Wild or stocked game...

[mikesl]

Surprised nobody mentioned the 3rd side of this argument yet...

I'll go there, just for completeness....

Wild most likely, but even if it was a stockie,... did it take a real fly like a real trout and fight well? If so who cares.




PS if that's a stockie, how much do i need to contribute to pfbc to get all the stockies to look like that....

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Look. We all know wild fish would never eat a piece of neon green chenille. My God. Next thing you know we'll be posting pictures of hot pink worms with gold beads hanging out of a trout's mouth asking if it's stocked or wild.

 

[Maurice]

.

 

[echuck66]

Nice one Maurice! Excellent timing! LOL

 

[tztrout]

Probably a German brown, sausage is very popular over there.

 

[BrookieChaser]

Thanks for playing the "wild vs stocked" game y'all. I figured it could be a good way to pass the winter blues.

This fish was caught in NC PA in the beginning of November (it was not paired up, or on a redd. It was holding behind a rock). When I first caught it, wild was no question. The more I looked at the picture the more I second-guessed myself.

As for the George Harvey-style green weenie... I have no excuse, it was a tough weekend on new water.

 

[sandfly]

It's not stocked or wild --- It's a trout

 

[JackM]

What is a definitive wild trout from a photo for $500?

 

[troutbert]

BrookieChaser wrote:
When I first caught it, wild was no question. The more I looked at the picture the more I second-guessed myself.

What about it made you question it? It looks wild to me.

 

[lv2nymph]

Looks wild to me, but I'm far from an expert in that area. One thing's for sure it's a good looking trout, nice colors.

 

[jeremymcon]

It's a nice looking trout either way, but I'd guess wild.

 

[dsmith1427]

Two comments
1. Hey Maurice, nice Shamu pose. That trout is neither wild or stocked. It's a killer trout.
2. Wild or stocked... Can't we all just get along.

 

[wildtrout2]

dsmith1427 wrote:
Wild or stocked... Can't we all just get along.

We do get along here for the most part, but you're going to have differing opinions on certain subjects. That's life.

 

[geebee]

It's definitely not a native....

 

[Alnitak]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
Look. We all know wild fish would never eat a piece of neon green chenille. My God. Next thing you know we'll be posting pictures of hot pink worms with gold beads hanging out of a trout's mouth asking if it's stocked or wild.

Like this guy? In his defense...he tossed the hook and I set it in his pectoral, so he didn't really "take" it for long. In my defense, it was a freezing cold (24F) day and I was fishing for stocked rainbows.

Jeff

 

[BrookieChaser]

troutbert wrote:
What about it made you question it? It looks wild to me.

If you look in that picture the left pectoral fin looks deformed. I didn't take notice to it when I had the fish in my hand, so it may be that the fin is straight out towards the camera. Also I was told later that that stretch of stream was stocked. It was definitely in a wild lie.

Another thing, I don't know the NC so well, so I wasn't sure how common wild browns were.

 

[BrookieChaser]

geebee wrote:
It's definitely not a native....

Hahaha! That's for sure.

 

[troutbert]

BrookieChaser wrote:

troutbert wrote:
What about it made you question it? It looks wild to me.

If you look in that picture the left pectoral fin looks deformed. I didn't take notice to it when I had the fish in my hand, so it may be that the fin is straight out towards the camera. Also I was told later that that stretch of stream was stocked. It was definitely in a wild lie.

Another thing, I don't know the NC so well, so I wasn't sure how common wild browns were.

Because of the angle of the pectoral fin in the photo, I can't see whether it is deformed or not. But that is definitely a key feature to look at.

Wild browns are very common in NCPA.

 

[Chaz]

I noticed the pectoral fin, but attributed it to the angle it was laying, but another photo may have shown it better. It's always a good idea to get more than one photo of fish from slightly different angles.

 

[pcray1231]

Well, is the stream stocked only with adults, or fingerlings?

It's definitely NOT an adult stocked fish. It's not impossible for juveniles to get mixed in with a batch of adults, but if there's no fingerlings stocked anywhere nearby it certainly tips the probability scales in favor of wild based on size alone.

It's not a great pic for this determination, but the fins look pretty clean to my eye. Fairly transparant too.

Spots are red. Black spot pattern looks closer to typical wild strains than stocky strain. Has a faint, but visible eye spot.

I know lots of the stocky comments were jokes. But being serious, I'm still solidly in the wild camp, and I wouldn't even call it a tweener.