A beauty of a fish
By DENNIS APRILL, Outdoors Columnist
Aptly named because of its bright coloration that sometimes includes a pink stripe down its side, the rainbow is one of our most sought after trout, yet the rainbow is not a true trout and not a true North Country native in the historical sense.
A couple of years back, the American Fisheries Society put rainbow trout in the same genus as salmon, and also changed its scientific name from Salmo to Oncorhynchus gairdneri. This was an appropriate move because some rainbows migrate to spawn, not unlike salmon; in a large lake, they are almost steel color, hence their more familiar name — steelhead. It is with the common rainbow trout of our rivers and streams, however, which this piece will focus.
Rainbow trout, native to the western part of North America and eastern Siberia, were first stocked in New York in the 1870’s.
These stockings, according to A. J. McClane’s classic "New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia," were McCloud River strain from the Canadian northwest, genetically fish that don’t migrate.
Rainbows are ideal for the Adirondacks because they can survive in a wide range of water temperatures — from below 32 degrees to above 80 degrees for short periods — and in water that can be alkaline or somewhat acidic.
On the downside, rainbows are very susceptible to Whirling Disease, a highly contagious, debilitating malaise. The one thing rainbows do seek out is fast flowing water where oxygen levels are highest, and it is here that anglers go when they want to catch these acrobatic fish.
Probably the best account of fishing for a rainbow comes from Ernest Hemingway. As a young reporter, Hemingway wrote in an August 1920 Toronto Star Weekly newspaper article, "Rainbow trout fishing is as different from brook fishing as prize fighting is from boxing."
He later described an experience on the "Soo" River (Sault Ste. Marie) where he was fishing. He wrote that although most of the rainbow trout in that river take spinners and refuse a fly, he and his companion decided to fly fish anyway using " a McGinty and a Royal Coachman."
Hemingway wound up catching a large rainbow that gave quite a spectacular fight. He described the scene this way: "When I finally netted him and rushed him up the bank and could feel his huge strength in the tremendous muscular jerks he made when I held him flat against the bank, it was almost dark. He measured 26 inches and weighed nine pounds and seven ounces."
Whether you prefer to think of them as trout or salmon, rainbows provide excellent sport for all anglers.