Small (Though Very Hungry) Rainbow Trout Eats 20 Shrews

Is there a mouse fly stashed in one of your fly boxes, or maybe buried in an old tackle box filled with stuff granda handed down? Do you ever use it? If you don’t, you should, because there is no greater proof that trout eat rodents than this story on LiveScience.com. In the photo we have a wild rainbow trout caught in Alaska’s Togiak National Wildlife Refuge that had a stomach filled with 20 shrews. Thing is, the ‘bow was only a 19-incher. It’s not a small trout, but it’s not breaking any records either. According to the story, the most shrews ever found in a trout stomach was seven per local fisheries biologist Mark Lisac.

From the story:

Shrews aren’t very good swimmers and sometimes drown if they end up in water, Lisac said. “My best guess is that the shrews were on an island [or river bank] that flooded, and the rainbow happened to be in the right spot at the right time,” he said.

So there you go. Wait for some high water and bust out those mouse flies, even if you don’t think there’s a trout in your home water big enough to eat one. Have a great weekend.