Is this a tiger trout?

[jayL]

I say brown as well.

 

[Squaretail]

Weve been down this road before.
Thats a brown. If they claim thats a tiger I will start taking pictures of them as I catch probably 50 browns much like that one every year.
When you do catch a tiger, you wont feel compelled to ask whether its a tiger or a brown. You'll know it.

 

[BrookieBuster101]

There are simply not enouh brook trout charicteristics in this fish for it to be tiger. Like sandfly said the fins Must have that white on black coloration. I believe what RedIez is seeing is glare on the edges due to water.

 

[troutbert]

The original poster said he catches quite a few trout in this stream with that type of markings. That is a strong indication that these fish are not tiger trout. Because tiger trout are rarely occurring, sterile hybrid crosses between brown trout and brook trout. They cannot pass on their characteristics to form a line of tiger trout.

So, I think they are brown trout, and very interesting looking ones. I wish I knew the stream, I'd like to see those fish.

Some years back there was a book called Trout published by Stackpole, and it had photos of different strains of trout from different parts of Europe and the British Isles. Their markings and coloration varied tremendously. And apparently lots of different strains of browns ended up here in the US.

 

[Squaretail]

Theres plenty like that in Clarks. Not all to that degree, but lots with the worm-like spots.

 

[pcray1231]

Despite the PFBC ruling on the matter, I still vote brown trout. I catch a few of these type of browns every year, most of them reasonably large and wild. I caught one on Spring Creek last year, for instance.

I have never considered them to be tigers. If they are tigers, then I probably have 20 wild tigers to my name, 15 of which go greater than a foot in length and one memorable one that approached 20".

Alas, as it is, I still don't believe I've EVER caught a wild tiger despite often fishing places where its possible.

 

[Chaz]

I myself have never seen a tiger trout that had the pectoral fins of a brookie. with the red black and white. The ones I've caught and seen have all had a yellow-orange pectoral fin.
I caught a large trout this year that had similar markings, I wouldn't commit to either. There is a strain of brown trout somewhere that have markings like that.
It looks like a stocked fish, I'm going to assume it's from a stocked stream, so if there were a bunch of tigers stocked in the stream that explains why there have been a bunch caught that look like this fish.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I myself have never seen a tiger trout that had the pectoral fins of a brookie. with the red black and white. The ones I've caught and seen have all had a yellow-orange pectoral fin.

it does happen but I agree. Most ive caught had yellow orange fins.

 

[Ramcatt]

when the PFBC can't correctly identify their own fish... its no wonder the sad state of affairs of our waterways

 

[PANativebrookie]

Spring Reilly is an individual and shouldn't be used to represent the PFBC as a whole. I've met her a few times and know she has proper knowledge of the woods and waters of PA. If she knew that picture would be argued over by dozens of well versed fly fishermen, down to the second water drop on the third rib of the pectoral fin, she may have been a bit more cautious about saying if it was or wasn't, in fact, a tiger trout. But hey, we're all human and it's an interesting fish either way.

 

[osprey]

I remember in the mid to late 90's catching a few fish that looked like that from Clarks creek and i assumed they were stocked tigers but maybe i was wrong to assume.

 

[tomitrout]

ok, so I was out on a mtn stream yesterday, caught a bunch of small wild browns. The stream isn't stocked, but the reservoir it fills probably was at some point in the past. Caught no brookies, but I'm sure they're in there, probably just a bit further upstream...

But I did catch this little fella, and my immediate thought was a young tiger. Anybody else think this is my first wild tiger?

 

[Fishidiot]

Tomi,
Congratulations on your first tiger trout!
I'm still trying after 3 decades to catch my first wild tiger.

 

[afishinado]

Wow, beautiful fish, Yup a wild Tiger IMO, and you were lucky enough to get a great photo of it! Congrats.

 

[wildtrout2]

tomitrout wrote:
ok, so I was out on a mtn stream yesterday, caught a bunch of small wild browns. The stream isn't stocked, but the reservoir it fills probably was at some point in the past. Caught no brookies, but I'm sure they're in there, probably just a bit further upstream...

But I did catch this little fella, and my immediate thought was a young tiger. Anybody else think this is my first wild tiger?

Congrats. I too believe you caught your first wild tiger! It took me 30 years to catch one. Catching a wild tiger is truely a rare event. Your trout has very similar color to this one.

 

[PaulG]

A couple of years ago, I thought I caught my first tiger on Spring creek. After all this talk and pic's about tigers, Im starting to wonder if it really was a tiger!

PaulG

 

[WildTigerTrout]

That is a wild tiger trout. They are very rare in the wild but do occur where brook trout and brown trout have natural reproduction in the same stream. I have been fortunate and have caught three since I started flyfishing six years ago. The wild tigers I have caught have come from the same stream. I have a friend who has flyfished many more years than I and he has caught five in his lifetime. I guess many fisherman never catch one so we can consider ourselves lucky. The tigers I caught were 8.5 inches,11 inches, and a monster 13.5 inches. The stream I caught them in shall remain nameless. I will say it is a unstocked limestoner. I have also caught several stocked tigers a few years ago in another stream,however they do not compare to the beauty and color that god has given the wild fish. Those wild tigers are how I got my user name LOL. Congratulations!

 

[troutbert]

PaulG wrote:
A couple of years ago, I thought I caught my first tiger on Spring creek. After all this talk and pic's about tigers, Im starting to wonder if it really was a tiger!

PaulG

It was probably a hatchery raised tiger trout. The PFBC raises and stocks tiger trout. There are 2 PFBC fish hatcheries on Spring Creek and fish escape from them fairly frequently.

 

[tomitrout]

cool!!!

thanks for the feedback.

 

[Squaretail]

Congratulations Tomitrout.