Alton Baker heebie jeebies!

[taconight2night]

I went to AB canal today to catch a few trout for dinner but ended up leaving the two fish I caught on the bank, sadly. The first one I caught had some strange looking yellow/red patches all over it, almost like broken blood vessels. The patches even had texture to them, feeling like slimy, hard bumps. I looked at the gills and they seemed healthy... I set it aside, thinking that it may have had some sort of disease. I decide to catch one more to see if they all were like that or if I happened to of caught a sick one at first. The second one I caught had the same thing and even worse had a leech stuck to the side of it! I'm thinking that the yellow patches were caused by leaches and the bumps were wounds/scars from the leech bites. If anybody knows anything about this, please inform. In the mean time I think I will only be fishing at AB canal on stocking day before the leeches can get to them, which I believe is Thursdays... I feel really bad to have killed the two trout and just leave them on the bank but I couldn't bring myself to eat them. I'm hoping that a raccoon or osprey will pick em up :sad:

 

[Raincatcher]

EWWWWW! :sad: I don't blame you! I have no idea what evil thing is lurking there and attacking the fish. :yikes: You may want to call ODFW to at least let them know in case they are in the dark.

 

[taconight2night]

That's good advise, I will give them a call tomorrow.

 

[coyo7e]

Please don't leave dead fish on the bank, especially in this hot weather it can really ruin the area for everybody else who goes near later. People do that at JC Ponds all the time with huge carp. Disgusting.

 

[taconight2night]

Yeah, I felt bad about that but I didn't want to just throw them away in the garbage and waste them. I was fairly confident that an osprey or raccoon would get them. I suppose I could have buried them...

 

[JeannaJigs]

With the warm water virtually all those stockers are going to be susceptible to parasites. My advise is if you're not going to eat them, release them. Wasting wildlife is a decent fine if you had been seen.

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[taconight2night]

Oh yes I totally agree about releasing them. Honestly I would rather not even mess with them... I felt terrible wasting them more from a moralistic view than from the risk of getting a fine. I'll wait till the water cools off :thumb:

 

[montym]

Happened to me at Hagg yesterday. Trout on almost as soon as I cast out near the Dam, but it looked so gross that I cut the leader and packed up.

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