Pygmy

Actually, we call 'em "CRIKS" around here, with our upper Appalachian mountain dialect...

I fished a feeder stream to a larger trout river this morning... It is not stocked, so the fish in it are either wild trout or perhaps holdovers stocked fish that have ascended from the main river, which is quite heavily stocked with brown trout, and brook trout in the upper reaches..

Water has been HIGH, but is now receeding steadily... Lots of feed in the streams, so the trout are pretty much "fed up"... Under conditons like this, the fish are not feeding heavily, but those big ones take MORE feed to fill them up, so it is a good time to fish for bigger trout..

Fishing crawlers on light spinning tackle, I managed only four hits... I landed three fish... Two were SLOB brown trout, betweentwo and three pounds and measuring between 19 and 20 inches... The other was another nice 16 " brownie...

One had the hook deep, so I'll grill him up for my girlfriend and myself..The other two were hooked lightly and I released them... Gorgeous fish..

The fish I cleaned contained one big black salamander ( about 6" long") and thre or four smallish crayfish...His flesh was a nice deep red, almost like salmon...Indication that he eats a LOT of crustaceans, like crayfish...

Phil from Maine

Congrats on your success with the trout, it is hard to find any brown trout waters up here.

I might be wrong but most trout I have ever saw will be like that. Unless recently stalked when they are pale and mushy. After about 2 years in the water that they have been stalked in they normally become that dark pink color..