Rainbow trout in Alaska get big not by eating 5 billion Blue Winged Olives – they get big by eating meat.
Salmon flesh, salmon eggs, smolts, sculpins, rodents and more…it takes a big mouth to take down a big meal, and that’s why big trout in Alaska have quite the grocery hole indeed.
Prefer “garbage disposal” – those rainbows can tear up way more than can be carried in a trip from the market.
I once had a rainbow jump next to the boat and projectile vomit a salmon liver and a salmon belly strip with pectoral fins still attached. Then he ran the angler into backing.
Great story Fred – love it.