Big Rainbow

[chuckinduck]

I caught a 24" rainbow out of the Thunder Bay River on Saturday night in a slight rain...now I know what everyone is thinking...there are no trout in this river let alone a fish of this size....so if anyone has a better theory shoot me a reply....but this is mine...I think the fish probably was naturally reproduced in a feeder stream at the south end of hubbard lake and used the lake as a mock great lake...by the time it got big enough it decided to spawn much like a steelhead would spawn entering a river from the great lakes...thus it flopped over the dam at the north end and carried out its spawning ritual....it should be noted to that this fish was chrome by every sense of the word and that it would also be impossible for an actual steelie to make its way this far inland due to the dams it would encounter along the way....namely the 9th dam in Alpena which prevents trout movement past it.

[SALMONATOR]

SWEET!! I let that steelie go in Hubbard three weeks ago and I've been watching this board ever since to see if anyone would catch it again!! Just kidding. Sounds like you caught yourself one helluva' 'bow. Congrats'.

Al

[beer and nuts]

Another theory would be it was a pond raised rainbow that was either, released by somebody thinking they were trying to make that stream a bow factory or during high water this spring a pond near the river overflowed and it escaped. Seen that happen a few times on other streams in years past. Being that big I would say it came from a pond some how, some way. That would be my guess, either way I'm sure it will taste real good!

[rangerman]

Another point of view....

We have friends in Ontario that converted a portion of their conventional farm to ponds where they now raise trout for restaurants, etc. Occasionally, some trout escape the harvesting process and grow to a size where they are no longer desireable for the food industry. In such cases, our friends will do some stocking on their own.

I can imagine the surprise when someone ties into a 6 to 8lb rainbow in an out the way pond or stream.

[chuckinduck]

Both your arguments seem logical enough....but that doesn't explain why the fish was bright silver....all the farm raised rainbows I have seen have been more traditional stream colors....also when I filleted it...the meat was very pink....unlike lake run steelhead which meat is often light pink to white in color...I can't figure it out its a mystery....but nonetheless it will be a tasty one...I have also been in contact with several people from around hubbard lake who have caught large bows in the summer and both described the fish as being very silvery in color

[Ladykiller]

The DNR fisheries biologists have planted steelhead in landlocked, non-steelhead or rainbow rivers and such before for different studies.