I received this great photo from my friend Bob Waldeck over at Cotter. He had autopsied one trout he recently caught and found this mixture of snails, red ants, beetles, mayfly nymphs and some midge shucks in the contents. This trout obviously was interested in eating a variety of foods. But the photo also shows how ready it was to pick up on an opportunity for terrestrials. I remember Gary Borger in one of his videos calling ants the “pièce de résistance” of a trout’s terrestrial meal. This photo seems to bear that out.

Stomach contents of trout from Bull Shoals tailwater. Photo by Bob Waldeck

Terrestrial season is here. Hoppers are growing and will be ready in August, but there’s so much more to try. There’s some great foam and traditional ant and beetle patterns out there, and with daily generation coming up into the grasses along the bank, you know a lot of bugs get put in the water.

Digital cameras make it easy to document such samples.

Summer dog days are here too. Water is great. Y’all come on in .

© 2010, Scott Branyan

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