Tiger Trout on Little J

[blhorick]

I caught this tiger trout on the Little J in early march.

 

[albatross]

Nice! The rare and elusive wild tiger...

 

[PennKev]

Could you post a bigger picture? I can't really see any detail on the fish.

I'm not really surprised to hear about tiger trout showing up in the LJR given the presence of both wild browns and brookies in the watershed and the history of stocking in Spruce creek.

Kev

 

[wildtrout2]

albatross wrote:
Nice! The rare and elusive wild tiger...

Yes, wild tiger trout are quite rare, but that one's not wild. Wild tiger trout don't get that big in Pa.

 

[ryguyfi]

I have to say it... but size doesn't matter.


Who's to say they can't get that big? They're sterile and can't reproduce... doesn't mean they can't eat, grow older, and bigger. I don't see any logic to your statement.

 

[tomgamber]

They can get as big as any other brown trout.

 

[NoMoreCornChuckin]

Don't get that big? Tell that to Squaretail or any of the other guys who have caught them in the Letort or other areas and posted them on here!

 

[wildtrout2]

Just show me a pic of a wild tiger trout caught in Pa bigger than 9" or 10".

The OP didn't mention "wild" either.

 

[NoMoreCornChuckin]

Perhaps you can explain to the rest of WHY a wild tiger trout in PA can NOT grow bigger than 9-10 inches. Wild browns as well as wild brooks CAN and DO grow bigger than that. Why do you say they can not?

 

[wildtrout2]

I didn't say they can't, I said they don't here in Pa. I've seen maybe 4 pics of legit wild tiger trout from Pa and seen exactly 2 in person (one I caught), all were 10" or less. Can someone post a pic of a larger one?

 

[tomgamber]

The PFBC claims to have stopped stocking them in 2005. Nit sure that I believe that but if ti were true this trout would either be 6 years old or wild. and over 10 inches.

 

[NoMoreCornChuckin]

And I said, " WHY a wild tiger trout in PA can NOT grow bigger than 9-10 inches"? What's your reasoning other than never seeing a picture? I haven't seen a picture of the next PA state record Brook, Brown, rainbow...but I'm sure he's out there. Trust me, a Tiger in PA CAN grow bigger than 10" if he's not killed before then.

 

[BrookieBuster101]

WT most wild tigers that people frequently catch are in smaller sterile streams that support wild brookies and wild browns. If you ever noticed the wild tigers taken from them are about the same size as the rest of the population.

However im skeptical as to this fish being wild or not. I know brookies do move around from tributary to tributary in places such as fishing creek (studies have shown), but seeing that I have never caught a brook trout in the J i do not know. My guess is someone privately dumped him.

Now thats not to say HE did not move from some tributary. I cannot say for sure but I have my doubts.

 

[wildtrout2]

I'm no marine biologist, but it may have to do with them being sterile? I don't know the actual reason, all I know is what I've seen. It was said that natives and wild browns get much bigger, which they do, and there's plenty of pics of them in the "Fish Photos" forum, but you won't find a pic of a true wild tiger bigger than 8"-10". If they often get bigger than this, then there shouldn't be a problem sharing a pic of one.

 

[NoMoreCornChuckin]

I'm sure someone will post one soon....

 

[wildtrout2]

I would think Mike might have some insight on the subject. I think I recall him saying he's seen only 3 or 4 wild tigers while shocking during his entire career.

 

[BrookieBuster101]

NMCC, the fact is the small ones are extremely rare. Thats not to mention that a very small percentage of fish live long enough to reach 5-6 years (the longer a fish lives the bigger it gets). Anyways no one said they COULDN'T get big, he just said they DONT, because its true there are just too few of them as it is for large fish to be produced.

Ill get you the actual statistics for how many fish actually live long enough to get big. Oh and those numbers are for a stream with huge biomasses of food like spring creek. Then we can do a couple math problems together to find out what the chances of a big wild tiger trout bing produced is.

 

[blhorick]

I tried to make the photo bigger. Lets see if it works.

 

[blhorick]

Not sure why it is not working. I will try again tomorrow.

 

[TDB]

They don't get that big. The J Tiger's are most likely from the private hatcheries on Spruce Creek. we've caught multiple fish that looked pretty much like that one...