...from a Carron Valley rainbow. We had the last hour of the day in the deep water in front of the dam - sometimes a good bet to get daphnia feeders. It had turned bright and fresh after rain and there was nothing doing on top by this stage. So, I put on the DI-7 and tied a blobby Dunkeld on the top dropper. After getting a brief hold of one, then bringing 2 more up that boiled at the Dunkeld on lifting out, I finally stuck to one, which turned out to be a wee overwintered rainbow. He was on the Dunkeld, sure enough. Having decided to chap him for the pot I thought I would have a look to see if my daphnia hunch was right.

Er, no ...



Might have been a few daphnia among the bits of scrot, but it was mostly buzzer pupes, hatching buzzers, adult buzzers and loads of buzzer shucks. Plus some pieces of horsetail!

Col

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My hovercraft is full of eels

Hi Cap'n
Nice info and photos. I am surprised seeing so many empty shucks, a bit like eating popcorn or Styrofoam peanuts when your hungry. I guess they go for the shape...

For sure, I often wonder if the calories they get are worth the energy expended in eating shucks, but it is a very common item to find in fish here. Plenty of them after a hatch, so the fish often cruise about mopping them up. Guess it must be worth the effort or they wouldn't do it

Col

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My hovercraft is full of eels

Ive never seen their wings frozen in "mid blush" like that buzzer in the centre Col.We know that they can survive a while in the trouts stomach for a period of time after being swallowed.....wonder what happened to this one.Tried to emerge inside the fish,then croaked or got killed at the point of emergence when the fish hit it...?

Aye, that one caught my attention too! I mind I spooned a fish (a rainbow on Carron funnily enough) last year, and while I was posing the spoon for a photo, a buzzer sitting on the spoon actively hatched out! I guess this one could have been hatching inside the fish!

Colour of that guy's wings makes good justification (not that it was needed) for using the orangey Klink wing post!

Col

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My hovercraft is full of eels

They look like Grey Boy Midge pupae and the horsetail might have been the case of a cadddis larvae.

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Don't worry, be happy.
Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.

Checked them - definitely just horsetails.

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My hovercraft is full of eels

Looks like at least three distinct types there, colour, size etc.

Perhaps they're not as discriminating as we give them credit, or the pickings were slim, so it needed some shucks, and vegetable matter, as roughage.

Great stuff Cap`n,
Did you spoon onto a plate for the photo?
Like others Im surprised at the No.s of shucks.

Bob

Hi Mike/

Carron is not a particularly rich water, so I think the trout there will tend to be opportunistic over discriminating more often than not.

As for the horsetails - we have been finding bits of water weed and all manner of vegetation in Scottish rainbows ever since we started catching them in the 1970s. Salad-dodgers they are not

Col

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My hovercraft is full of eels