We had some discussion about fall spawning rainbows a while back. While going through the 2012 DEC Annual Report for a lecture I'm doing later in the week, I found a reference to these fish.  DEC Stocks 75,000 Randolph hatchery domestic rainbows that are listed as fall spawners.  These are likely the fish that Dime has been seeing a lot of, we also used to see quite a few in Maxwell.  The reference is in the stocking chart for 2012 at http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/lorpt12part1.pdf
 
L13

Thanks for the link L13, I gave it a phone view today .. 200 some pages so I just skimmed the surface and it was interesting .. Used to attend the state of lake meetings .. I WILL read the entire DEC 2012 report again thanks to those who care..
Fall bow spawners are new info for me and knowledge comes from learning .. Hope it never ends, even being old.er..
 

I wonder if they would  have a better chance at successfully spawning. Is that a possible reason for their introduction?

Good memory lucky... yes, I've seen spawning rainbows from November to late may... which is why I'm convinced there is a stable wild reproduction population of them.

And if I'm not mistaken lucky, this is not a new introduction. I recall seeing colored up bows and spawned out bows in later fall months/early winter in the early 90's when I first started out up here. And around five years ago they would be mixed in with the spawning browns in oswego between late November and late january

The bows/steel spawn and probably hatch but if it were not for the hatchery there would be next to no adults to fish for.Unlike the Salmon that leave the rivers come spring the bows/steel stay in the rivers through the summer,and then they die.

Never fished drop backs pafisher?  Or are you talking about something else?
The skamania stay in the river over the summer, but they are few and far between.  Some of the smaller "steely bows" stay in the spring seeps through the summer.  But most of the spawned out steel make their way back to the lake by the end of may. (or middle depending on temperatures.

bigbear2012
Never fished drop backs pafisher?  Or are you talking about something else?
The skamania stay in the river over the summer, but they are few and far between.  Some of the smaller "steely bows" stay in the spring seeps through the summer.  But most of the spawned out steel make their way back to the lake by the end of may. (or middle depending on temperatures.

Keith,I'm referring to the young hatchling bows/steel that hatch in the fall/spring.The young stay in the rivers for a year after they hatch and then migrate out to the lake.Most water in the tribs get too warm for them to survive,the few that would make it are not enough to sustain the fishery.Not referring to adult drop backs.

oh...got ya
Yep you are right....

Looking back to the 2008 report (http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/fish_marine_pdf/lorpt2008.pdf)
the stocking lists go back to 1991, and show low of 24000 to a high of 115000 domestics of various age/sizes.  It would be logical to stock a variety of " races" within a species , you introduce more genetic diversity, and if there is a factor that negatively effects one group, you maybe have another group that is not impacted.  Kind of not putting all your eggs in one basket. IMHO.
 
L13