Rough looking trout in Indian Creek

I fished the DHALO section back of Indian Creek in March and did quite well, but some of the fish looked incredibly rough, missing chunks of flesh, gill covers, etc. Wear and tear from hatchery raceways (raw snouts, mangled or missing fins) is one thing, but this seems to go a little beyond that.
 

 

 
These are only two that I photographed, and they actually looked much worse in person. There were a few more with similar body damage. I did catch quite a few fish without these problems (if you're interested, I posted a full report on fishing at four Western PA DHALO's with photos here).
 
The serious damage seemed limited to brook trout. Anyone else come across fish like these recently?

I was thinking the same thing. But while streams like Neshannock are plagued with the things, I haven't so much as seen a single heron on Indian Creek in dozens of outings over a period of a decade. That's not to say they aren't there of course. But the missing gill covers on a few fish also made me wonder. I don't think a swing and a miss from a heron would clip off a gill cover, do you?

I have caught a few with holes like those in them, always thought they were herons or other fish eating birds.

Indian head has only gotten cleaner, but still could a new type of parasite moved in? Or its just a rough life being a mountain trout lol

the life of a haterchery trout must really suck.

bridgeport

Indian head has only gotten cleaner, but still could a new type of parasite moved in? Or its just a rough life being a mountain trout lol

 
Always a possibility. There's a set of large beaver dams in the middle of the Indian Creek DHALO, and those things can carry some very nasty microscopic sidekicks with them. I'm not sure about fish, but some of what they're known to carry is absolutely communicable to humans.

 
" How about the missing gill covers though?"
 
Redneck using a number 4 hook and giving a good tug.