Wild or Stocked Bow?

[bjb27_99]

I caught him on Friday. Can't decide if he's wild or stocked.

 

[DGC]

wild or fingerling plant or hatched from eggs transplanted which I guess is semi wild.

Irrespective they should be great fun on dries right now and that one looks super.

 

[Phish_On]

Fingerling I would assume.

 

[zerodrag]

Does the stream have other wild trout in it? If so I'd say wild

 

[Maurice]

I agree with Zero....except for the wear on the bottom of the caudal and ventral fins, Its near perfect. And plump...typically fingerlings are a little more slender.

Is it a limestone stream?

 

[Fishidiot]

Could go either way. Nice fish.

 

[pcray1231]

I suck at bows. But it's definitely not an adult stockie. It's either fingerling stocked or wild, and I can never tell the difference, other than to make an intelligent guess based on location.

 

[dano]

I fish a couple of nicely populated wild bow streams not far from home. That fish looks very similar to many I catch on those little creeks.

 

[JeffK]

About the plumpness. In the one wild rainbow stream I fish the little bows are particularly plump lately. Maybe all the high water has been dislodging plenty of little critters?

It looks basically like a wild fish. I would make a better guess if the stream or one of it's tribs had a wild bow population. If the stream had a hatchery on it I may guess a hatchery escapee.

 

[Swattie87]

Could be wild, escapee, or fingerling...impossible to tell from how it looks because they all look the same IMO. As others have mentioned I'd base my opinion on its origins more on the nature of the stream/watershed you caught it from than looks in this case...it's a pretty fish and "wild looking" no matter how you slice it. Perhaps some very minor fin wear on the bottom side fins, but not enough to make a judgement from.

Bows are particularly hard to ID if they made their way into the stream (fingerling stocking or escapee) at a fairly small size. I think this is largely true of Browns and Brooks too, but especially for Bows. I've been fishing a wild Brown stream with a small co-op hatchery on it that flooded during TS Lee. I haven't caught a Brown in my last two trips...it's absolutely polluted with little Bows and Brooks that escaped the hatchery though. All of the Bows look very similar to yours BJB. The Brooks are a little easier to tell, but I fished it last Saturday and even some of them are getting tough to tell now...after just a couple months in the stream. I'm pretty sure some of the larger Brooks will make an attempt at spawning...will have to see if there's any YOY Brooks that show up next year. Could be a classic case in point for fingerling stocking...

Edit: Here's a couple of those case in points from Saturday...

 

[Chaz]

I'm going with stocked at a young age, but maybe not by PFBC. I'm thinking they don't stock rainbow fingerlings.

 

[pcray1231]

?????Seriously?????

I thought the vast majority of fingerling plantings were bows.

 

[Nymph-O-Maniac]

Stocked fingerling

 

[stevehalupka]

lmfao

'ling

prob out of meadow run

 

[jdaddy]

pcray1231 wrote:
?????Seriously?????

I thought the vast majority of fingerling plantings were bows.

Yup.

But I will, for some reason, throw my opinion in . . . wild.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Swattie87 wrote:
Could be wild, escapee, or fingerling...impossible to tell from how it looks because they all look the same IMO. As others have mentioned I'd base my opinion on its origins more on the nature of the stream/watershed you caught it from than looks in this case...it's a pretty fish and "wild looking" no matter how you slice it. Perhaps some very minor fin wear on the bottom side fins, but not enough to make a judgement from.

Bows are particularly hard to ID if they made their way into the stream (fingerling stocking or escapee) at a fairly small size. I think this is largely true of Browns and Brooks too, but especially for Bows. I've been fishing a wild Brown stream with a small co-op hatchery on it that flooded during TS Lee. I haven't caught a Brown in my last two trips...it's absolutely polluted with little Bows and Brooks that escaped the hatchery though. All of the Bows look very similar to yours BJB. The Brooks are a little easier to tell, but I fished it last Saturday and even some of them are getting tough to tell now...after just a couple months in the stream. I'm pretty sure some of the larger Brooks will make an attempt at spawning...will have to see if there's any YOY Brooks that show up next year. Could be a classic case in point for fingerling stocking...

Edit: Here's a couple of those case in points from Saturday...

If you're talking about the stream I think you are, I pulled a nice 15" bow out of there several weeks ago. I could have sworn it was wild, but Les Trout insists that the bows that big are hold overs. It is SUPER hard to tell w/ bows. I trust Les more than my own judgement on it, that's for sure.

 

[Swattie87]

Squatch, PM the stream...I'll let ya know.

 

[MKern]

My vote is for wild. Very different color and spot pattern.
Swatties looks like the typical fingerling stocked bow that I've seen.
Kish Creek gets a truck load of bows every May; put-grow-and take fishery......or heron bait.

 

[globug]

i would say wild look at how perfect his fins are no hatchery marks or scars. Beautiful rainbow!

 

[jdaddy]

Swattie87 wrote:
Squatch, PM the stream...I'll let ya know.

Ya. Me too. I will confirm.