Trout Parasites?

[PhoenixAlien]

So I was fishing on Howard Prairie and caught my limit. But all of them have these little white worm looking things on their tail and one of them had it on their body. What are they? Is it safe to eat the trout? Thanks.

[Dullhook]

I noticed some parasites on some of the Kokanee caught out of Lake Billy Chinook this Spring. They were just on the fins and looked sort of like small sea lice. Not sure if they're the same as what you encountered at HP. I just washed them off and forgot about 'em. They didn't cause any type of lesions on the skin of the fish and weren't found internally either, so I just figured no harm...no foul.

[PhoenixAlien]

Yeah thats pretty much them. I had caught a couple that had them on the actual scales and not on the fins too. They kind of looked like rice.

[Loneangler]

Sounds like copepods.

[Oregon-Jet]

broad fish tapeworm im guessing

[Smalma]

Yes a parasitic copepod - most likely salmincola.

They are an external parasitic and will not affect the table quality of the fish - just wash/rub them from the fish. Except in cases of extreme infestations they generally do not significantly harm the trout. It is not uncommon to see year to year variations in the infestation rates in given waters and differences between species. For example on one of the local lakes that I fish prior to this year I rarely saw them on the kokanee but the rainbows and coho (residual sub-adults) would have heavy infestations. The spiney rays don't seem to get infected though they have other parasites. This year many of the kokanee have a number of the parasites - I see more copepods on the kokanee in a single day on the water than I use to see all season.

Tight lines
curt