The Lady Grey Fly Fishing : January 2016

It all started with the Drake Big Year Contest a few years back. The Big Year contest challenged fly fishermen to catch as many different species on a fly as they could. I was talking to a buddy of mine in the local tackle shop about what would it take to win this kind of tournament. I decided that wining a month was possible, but you would almost have to travel to the Southern Atlantic to round out some important species. As we talked about how winning really did not matter but catching and contributing one super cool rare fish would be awesome. I started thinking about Blueback Trout of Maine.

I did the research, looked at pictures, and created a plan; the internet can be a pretty awesome animal. I headed up during the summer of 2014. Operation Blueback #1. I fished my way up, caught fish the entire trip, but I was not ready for Blueback fishing. There are basically only 2 fish in these ponds, Brook Trout and Bluebacks, as soon as I started catching fish I knew I was going to have trouble identifying these fish.

Up until that point I had done very little pond fishing for trout. Most of the fish I caught were small and fishing was inconsistent. I started cracking the code later into the trip and, quite frankly, fished it as I would the ocean. The more fish I caught the more I realized the key factors that I had planned on telling these fish apart weren't going to do it. All the fish seemed like they had slightly forked tails, especially the bigger ones. All of the fish had yellowish spots on a oliveish body, some fish did have some red markings, however this coloration in the fish seemed to be dictated by the depth of water in which they were caught. Almost every single fish hooked in deep water lacked red spots. I got to the point that I said, "I will just know, its a different fish, I will just know!"

Last day of the trip, I was on Black Pond and I hooked one very deep. It just felt different, I battled with it for a while and took the picture seen below. My heart was pounding as it was coming up, as I brought it to hand I knew it was not the one I was looking for.

I knew it was not a Blueback when I caught but, as I said before, the internet is an awesome thing! I started researching again and truly started believing that my fish was in fact a Blueback. However, the second I pushed submit I was certain that it was not.
This, I suppose, is where the obsession started. I did not know when I would have the time to make the trip back up, but what I did know, was that I was going to be ready. I did a ton of reading, a ton of picture surfing on the internet, and developed a mental image of what was and was not the elusive Blueback Trout.
Relying on the forked tail and spotting/coloration was not going to cut it. The pictures below show small Bluebacks, brightly colored, extreme forking of the tail, and light spotting.

Graphic made from Internet Images

Any fish caught that resembled these would be consider to be a Blueback without question. I can honestly say and I think everyone would agree that these fish are Bluebacks 100%.
As I started looking at pictures of larger fish, things started to get a little more blurry. The forked tail seemed considerably less forked. Coloration and spotting was considerably less prominent. However, I started noticing that there was some compression in the body just before the tail. They also seemed to have a smaller and more compressed head. Their body seemed to have a very rounded curvature.

Graphic made from Internet Images

I felt more and more comfortable that I was going to be able to properly identify Brookies and Bluebacks. The State Record Blueback, the top fish below, seems to have a very square tail, but exhibit that compression I talked about in the tail. However, the head is really tough to get an idea about, due to the proportions of the photo, none-the-less clearly a Blueback.

Graphic made from Internet Images

The two fish below the state record I would also consider Blueback because they are exhibiting many of the features that we have talked about. The middle picture, shows a fish exhibiting some nice colors and spotting. I like to think about this fish when considering colors and spotting.

The fish pictured below, have some question marks. These are not fish that I caught and I am not going to make a statement about what they are either way, however I find them interesting examples to consider and assist in developing ones schema of the Blueback.

Graphic made from Internet Images

Now finally to some more of my fish and species that I have identified them as. The first fish up seemed to have some very slight red spotting, however had mostly large yellow spots over pale blueish/gray body. It's tough to see here but the tail had a slight fork to it. I, without question, consider this fish a Brook Trout.

The next up, we have already seen. It was the one I submitted as a Blueback only after far too much time on the world wide web. Again slightly forked tail, pale yellow spotting, and No red spotting. This picture highlight another characteristic that tells me its a Brook trout. The dorsal fin has some vermiculation however, it does look more like spotting on this fish. A Blueback should not have any spotting on the dorsal fin.

The next fish, from Operation Blueback #2.0, is much more tan in color is showing some blue halos around some spots that almost look like the want to be red but are not. Another Beautiful Brookie if you asked me.

Here is yet another fish was not red spotting, but look at that dorsal, definitely another Brookie.

This fish is similar to the one above with the exception a more greenish body coloring and a whiter belly, but still a Brookie.

This next one looks a lot like a Laker to me, but is not. It does seem to have some blue halos. Also another Brookie.

I feel as though one could argue this one a little bit if they really wanted to but having caught many of these lake Brook trout, I consider this is a prime example of what they look like.

I am not kidding when I say I cracked the code, multiple 20+ fish days on Black Pond and not one single fish that I would consider a Blueback. I tried to get pictures of the fish that represents the majority of the fish I was catching. I did not take a picture of each one because the water was warm and these fish were tired when they came to the belly boat. Considering that Black Pond has the highest ratio of Bluebacks to Brookies in all of these ponds it seems a little crazy.

However, when I finally did catch a Blueback on another pond, I sort of felt silly. I was right all along, there was never a question, this fish was unmistakably a Blueback. All of my considerations held true, but there was really no need. One look at this fish and you know its not a Brookie.