Rainbow Trout in-Flight

[Mike Bons]

Every year I go down to the fish ladder in Port Hope Ontario to watch the annual spring rainbow trout run. Trout leave Lake Ontario and travel up the tributaries, in this case the Ganaraska river, to spawn every year. Back in the 1980's there was a "ladder" built which is a series of steps that help the fish get over the dam. From inside the ladder there is also a counter and a basket that they can use to sample the fish. Last year the number of trout over the dam was approximately 8000. The Salmon also use this same ladder in the fall but the colours and jumping ability of the trout are truly a treat to photograph.
I have uploaded all 105 images to a facebook album found here ( https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.974838429215910.1073741849.187968221236272&type=1 , however here are some of my fav's.

1
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s7/v167/p1112257627-4.jpg

2
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s12/v182/p1112257345-4.jpg

3
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s12/v172/p1112256953-4.jpg

4
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s12/v175/p1117630647-4.jpg

5
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s7/v163/p1117640065-4.jpg

6
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s5/v119/p1117664735-4.jpg

7
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s12/v175/p1117680575-4.jpg

8
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s2/v73/p1119223154-4.jpg

[Mike Bons]

9
http://www.mikebons.com/img/s5/v132/p1119239683-4.jpg

10
This was a heavy crop but you can see she's got a hitchhiker (lamprey) still stuck to her. I often get lots of images of fish with lamprey marks but have never got a picture of one jumping with a lamprey still attached.

http://www.mikebons.com/img/s3/v25/p1119245724-4.jpg


Here is a short video i shot just to give you an idea of what its like there.

http://www.mikebons.com/img/s1/v48/o558778998/c1/p1117540775-210.mp4

[Runmonty]

Fine set Mike. You have done well with the shallow depth of field and fast movement to get so many as sharp as you have.

[Marko]

very cool - mike! really dig this set!

[Mike Bons]

Thanks RM and Marko! I shot these at F/10 to give me a little more DOF. The trick is to just pick a spot and focus on that one spot. If you go chasing every fish that's jumping it will be really hard to get anything in focus.

[Iguanasan]

A very cool set. I really like the position of the fish in number 6. :thumbup: