I haven't posted a picture of one, because I've never caught a wild tiger to take a pic of. I've always wanted to catch one, but so far, in forty+ years of flinging flies in creeks that hold both browns and specks, I've yet to stick a hook in one.You guys are correct. The bows NC & Ga. grow come from the feds either by way of the Ennis National Fish Hatchery or the Hatchery in Arkansas. I visited the Ennis hatchery and they had eight different strains of rainbows on hand and showed how they are distributed through the country. It was very cool.
I’m surprised nobody has posted a picture of a wild tiger trout yet for comparison as nature does allow that from time to time.
I haven't posted a picture of one, because I've never caught a wild tiger to take a pic of. I've always wanted to catch one, but so far, in forty+ years of flinging flies in creeks that hold both browns and specks, I've yet to stick a hook in one.
I did catch a wild golden palamino rainbow once when I was a teenager, and this funny-looking spotless wild rainbow last year:
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Yeah, never saw one like that. It came from a small creek at nearly 4,000' elevation. We have a strain of rainbows in a couple of creeks near me that have lots of large, black spots, parr marks in adulthood, white-tipped fins, and red/orange slash marks under their chins like cutthroat trout. These are creeks that were originally stocked with rainbows from California in the late 1800s/early 1900s. From what research I've done, these seem to be fairly pure-strain McCloud River redband trout. They look noticeably different from most of the generic rainbows that are common everywhere.WOW that rainbow is incredible looking!!! Love the lack of spots and light parr markings!!! I know since I started back to trout fishing in 2016 I think I have only seen two or three posts on NGTO about folks catching natural wild tiger trout here in Georgia.
Yeah, never saw one like that. It came from a small creek at nearly 4,000' elevation. We have a strain of rainbows in a couple of creeks near me that have lots of large, black spots, parr marks in adulthood, white-tipped fins, and red/orange slash marks under their chins like cutthroat trout. These are creeks that were originally stocked with rainbows from California in the late 1800s/early 1900s. From what research I've done, these seem to be fairly pure-strain McCloud River redband trout. They look noticeably different from most of the generic rainbows that are common everywhere.
The pic in my avatar is of the only wild one I have ever caught. It was large for a wild one caught around 2 miles above iron bridge in bull pen on Chattooga River. The picture was taken with a flip phone back in the day.
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I would think any kind of trout would be considered gamefish. Hybrid stripers are, so hybridization doesn't affect their status.Is it true tiger trout are not actually game fish in NC and Ga because they are hybrids?
I'll find out if hybrid trout count as game fish.
The following fishes are designated as inland game fish:
- Mountain trout (including but not limited to brook, brown and rainbow trout)
(B) Trout:
[*]
- (i) Rainbow trout;
- (ii) Brown trout; and
- (iii) Brook trout;
Well if you find a mess, keep more than 8 and see what happens.Looks like they are not game fish in Georgia though, which really doesn't matter because they are rare.
Good luck even finding one tiger trout let alone 8
But I posted the trout species Ga lists as game fish which doesn’t include the tiger species
Maybe we can consult with the trout biologist to change this. Also, I was informed by the trout biologist if there was enough exposure and desire from the anglers we could potentially have cutthroat stocked here. Just an FYI.