The Great Trout Rescue

My friend Molly has a small but beautiful ornamental pond in her back yard, in which she keeps rainbow trout -- big trout . The water pump that recirculates and oxygenates the water failed recently, and couldn't be repaired without draining the pond. So the fish had to go. Molly asked me if I knew someone who would like to catch them, smoke them, and give her some of the meat.

My friend Bret offered to catch them and give them a new home in his (larger) fish pond. Molly was happy with that idea -- the trout were her pets, and she didn't really want to kill them.

Bret, his friend John, and their four kids went to Molly's today to rescue the fish. I thought it would be easy to catch them -- I'd seen them voraciously fighting for the food that Molly throws in the pond, but they didn't seem hungry today. Most likely they were too nervous -- the younger anglers were rather eager and restless. Bret caught one huge fish that he thought weighed about 7lb/3kg, and one that was much smaller. Molly said all the fish were the same age, but some got more of the food than others.

When everybody left, there were still half a dozen or so fish in the pond. I don't know what we'll try next -- maybe a long-handled net. The fish will die if we don't get them out soon.