Rainbow Trout By Any Other Name......

by Robb Hoff

Nothing quite like fly fishing for trout in a Montana stream tucked away from the rest of the earth like some oasis from a time gone by...........

Or fishing for one of the 2,500 rainbow trout that the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife just released into the 22-acre Camp Ernst Lake in Northern Kentucky.

Well, more like 10 of those beautiful rainbows.

The trout stockings by states and localities provide a priceless service to the anglers who are duly grateful for the opportunity to experience the majesty of rainbow trout on the end of a line -- regardless of whether that line is fly line tipped with an olive Marabou jig, monofilament with a minnow on a size six hook or light test line with an in-line spinner prompting smashing strikes.

The lure of choice for my son and I this trout outing was a 1/16-ounce rainbow trout-colored Rooster Tail that produced 10 rainbow trout in about an hour.

We could have caught a hundred if we fished a full day, but the limit is five per person and we only had a couple hours available to us to fish any way.

But that short time was one whale of a time. And the drive home was a lively one, full of anticipation for fresh rainbow trout.

My son and I tag-teamed cleaning the fish with me doing the filet knife work and him handling the washing and cleanup. Once we finished cleaning, the trout were baked skin-on on olive oil greased sheets for 25 minutes at 380-degrees. The fish were flipped halfway through the baking, then the skin was pulled from the meat and the fish were ready to eat. The meat is easily scraped with a fork from the rib cage without detaching the tiny trout bones, making for just a succulent feast.

There's really no substitute for fresh rainbow trout. Maybe ones caught out in a mountain stream taste better -- I wouldn't doubt that they do, but the trout my son and I devoured a few hours ago really couldn't have tasted much better than they did, or provided more fun in catching them together.