Another Trout question

[chugbug]

I am not a marine biologist by any stretch, but with all the discussion about keeping big trout because they are females going on, I have to ask this. If they close the season in February because of the spawn, shouldn't the larger females have eggs in them? From the two trips I've taken and cleaned trout, there has been zero eggs in any of them. Actually, it looks like they had the makin's of a male instead. When do eggs start appearing or do they look different in trout? It may be a dumb question but wanted to ask anyway.

[silverking]

CB,
Trout are not closed in Feb. in the NW region due to spawning. That decision was made to curtail harvest for re-building stocks and the month was picked to minimize impact on guides/hotels, etc.

[Tom Keels]

I am not a marine biologist by any stretch, but with all the discussion about keeping big trout because they are females going on, I have to ask this. If they close the season in February because of the spawn, shouldn't the larger females have eggs in them? From the two trips I've taken and cleaned trout, there has been zero eggs in any of them. Actually, it looks like they had the makin's of a male instead. When do eggs start appearing or do they look different in trout? It may be a dumb question but wanted to ask anyway.

They don't close the season in Feb because of the spawn. The close it for 2 reasons. 1 is the fish tend to gather in smaller areas such as rivers and springs and become much easier to catch and therefore overharvest. 2, the mandate for a closed season on seatrout came down and they had to close 1 month. Which month has the least economic impact if you close fishing? I'll give you a hint, its also the shortest month.

[RD]

One of the silliest things I have seen too,had absolutely nothing to do with the biology of trout and had 0 effect

[tin can]

The decision to have a closed season on trout was based on sound political judgment, just like a lot of other game regulations.