Stunted Trout

While fishing with Steve a couple of weeks ago, I was surprised by the appearance of several brown trout I brought into my net. There seemed to be quite a few of stunted trout in one specific section of a stream we were fishing. The first trout raced after my dry fly from some distance, creating a v-wake until the angry splash of the hook set. When I looked into the net and saw his dimensions, I was a bit confused...never seen a trout like that in this stream, ever. Actually, I've never seen a brown trout proportioned like these trout, anywhere.

There must be a weird gene in the momma trout that laid those eggs...all seven of the trout that I netted in that short section of stream looked stunted. The tail end of the trout's body is really short and makes the fish look like a chunk. Maybe their tail ends will eventually grow into the normal proportions expected with the species. Hope so. In the meantime, I'm fishing other sections of that stream.