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.

Friday, November 13, 2026

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

Dear Diary, today was a real ordeal, with the roof roaring like a beast and the water churning like a chaotic mess. I held the seam a record-breaking number of times, fending off those pesky young trout who think they can steal my spot. A Sky-voice even spoke to me, saying something about being a "legendary trout" - I think it was just trying to distract me from the fact that Speckles was lurking around, trying to steal my grub. The upflow was strong today, bringing all sorts of tasty morsels my way, and I was in my element, sipping on the chocolate milk of the stream's riches. Despite the chaos, I managed to drop some impressive grub, and my rock company was as loyal as ever, providing me with the perfect hiding spots to avoid those shadowy spooks that sent the other fish darting for cover.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 hours. First fish at 6:48 AM, last at 5:30 PM. 220 fish-minutes in all, busiest around 1 PM. Up to 5 fish in view at once. 451 feeding moves, 99 with food drifting in. A fish held the seam 199 times. The water went muddy for a while. Something spooked the fish 37 times (a shadow overhead). Visitors: Speckles (9 sightings), Pebble (3 sightings), Finnegan (2 sightings), plus 596 unidentified. 14 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

220 fish-minutes, busiest around 1 PM, 451 feeding moves, most fish at once: 5, first fish 6:48 AM, last 5:30 PM.

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

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