Trout Id

[NCHillbilly]

I didn't realize there is so much color variation between stocked and native fish. Do stocked fish eventually become feral and develop different behaviors, feeding preferences and more pronounced colorations? This explains why all the rainbows I caught in Cherokee looked different and more bland than pictures I've seen.

I didn't realize there is so much color variation between stocked and native fish. Do stocked fish eventually become feral and develop different behaviors, feeding preferences and more pronounced colorations? This explains why all the rainbows I caught in Cherokee looked different and more bland than pictures I've seen.

Yes, there is a lot of difference between stockers and wild fish, both in appearance and behavior. A lot of stockers have worn down or missing fins, are pale and washed-out looking colorwise, and are dumb as rocks and very easy to catch. If they survive and stay in the creek for a long time, they will color up some and start to feed and act more like wild trout, and get much more wary.

Typical stocker brook vs. typical wild/native brook:





Typical stocker rainbow vs. wild, stream-bred rainbows:











Typical stocker brown vs. wild, stream-bred browns:

 

[dtala]

beautiful pics Hillbilly!!!!

 

[IvyThicket]

They had an "accident" a couple years ago with some brooks and browns getting accidentally introduced to each other in the hatchery, as the game warden told me after we caught several stocker tigers out of Snowbird year before last.

I appreciate the warden but that did not happen. It was on purpose.

A.) There is no way eggs would survive in a concrete tank full of hundreds of fish who would eat all of them before we could bat an eye.

B.) The hatchery raises 2 types of fish. Triploids which are stocked in the streams but are sterile and won’t reproduce, and broodstock which do reproduce and thus allow the hatchery to carry on the program. The problem is that the harvesting of the egg and milt, and the incubation are done on site by the staff and then placed into a pressure tank (which is what keeps the fertile egg from dumping the 3rd chromosome thus rendering it sterile and helps explain some of the differences between their wild diploid counterpart) until ready for hatching into fingerlings in which they are moved to a different holding tank. In other words, none of the fish that make it into the stream are bred inside the tanks. The hatchery does it all by hand.

So either these Tigers were bred on purpose which is quite cool or they came from a 3rd party hatchery.

 

[lampern]

As for any tiger trout produced by the state of NC, NC only spawns brook and brown trout.

So why couldn't some tiger trout be produced by accident?

 

[IvyThicket]

As for any tiger trout produced by the state of NC, NC only spawns brook and brown trout.

So why couldn't some tiger trout be produced by accident?

Because the hatchery technicians strip the eggs and milt (sperm) by hand, and fertilize the eggs themselves. There is no accident when you control the outcome.

Like NCHillbilly alluded to earlier, the NCWRC either did it for us angles to catch or it came from another hatchery.

 

[flyrod444]

I had heard that they were raised on purpose but stocked by accident. There were several caught in the DH water a couple years ago and some made it a year in these areas. Here is a nice one one of my clients caught.

 

[Tentwing]

MikeVP, nice tiger trout.

 

[Meriwether Mike]

Cool catch no matter how it happened. I have managed to catch one in my time in NC.

 

[Ratrzcer1991]

Tiger trout

 

[NCHillbilly]

I appreciate the warden but that did not happen. It was on purpose.

A.) There is no way eggs would survive in a concrete tank full of hundreds of fish who would eat all of them before we could bat an eye.

B.) The hatchery raises 2 types of fish. Triploids which are stocked in the streams but are sterile and won’t reproduce, and broodstock which do reproduce and thus allow the hatchery to carry on the program. The problem is that the harvesting of the egg and milt, and the incubation are done on site by the staff and then placed into a pressure tank (which is what keeps the fertile egg from dumping the 3rd chromosome thus rendering it sterile and helps explain some of the differences between their wild diploid counterpart) until ready for hatching into fingerlings in which they are moved to a different holding tank. In other words, none of the fish that make it into the stream are bred inside the tanks. The hatchery does it all by hand.

So either these Tigers were bred on purpose which is quite cool or they came from a 3rd party hatchery.

Just going by what he said. I don't know if they got eggs or milt or something mixed up, or if the whole tale was bogus. Anyway it happened, they stocked a bunch of tigers in the DH creeks that year.

 

[NCHillbilly]

As for any tiger trout produced by the state of NC, NC only spawns brook and brown trout.

So why couldn't some tiger trout be produced by accident?

Also lots and lots and lots of rainbows. The average stocking is equal rainbows and brooks, with a much, much smaller percentage of browns.

 

[IvyThicket]

Also lots and lots and lots of rainbows. The average stocking is equal rainbows and brooks, with a much, much smaller percentage of browns.

Lampern is correct, I've been told the NCWRC only spawns brook and brown, and receives the rainbow eggs from Erwin national fish hatchery in Arkansas. I'm guessing all the rainbows the NCWRC raises are triploid and do not reproduce.

 

[IvyThicket]

Just going by what he said. I don't know if they got eggs or milt or something mixed up, or if the whole tale was bogus. Anyway it happened, they stocked a bunch of tigers in the DH creeks that year.

Oh I know, I wasn't calling you out. I've seen the process take place and it's very regulated. If they are in the river, I would bet my last dollar that it was done on purpose.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Lampern is correct, I've been told the NCWRC only spawns brook and brown, and receives the rainbow eggs from Erwin national fish hatchery in Arkansas. I'm guessing all the rainbows the NCWRC raises are triploid and do not reproduce.

I know that the stocker rainbows they dump now are much fiestier, better colored, and taste better than the ones they used to stock years ago. Maybe that's why. I've seen big brooder rainbows at the Davidson hatchery many times. It's been a few years since I've looked around it, though.

I can remember back about 30 years ago, they used to stock some of those golden yellow colored palomino rainbows now and then. I caught a small wild one about 6"-7" long once in a creek near my house.

 

[IvyThicket]

I know that the stocker rainbows they dump now are much fiestier, better colored, and taste better than the ones they used to stock years ago. Maybe that's why. I've seen rainbows at the Davidson hatchery many times. It's been a few years.

Yes sir, they raise them there they just don't spawn them here anymore IIRC. I'm not sure why they get them from the federal hatchery, like you said possibly better quality or maybe cheaper with grants and such. Who knows but I agree I've noticed much better quality rainbows in the last few years than they used to have.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Yes sir, they raise them there they just don't spawn them here anymore IIRC. I'm not sure why they get them from the federal hatchery, like you said possibly better quality or maybe cheaper with grants and such. Who knows but I agree I've noticed much better quality rainbows in the last few years than they used to have.

Yeah, I was talking about the big brooders they get the eggs from. Like I said, that was a while back, been several years since I've been there, though.

 

[IvyThicket]

Yeah, I was talking about the big brooders they get the eggs from. Like I said, that was a while back, been several years since I've been there, though.

Gotcha. I'm not sure the intricate details anymore, I know I was just told the eggs come from Erwin now. You've got me interested, I might ride over there this weekend and find out.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Gotcha. I'm not sure the intricate details anymore, I know I was just told the eggs come from Erwin now. You've got me interested, I might ride over there this weekend and find out.

Let us know what you figured out if you do.

 

[lampern]

Also lots and lots and lots of rainbows. The average stocking is equal rainbows and brooks, with a much, much smaller percentage of browns.

I have been told (can't verify) NC doesn't spawn rainbows they get them from the feds.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I have been told (can't verify) NC doesn't spawn rainbows they get them from the feds.

Yeah, that's what Ivy Thicket said. I didn't know that.