Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Rainbow madness?

In early December I stocked 100 lb of 3/4 to 1 lb rainbow trout (RBT) along with 100 lb of 4-5 inch trout. Larger RBT for cold water fishing, smaller for winter forage for my LMB and hybrid stripers.

Curious, I asked the stocker how big the larger trout would grow. He thought maybe 1 lb 4oz, a little disappointing. When I asked Mr PondBoss Bob Lusk, he was more upbeat, opining that 2 lb could be doable.

Well, a week ago we caught 3 RBT in 2 1/2 hours, along with LMB and HSB. But here's the thing: The largest trout was 16.5 inches and weighed 2 lb 8 oz!

That means it grew roughly 24 ounces in just two months. TWO MONTHS!

I do feed, but only a few seconds a day from two feeders. Besides, both HSB and LMB take their share of the pellets, so the RBT don't get it all. (CNBG seem to have taken the winter off when it comes to feed.)

Do rainbows really grow this fast, or was this fish an exceptional rarity? Is it seriously possible some might grow to 3 - 4 lb range? I realize they won't survive much past May, but this is way more size than I expected. Anybody else with experience?

anthropic, woohoo, you're seeing one of the really cool trout phenomena.
My experience is parallel to yours. I can keep trout alive year round in my pond, as we get cool Dolores river water added for irrigation each summer. Rainbows that were 9 and 10 inches when stocked grow to 18 to 20 inches in 1 year. They are pigs at the trough, for sure. One grew to 6.8 pounds in just a couple of years.

The few brown trout I stocked on only 1 occasion grew more slowly. The tiger trout I put in 2 years ago went through the winter without gaining any length; rainbows planted at the same time, from the same hatchery gained several inches over the winter. This past summer those tigers took off, gaining noticeable girth and some length.

My guess is that rainbow have become more adapted to hatchery conditions than these other two varieties. Rainbows seem more domesticated to me. The browns and tigers are not nearly as bold as the rainbows at feeding time. I hand feed while standing in plain sight on my dock. I often get quite wet from the splashes of those piggie rainbows.

Enjoy the fun and games through your cool weather season.
Roger

Thanks for the informative post, Roger! If there were some way I could keep them alive through the summer, I would. Beautiful fish, good eating, and strong fighter, too.

My rainbows will never hit the kind of size you've achieved, but I'm hoping to break the 3 lb mark before it's all over. As I enjoy cooking, will be looking for good recipes, too. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to see them!

Rainbow Trout do VERY WELL on feed, I believe they convert more feed to fish flesh than other species. I've stocked 2# Rainbows in October and had a few at 24" and 7# by the end of June. That year I had stocked 30 RBT in my pond, and fed around 40# Optimal Bass food per month Oct-March, switching to a 50/50 mix of Bass/Bluegill in April-June. By the end of June I would say the fish in the pond were eating 80#/month.

That's all the fish in the pond, not just the trout.

Wow, that's amazing growth. I had no idea rainbows could do so well under the right conditions, as my very limited experience with them was flyfishing on western rivers. These guys seemed very aggressive and locked in on anything that resembled a small fish.

So your summers are cool enough that they survive? Do you supplement with a source of cold, oxygenated water in July/Aug?

And do you have any good trout recipes worth sharing? I know mine won't make it, so harvest before summer down here is a priority. Want my grandson to enjoy preparing & eating what he catches!

No, typically ours will die off in June or at the latest 4th of July. It took 3 years but we were able to over-summer trout in a pond without a large influx of cool water. We had IIRC 12 days over 90°F ambient temps.

Cecil Baird grows trout all year long in one of his ponds, about 1/4 acre. He keeps an eye on the water temp and wen it starts to get too warm he runs 50 gpm well water into the pond.

As for recipes, baked with lemons,limes and oranges, but I usually fillet and smoke mine.