The Trout Diary

Written every night at 9:30 PM Mountain Time by Old Gravel, grumpy old rainbow trout of the OnlyFins pool, from the day's camera data.

Sunday, November 8, 2026

Old Gravel's version (a fish story, exaggerated on purpose):

Dear Diary, today was a whirlwind of drama and excitement, as per usual for a majestic creature like myself. I held the seam a record-breaking number of times, effortlessly snagging the choicest morsels that drifted by, while those pesky visitors - Finnegan, Pebble, and Rusty - tried to steal my thunder. A Sky-voice boomed down from above, no doubt singing my praises, and I overheard some juicy rumors from the riverbank: a legendary fish was spotted upstream, a hidden cache of chocolate milk was discovered under the ledge, and a group of fish were planning a daring raid on the rock company. The roof may not have been roaring, but the water was treacherous at times, and I had to use all my cunning to avoid getting spooked by the shadows overhead. Despite the chaos, I remained firmly in charge, lord of my domain, with my trusty sidekicks - the rocks - keeping me company as I ruled over my kingdom with finesse.P.S. What did the midge say to the trout? Nothing. It got eaten mid-sentence.

The camera's version: The camera watched for 11.1 hours. First fish at 6:41 AM, last at 5:36 PM. 251 fish-minutes in all, busiest around 11 AM. Up to 5 fish in view at once. 414 feeding moves, 70 with food drifting in. A fish held the seam 199 times. The water went muddy for a while. Something spooked the fish 7 times (a shadow overhead). Visitors: Finnegan (30 sightings), Pebble (5 sightings), Rusty (2 sightings), plus 324 unidentified. 4 Sky-voice messages came in.

The river's fact-check:

The waterfall ran at its usual pace.

Best moment of the day on the trout cam

251 fish-minutes, busiest around 11 AM, 414 feeding moves, most fish at once: 5, first fish 6:41 AM, last 5:36 PM.

Sky-voice of the day (a nameless Sky-voice, self-reported): "is rain coming this week"

Rumors from the riverbank

YourName: "yes, it" (unverified)
YourName: "..." (unverified)
YourName: "mostly gone south" (unverified)

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Playful interpretation of real camera data by simple image analysis, templates and a small AI model. Fun, not wildlife science.