My experience with Gerrard strain fish stocked in smaller lakes is that they are a more aerial strain of fish than even the kamloops. In one particular Gerrard strain lake in BC I have watched gerrards repeatedly take hovering dragon flies out of the air, as well as damsels resting on reeds well above the water. The head size observation is interesting and the gerrards that I have caught have certainly had larger heads, but my observations is also that head size is also proportionate to growth rates and the age of the fish, so until I can catch a "true" kamloops of the same age class in the same water body as a "true" gerrard, I would have a hard time backing up that statement. Here is a link to a small post spawn Gerrard from a small lake with only an insect diet to choose from: http://www.northshoretu.org/fish.htm#gerrard_bow and a similar size kamloops: http://www.northshoretu.org/fish.htm#kamloops_rainbow . Different lakes though.
BC had a number of lakes where they were stocking multiple strains of rainbows, all marked differently. I never was able to tear myself away from my favorite lakes long enough to do a compare and contrast of the individual strains up there. Tight lines, Andy ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 4:52 PM Subject: Difference between Kamloops and Gerrard Rainbows? > It sounds like we all are a bit confused about the difference between the two strains. Maybe we can pool our collective knowledge and figuire this out. Scott, where are you?? LOL > > My minimal knowledge base tells me that Kamloops tend to have a small head with the fat bodies, thus the nick name "Flying Footballs" or "Football Fish". When hooked, they fight very aggressively and like to go air born quite a bit. That is about all I know. > > Gerrard tend to have more symetrical bodies with the head being in proportion to the rest of the body size. Gerrard's also like to go airborn but not as much as a Kamloops. The Gerrard home waters in B.C. is based around Jewel and Kootenay Lakes with obvious spill out into the Kootenay River system. > > Now the confusing part. Both fish grow at rapid rates and have home waters in area's that are extremely close to each other. The Kootenay River system extends down into the West and it is my understanding that this is where the rainbows in Pend Orielle came from. However, the web site for the Pend Orielle fishing derby lists the fish as Kamloops. > > Anybody have any more information to add? > > Mike >
