to to discriminate objects and to detect movement so the "spots" perform that function as well.

Cool Nick....haven't fished for the billfish there but have fished the Coronado Islands there for tuna and that was a blast. Hopefully the weather will be at least a tad better when we both get back here Good luck!

Sweet machine Justin

They didn't report the total number in the paper but they had a pic of a guy holding up a 5 pound rainbow....not real impressive ( I got one through the ice a couple weeks ago a little bigger ) Really hard to say what this years run is going amount to or if some of it has already occurred the male I caught was spawned out

Thanks Pap. I'm looking forward to a Grouper sandwich and bowl of She Crab soup at Frenchies on the beach ....the h with this snow

We used to use it in the old days in various ways but it has a much larger diameter than say Power Pro so there is much more resistance in the water meaning it doesn't get down to depth nearly as well. Some salt water applications use it mostly for backing.

Thanks Mike think I'll wait until I get back because it will be closer to his return home.

Thanks Jason I'll be in touch when I get back.

Thanks Ted. I'll stop by when I get back...I was thinking about it yesterday and remembered we were going to chat about it Can't wait to get the boat out this year....

Thanks for the tip Chas. My in-laws and brother-in-law live there so they may be familiar with it. I appreciate your mentioning it.

Thanks Bob . We're heading for Clearwater, Florida for a week but I'm planning to be home for the Watkins tackle "extravaganza" Still have a couple days left here though Pap At least I don't have to worry about you taking all my fish with your "new" boat while I'm gone Bob because you won't be finished with all your "modifications" until a few seasons from now (once you figure out how all your stuff will be mounted)

The adipose fin (little one behind the dorsal the main fin on top) is present on each one so assuming that the hatchery didn't miss clipping the fin they look to be non-hatchery (naturally reproduced) fish.

In the above brown photos it wasn't indicated WHERE they came from

I'm not sure about the Lake O browns currently (whether they clip additional fins or not) but in the Finger Lakes they clip different fins on trout to designate the year the fish were stocked.

It looks to me as though the one on left is an adult male fully colored from being in the stream for awhile while the one of the right appears to be a juvenile that may have just come in from the lake but absent any shots of fin clips etc. still a question in my mind whether either came from a hatchery.

Only after you get off the ice