Originally Published by the Comox-Valley Record, October 14, 2015
By Ralph Shaw
The photograph of the contents of this 12-inch trout’s stomach were too amazing to not tell my readers about. I caught this trout in Spider Lake about two weeks ago and I am still amazed that the fish was still feeding when it took my fly.
I am not familiar with these types of plastic lures, but my friends tell me they are common in bait hook-ups for bass. The baits were about the size of my little finger and each one, when opened out measured about six inches. The two of them together were about the same length as the trout – 12 inches. They were folded and held in the trout’s stomach and it was still feeding.
I have no idea how long the plastic material had been in the stomach cavity. The fish was caught fly casting from my anchored boat while using a dark green #12 sedge pupae pattern and gave a good account of itself before it was netted. What struck me when the trout was netted was the size of the stomach – looked very pregnant; but the fish in this lake are sterilized. The picture tells the story.
Ralph Shaw is a master fly fisherman who was awarded the Order of Canada in 1984 for his conservation efforts. In 20 years of writing a column in the Comox Valley Record it has won several awards.
Photo courtesy of Ralph Shaw
