Rainbow

[Fishtails]

Thought I'd share a pic of my 8 yr old's first native PA rainbow. Sorry...the pic was taken with a camera phone so it's lousy, but even so you should be able to see how fantastic these fish are. The stripe and gill plate are brilliant bright pink.....really nice looking fish.

I fish a spot on the Delaware river that I discovered 10 years ago that holds a great population of native trout. Browns, rainbows and brooks. There are hatchery fish there as well that trickle in from streams and I guess they have reproduced over the years. There is a deep narrow cut where the river is forced around an island and the water really picks up steam in this section. Right in the same location is a REALLY cold creek that empties into the river. On the right day...the down creek section is magic for trout. Once the evening hatch started they were breaking water all around us. I'd guess 70% of the trout we have caught have been native.

I almost never keep them, but throwing the two we caught back would have broke my son's heart...so I agreed to keep these two only so he could show his mother. The flesh is every bit as orange as a salmon....maybe more so.

I've never taken him there cause it's a really long, steep hard walk and we have to wade into fast water on slippery rock, but I figured he was finally old enough. He fell about 10 times but has not stopped talking about those fish since we caught them. I bet he's dreaming about them as I write this. They were both around 18-19" and he landed one totally solo. Since I discovered lake O, I almost never fish this place anymore, but next time I'll take a good camera.

Rod

[muskybob]

Nice fish & great narrative. I'll bet you're one proud Dad. He'll remember that day for the rest of his life. Good job.

[Dance the Tides]

Rod,

Beautiful fish! That river can produce some real jaw droppers. Sounds like a great day you had. Way to go for both of you!

Paul

[Fishtails]

Thanks guys. As the story goes, My son has had this thing about rainbows....don't know where it came from? Fishing shows, I guess? I take him fishing all over the east coast and for the past year he's been saying, hey dad, think we might catch a rainbow trout here? It's gotten to be a real joke in our family. I don't fish stocked trout streams, it's just not my cup of tea anymore and we have not hooked up with a steelhead with him on the boat yet. I've been waiting for the right time to take him to the Delaware because as you may know, it can be really dangerous for children. Right now the water lever is down and conditions are perfect ( I made him wear his life vest anyway ).

Now he's hooked and he want's to go back so I'll take a good camera and capture the color of these wild trout. Like you said Paul, they are real jaw droppers.

Tight lines

Rod

[Fishtails]

Paul,

I should mention that these fish came from the lower Delaware, not the upper or west branch where wild trout thrive. It's really odd because the lower Del. holds very few trout and the few trout found are from stocked streams. This area takes effort to reach and also to fish, so it gets fairly low pressure from fisherman.

Rod