Protecting Wild Trout Populations...Via the Stockie Slam

[afishinado]

Pic of "Gem" or "Gemmie" below.

It comes in either 14K yellow or white gold. Contact Maurice to order.

 

[Fishidiot]

Gemmies are for painting. Smallmouth bass are for catchin! 😎

 

[afishinado]

Fishidiot wrote:
Gemmies are for painting. Smallmouth bass are for catchin! 😎

I've caught quite a few 20" trout as well as 20" SMB.....pencil me in for a SMB...any time. Maybe not as pretty or colorful, but they are a real load at that size!

WWI will ride again this summer!

 

[jifigz]

SMB>Trout.....as far as fun of fight is concerned. Ok...so now I Know that "gemmies" are wild brook trout lol. Thanks everyone.

 

[afishinado]

afishinado wrote:

McSneek wrote:
Maybe it's just childhood memories but I recall the stocked trout we caught when I was a kid being much nicer than today's. Consistent size and better appearance. Nicer fins, no odd shaped heads. They were mostly Browns back then.

PennKev - no. They shall always be referred to as gemmies.

That's not my recollection at all. I think the quality of stocked fish has improved immensely when compared to the back-in-the-day stocked trout. Not that many years ago, the stocked trout were much smaller and at times you needed a ruler to be sure if some were even "legal." Also, all the fish were pale and silvery. You had to look closely just to determine if the fish was a brown, bow or brook.

Stocked trout pic from the FBC site below. I caught some stockies that looked like the pic below. Judge for yourself.

 

[troutbert]

What do you think is the origin of those trout?

PFBC stockies?

Yellow Breeches Anglers hatchery stockies?

Wild browns?

Other?

 

[Maurice]

TB,

I'd go with PF&BC stocked trout from Huntsdale. The giant is a "Trophy fish". Typically each stream section stocked preseason gets 10 Trophy Fish if the stream is large enough to support them.

I don't think YBAC stocks down that far...Thats below Messiah College at Lower Allen park.

I do believe McSherrystown F&G Co-op stocks down there tho...so could be from there but not sure of their holdover policy. Rather whether they keep and feed those fish multiple years only to release them for opening day in amidst the F&BC fish. Usually Holdovers are reserved for club functions like derbies or fall stockings at the end of the fish's second year.

Also that fish is older than two years old I'd say. Well over 20" and very heavy. (probably 3-4lbs+) Probably raised in a limestone fed Hatchery like Huntsdale where they retire expired breeders.

The Breeders there are kept in aquariam style, uncrowded shallow runs for visitors to view and result in lesser fin wear.

As for color, there are regular fish meal pellets (low protein), High Protein pellets and another Higher Protein pellet (breeder pellet) designed to increase egg production. The price goes up with the added protein...

The high protein feed pushes color into the skin, making the flanks golden and increases contrast even sometimes pushes some orange or red tips to the adipose fin. They color up like a stream holdover in a river system. But their fins are not as clear (translucent) as a stream holdover who has had time for them to grow out, nor are they as sharp on the edges although not beat up like a crowded raceway fish.

Same with the smaller brown next to it.

So I would say in all likelyhood

#1 Hunsdale expired breeder

#2 McSherrystown F&G Co-op Holdover >2 yr old

#3 YBAC Co-op Holdover. > 2 yr old

 

[Swattie87]

Both stocked, but I defer to others with more knowledge in terms of which specific hatchery.

I wasn’t kidding earlier in the thread when I mentioned how good the stocker Browns we put into Kettle and Little Kettle looked. The Brooks and Bows looked pretty standard, but the Browns were really impressive. Plenty of red, including the adipose and I’m certain some of them had faint eye spots. The two fish pictured above look pretty good for stockers, but the ones we put into Kettle and Little Kettle looked even better. I was really tempted to get a picture of one to post here but the fish, especially the larger ones, were starting to struggle a bit and we needed to get them in the water ASAP. I didn’t want to upset the WCO, as he was encouraging us to get them in as quick as possible. You probably could tell these Browns were initially stocked based on some fin wear, but if that heals a bit from time in the stream I’m sure they could potentially cause a lot of question to their origin, especially amongst the PAFF faithful. :lol:

 

[fly_flinger]

Swattie87,
Did the fish come from the state or from Potter County Anglers Club? PCAC has been stocking a lot of the streams up that way and their browns and brooks are by far the niciest looking hatchery fish I've ever seen.

 

[Swattie87]

ff - I'm not certain to be honest I guess. I assumed the state because it was the regularly scheduled PFBC stocking of Kettle and Little Kettle.

 

[Maurice]

Swattie87 wrote:
Both stocked, but I defer to others with more knowledge in terms of which specific hatchery.

I wasn’t kidding earlier in the thread when I mentioned how good the stocker Browns we put into Kettle and Little Kettle looked. The Brooks and Bows looked pretty standard, but the Browns were really impressive. Plenty of red, including the adipose and I’m certain some of them had faint eye spots. The two fish pictured above look pretty good for stockers, but the ones we put into Kettle and Little Kettle looked even better. I was really tempted to get a picture of one to post here but the fish, especially the larger ones, were starting to struggle a bit and we needed to get them in the water ASAP. I didn’t want to upset the WCO, as he was encouraging us to get them in as quick as possible. You probably could tell these Browns were initially stocked based on some fin wear, but if that heals a bit from time in the stream I’m sure they could potentially cause a lot of question to their origin, especially amongst the PAFF faithful. :lol:

WCO present = State Stocking...I'd be extremely surprised if one were present at a Club Stocking...even a Co-op. And more surprised if they weilded power of hurrying the fish into the stream while at it.

But I wasn't there...so.

Its my experience that the eyespot comes from being in a stream environment eating non-fishmeal items at the fry stage. If they develop into fingerlings and beyond under hatchery feed conditions it ain't happening. I suppose if they were raised in captivity over a section of stream and not fed it would happen. Maybe, maybe a couple years after holding over in the stream but its rare and although I've seen it on fish I believe could have been stocked as adults, its not something you see a bucketfull of when you dump them into the stream..

The eyespot develops during the fry stage.

We raise only browns, while colors can surprise you, after handling 50,000-70,000 browns over 10 or so years I can say I've never seen an eyespot. And we feed the high protein feed.

And the egg hatched trout in our watershed have them at catchable size, they look like wild fish. But raise the same egg fry in an aquarium on fishmeal (high protein) and no eyespot. Actually not even red spots...although they live in the dark most of the time...

So I'd like to see a pic of those eyespots on the bucket trout Swattie to believe it. Cuz it'd be a first for me.

 

[Swattie87]

Mo - I'm pretty sure they were state fish. The spectators kept oooohing and ahhing at the Brookies because I think they were unloading some breeders...the Brookies were running the biggest of the fish we stocked, but I was really hung up on the looks of those Browns.

I wish I got a pic, but didn't feel right doing it. I'll be up that way in a few weeks to fish...I'll see if I can catch one.

They're in a bucket, thrashing around and generally pissed off, so admittedly it's not like getting a good, clean look with the fish in your hand. I'm 100% certain there were some with red in the adipose, and I'm reasonably sure I saw what I thought to be eye spots - not on all of them. They weren't big, dark and bold like you see on a lot of obvious wild fish, but I thought they were there...a darker pigment in the area where the eye spot should or would be. Could just be the pattern/color of the fish, lighting, etc as it's tough to discern the eyespot sometimes, even from a good, clear, still photo.

Bottom line, they looked good. Good enough that they would cause a double take even for an expierienced wild Trout angler. Upon closer look you could still likely tell, but they looked nothing like the Browns I had been used to from the PFBC in my home area the last few years.