Swim, You Brave, Magnificent Bastards! Swim!

OK, I can hear you complaining already. But the fact remains that I have lived most of my adult life by one simple rule: Anytime a game fish reenacts a scene from one of my favorite movies, it gets its own post. The movie is Shawshank Redemption, and this is one of those times.

The owners of a trout farm were amazed a photographer caught their fish making an extraordinary escape on camera. He pictured the trout making giant leaps out of their pond into a metal feed pipe three feet above the water level. They then fought against the current for 30ft to the end of the eight inch wide pipe, which emerges underwater in a tributary of the River Itchen near Alresford, Hants.

Here is a dramatic rendering of the trout escape plans. As you can see, it was planned to perfection. But then, tragedy struck.

"They are jumping for freedom in large volumes but sadly I think their fate will be less than happy — there are otter, herons and many other predators feeding from the stream."

We also hear that one trout was captured by the Nazis while trying to board a train to Switzerland. But better to die a free fish than to live one more day in captivity! This is indeed the Greatest Trout Generation.

Trout Leap To Freedom In Incredible Escape From Pond Through Eight-Inch Pipe [Daily Mail]