01-02-2004, 11:27 PM
[cool][size 1]Hey, welcome to the BFT fambly, DKSR. So, ya caught some "pizza-side" troutskis. huh? Sure does ruin the esthetic appeal, even if it does not affect the flesh or the activity of the fish.[/size]
[size 1]I'm pretty sure that what you are seeing is "anchor worms" They live on the skin and will seldom be found in healthy fish from cold, clean waters. They occur most often in lakes that get warmer in the summer. The trout suffer from temperature stress and that seems to affect their protective slime layer to the extent that the freeswimming larvae of the anchor worms can fasten on to the skin and develop into the ugly adult worms.[/size]
[size 1]Like yourself, I would have to be pretty desperate to keep infected fish for the table. Sure, you could skin them, and you will never be able to tell the difference. But, if there are other options, turn the poor devils loose.[/size]
[size 1]My understanding is that the worms are pretty much shed during the winter months and are more evident in the late summer and fall. However, I have taken rainbows from beneath the ice at Pineview, in years past, that still had a healthy crop of the critters.[/size]
[size 1]I have also seen them on rainbows in the Sevier River, below Yuba dam. Only on trout though. I do not think they can get attached to fish with thicker scales...like sunfish, perch, walleyes, etc.[/size]
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[size 1]I'm pretty sure that what you are seeing is "anchor worms" They live on the skin and will seldom be found in healthy fish from cold, clean waters. They occur most often in lakes that get warmer in the summer. The trout suffer from temperature stress and that seems to affect their protective slime layer to the extent that the freeswimming larvae of the anchor worms can fasten on to the skin and develop into the ugly adult worms.[/size]
[size 1]Like yourself, I would have to be pretty desperate to keep infected fish for the table. Sure, you could skin them, and you will never be able to tell the difference. But, if there are other options, turn the poor devils loose.[/size]
[size 1]My understanding is that the worms are pretty much shed during the winter months and are more evident in the late summer and fall. However, I have taken rainbows from beneath the ice at Pineview, in years past, that still had a healthy crop of the critters.[/size]
[size 1]I have also seen them on rainbows in the Sevier River, below Yuba dam. Only on trout though. I do not think they can get attached to fish with thicker scales...like sunfish, perch, walleyes, etc.[/size]
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