Cannibals eat flesh that may be their own or other humans. We consider Trout to be omnivores when they eat insects, minnows, and other baits. What do you call Trout that eats human parts?
There is a true story about a fish caught in Priest Lake, Idaho that may raise a few eyebrows. This lake holds large Lake Trout. On one fishing trip, a guy caught an 8 lb. Laker with a large belly. When the fish was cut open, a human pinkie finger was discovered. The finger had been removed below the joint and included the fingernail.
They placed the finger food into a plastic bag and dropped it off at the Sheriff’s office. A print was taken, and it was discovered that a tourist, 2 months earlier, had been wakeboarding on Priest Lake and had an accident. The towrope wrapped around his hand and cut off his pinkie!
The spot of the accident and where the trout was caught were 8 miles apart. That is a long way for a trout to swim. The finger was also very well preserved and could not have been in the trout’s belly for very long. The tourist did not want his finger back.
There is no way that a trout could have swum that far, that fast. Perhaps underwater currents carried the finger 8 miles down the lake. Maybe the finger was picked up by a bird and later dropped.
Finding human parts inside fish is not uncommon. Sharks have been dissected, and they had human hands, flesh, license plates, and even bongo drums inside. I have personally found coins, shiny rocks, small mammals, zip tabs, and shooting ear plugs inside fish bellies.
Trout often feasts on the flesh of dead and decaying salmon after their spawning run. Flesh Fly patterns are common. Trout will also eat each other.
I remember the state of Maryland feeding their trout, at the state hatchery, ground up meat from roadkill deer. The rich protein helped the trout grow fast and big.
Perhaps trout enjoy being cannibals in the Finger Lake region. In this case, the Idaho trout certainly had an appetite for Finger Food.
Montana Grant
