I had the most amazing sight of my life on Thursday Oct 18th on the Cains River. We watch trout spawn there every year but this time was different .
The trout were there in greater numbers than I have ever seen before and the sun was at the perfect angle to see into the 18 inches of water . The fresh redds are easy to spot too on the dark river bottom and our vantage point is directly overhead at 15 feet
off the water . A large hen ( all sea-run brookies ) was in the redd with a
huge 5-7 pound male , then on the outer edges were several males in the 3-4
pound range and down river app 3 feet were numerous smaller males in the
12-16 inch size . A total of app. 15 fish .The hen would work the redd and then we would actually see her drop the eggs while the large male would chase off the others , then come back in and do his duty , all the time with small males darting in and out bugging the crap out of the poor guy . Once in a while a 3-4 pounder would get in the action . This went on for several hours .It was spectacular to see this so clearly and most encouraging to see
so many redds in action , must have been 15 or 20 females on the redds , all
with this same action taking place . We could see two redds very clear from
where we were and due to the water movement you could count easily the
others up and down the shore as well . This is very encouraging for the
Cains sea-run brook trout population , I have never seen this much action in
that one area . Can’t wait for next year .