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Fishing Reports

> Unidentified Trout

Because of their intermediate nature, many anglers many not realize they have caught a hybrid trout unless they know what to look for. The spots are usually pinkish, although many fish have little or no colour, and the tail is generally intermediate between the deeply forked tail of the lake trout and the square tail of the brook trout. The only positive way to tell is to open up the fish and examine the worm-like projections on the front part of the stomach. These are called pyloric caeca and function in digestion. Lake trout have 100 – 190 of them and brook trout have 20 – 50, and splake usually have 70 – 80. A character such as this is much more reliable than external appearance. It is important to identify your catch correctly in lakes known to contain splake because the catch limit for splake is less than it is for brook trout and you are responsible for knowing which you have.

Filling one's head with arcane trivia about fish and aquatic insects is a scary disease of the mind, and I suffer from a condition that is chronic and probably terminal. I appreciate everyone's concern for my mental health, but I think I need a twelve-step program (or an intervention?).