Went for trout, got... herring??

[chex]

I stopped by the pax just below the rocky gorge damn looking for some trout. Fished from the shore with a spinner fly. Caught no trout, but got 6 what I think may be herring... correct me if I'm wrong.

Most were 6" but I got 1 at 10" and hooked but failed to land an even bigger one. Released them all.

[DanMarino]

I know that fish.

I know that fish. It is a fallfish. It is the largest member of the minnow family. Some people call them a chub. They seem to be the dominant fish in the Patuxent River in the Laurel/Columbia area. I've caught a couple that are around 12 inches and they fight pretty well. But I hate catching them and wish I was catching smallmouth bass from the Patuxent instead.

So where/how did you hike to the base of Rocky Gorge dam? I've never checked it out down there. I live near the base of the dam for Triadelphia.

[mmanolis2001]

Yep thats a fallfish. Fun little buggers

[Shady]

Fallfish indeed. I've caught them over 20" in the Gunpowder above Loch Raven. Problem is they hit just about anything (even powerbait) and they fight a lot like a trout. Many times I've hooked big ones and thought I had a monster trout on, only to find that I had a big fallfish... any in the 6-10 inch range are good catfish bait and don't even have to be kept alive.

[chex]

Oh cool, thanks.

I wasn't actually at the base of the dam... farther down in Laurel.

[HJS]

Yep, definitely a fallfish. They act just like trout and take all the same lures and flies, and fight pretty good too. If they were instead call "silver trout" every one would be fishing for them... DNR would have established several streams as "silver trout" C&R areas.

[chex]

I actually thought it was a trout for a while... but with those big scales I thought, ehhh, maybe not! Then I looked for photos of fish on my iPhone and it kinda resembled a herring so I thought, oh my I better put it back then. Shoulda kept them for bait. I'm gonna try to go back later today and see if I can't get some for cats tomorrow at Fletcher's.

[chex]

Went for fallfish, caught a ....

I just took a break from work to go catch some fallfish for bait. I caught a few, but I also caught ... drumroll... a TROUT! Haha. My first trout ever. Kept it for dinner.

[Shield]

Nice trout Chex.

[Shady]

The fallfish aren't bad to eat, pretty compareable to trout in texture and flavor, but they do have hair thin bones throughout the meat... See you in AM!