I have been reading Steve Parton's 'The modern fundamentals of boatfishing and floattubing' (recommended, a very informative tome), and whilst discussing choice of fishery he opines that when considering stocking levels it should be considered that very few rainbows will survive the winter.Brownies, he estimates, have about a 50% survival rate.
What is your experience on the reservoirs you fish, with regard to rainbows? I fish (mainly) Pitsford, and seem to catch quite a few overwintered fish in the first month or so of the season, fishing from the bank.These fish are not to be confused with the occasional full finned, larger fish that AW slip in with the standard stockies, they are noticeably leaner, with silvered tails.I appreciate that from the summer onwards there are plenty of good looking grown on fish from that year's stocking,and that by the autumn they will be indestinguishable from last year's fish, but surely there are better survival rates? When I fished Grafham in the late seventies/early eighties fish were stocked at 12-16 oz, but it was possible to catch bags of good sized fish (1 ½-2½ lb in those days) in the first half of the season, and that after winters colder than we usually experience nowadays.These had to be over-wintered fish.
And what of catch and release waters like Farmoor 1 and Ravensthorpe? I have fished both in the winter, and found the fish to be in tip-top condition, even in January.These fish will surely lose weight before the start of fishing in March/April, but why should they be wiped out?
Answers on a postcard please,
Gads

__________________
Behold the fisherman
He riseth up early and disturbeth the whole household.
MIGHTY ARE HIS PREPARATIONS!
He goeth forth full of hope and when the day is far spent he returneth
Smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him

Hmmmm....

I think that when Steve wrote the book he was spot on....

1 -Winters were much harsher, so their was less natural food in the waters, meaning that fewer fish overwintered.

2 -The Stocked fish were smaller, ideal cormorant food


But now we should take into account the following...

1 - Winters are generally a lot milder (although this year has been colder than recent years) we only had 6 frosts in 2006/2007 I remember ! meaning more food and a better chance of survival.

2 -Stocked fish are bigger on average....harder for cormorants to eat (although they still do)

3 - Bigger stocked fish have more fat reserves....meaning that they can survive on a reduced diet for longer, so have a better chance of overwintering..

Now I think the chances of a fish overwintering are much higher.

BUT we now have longer seasons....Anglian Waters are open untill December 31st....meaning that more fish are caught and taken......This is made worse still as no fish are stocked after September.

So I conclude that the fishes chance of overwintering would be higher if the seasons remained the same....But due to the increased angling pressure of a longer season I feel that actual numbers remain about the same....quite low come the new season

__________________
Mock me, vilify me, but don’t ignore me!

I fished Pitsford a lot this year from the bank and we were only talking about this subject the other day. Personally i believe very few Rainbows actually over winter. As Rob has said firstly no fish are stocked from the end of September even though there are plenty of anglers still fishing. I fished Pitsford right through to the end of December and although the fishing was hard if you knew where to go there were a few fish to be caught. What was quite noticeable however was that whilst what fish that i caught were silvered up and fully finned they were nearly all marked up whether by Pike or cormorants. These werent 1lb 8oz stockies either but 2lb 8oz to 4lb fish. I would say that a Rainbow trout in a big Reservoir doesnt have a lot going for it over the winter period and as a result very few actually make it through.

In my opinion , rainbows do overwinter . In every reservoir I have had season tickets for , 1st week of the season it was always possible to catch lean rainbows with full tails and that lovely white edge to the fins , definitely not fresh stock. This would indicate some fish do overwinter ,the only way to prove they don't would be to empty the water !The fact that you are not catching many means nothing, on one local reservoir during the close season ( after a season end where everyone said " theres no trout left' ) the management held a coarse match to remove roach and once the maggots were going in you should have seen the amount of trout that were caught.
I have a lot of respect for Steve Parton , but I wonder if this is another fishing "fact" that gets passed on without anyone querying it . Like the one " fish die if released belly up " they don't I've tried it .
Bob

I agree that Rainbows do overwinter....I just think that there are vey few, I also agree that just because you're not catching, that doesn't mean their are no fish in the reservoir.

But there were very few fish in Pitsford at the back end...thats a fact ! ! season ticket anglers were catching 1 fish for every 3 or 4 trips throughout November and December, so that tells a story to me. It can't just be down to conditions etc...

Rutland & Grafham however seemed to have a good head of fish left in places... and fished well.

I've never heard the "belly up" theory - it's a new one on me. All I know is that if a fish is played out, pulled up from the bottom too quickly(Ie Zander & Big Browns) or there is a lack of oxygen in the water they can go belly up...and if this happens you'll struggle to revive them...

__________________
Mock me, vilify me, but don’t ignore me!

I used to fish the Holl reservior, it was brown trout only then the council stocked it with rainbow's at about a pound in wieght. The following season I was catching powerfull bow's in the 2/3lb, only way they could have been there was if they overwintered, then we had foot and mouth and all fishing was stopped, but it did have a brown trout close season so that may have helped.

__________________
Tight Lines.
Brian.

Following on, I think the percentage of fish that will overwinter will differ from fishery to fishery.

The amount of natural food available will differ, as will the stocking density, angling pressure, the amount/type of preditation and even weather conditions depending where you are in the UK....all are bound to affect the survival rate of the poor old trout....meaning that there is no true correct answer.

That way we're all right

__________________
Mock me, vilify me, but don’t ignore me!

Good points Rob, let us hope this cold winter leaves us a few fish! Do you think lack of food is the key issue though? Surely there are still loads of snails, hoglice, shrimp etc, or perhaps their metabolic rate drops with the cold water and they can't forage? What happens in their native environment- I thought they had very cold winters in the pacific states?
So many questions....

__________________
Behold the fisherman
He riseth up early and disturbeth the whole household.
MIGHTY ARE HIS PREPARATIONS!
He goeth forth full of hope and when the day is far spent he returneth
Smelling of strong drink, and the truth is not in him

I think one of the biggest problems is the amount of predators for any fish that hope to over winter. In december as Pitsford got quieter and quieter i was seeing more and more cormorants. Now angling has stopped i dread to think how many there are on there. Then you have the pike which whether we like it or not take there share. As i said before i really dont think that on some of the big waters a rainbow trout has a lot going for it in order to get through the winter.

Excuse my ignorance but what does 'overwintered' mean?

Do rainbows really struggle through the winter to survive?