What a day!

Troutmeister said:
Here's a Tiger I caught in the Jordan Ck. in 2021. So where did he come from if the state hasn't stocked any in 10 yrs.?
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Agree with Bigjohn. Probably a stocker from somewhere else or privately stocked.
I've seen and caught stocked tigers in some weird places in PA. Like stocked trout in general, they can move around a good bit, especially in the Delaware watershed.
 
Troutmeister said:
Had a fantastic day on the water yesterday. I fished 3 DHALO waters in the last couple weeks and got skunked at 2 of them so yesterday was a welcome change. I fished a small wild stream in Schuylkill Co. Last year I started a thread about catching a slam, wild rainbow, brown and brookie from the same water on the same day. Well yesterday I caught what had to be the super slam.

I caught a pile of wild browns, including the biggest I ever caught out of this creek, a wild rainbow, 3 or 4 brookies and a wild tiger. Up until yesterday The only tigers I've ever seen or caught were stockers. Anyone else ever catch a wild tiger trout?
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Congrats Troutmeister. This is indeed a great day.

We've had many threads on tiger trout over the years - always a fun topic.
In over forty years of FFing I have still literally never seen a wild tiger trout.
 
"Maybe a private hatchery. Sportsmen clubs sometimes get them. There are private hatcheries all over the state. In all honesty maybe none of these tigers are wild (I doubt that but anything is possible in this goofy state). Anyone can go to these private hatcheries and purchase a bucket of fish and dump them in wherever they want. Its sad how many times that happens in this state. I've seen wild brookie streams in the middle of nowhere end up having stocked fish dumped in them."

Possible Big John, but unlikely. The Jordan is a local warm water stream that gets heavily stocked by the state, but quickly gets too warm to support trout after June. at least in the mid section where I usually fish it.
 
Jordan Creek has the largest population of wild tiger trout in the state. Such a well kept secret. Mike will back me up for sure.
 
Troutmeister said:
The tiger that Peyton caught in Clark's on post 42 definitely looks wild. The larger ones posted after that look like hatchery fish to me.

There's a big difference in coloration, plus I don't think wild tigers achieve the size of those pictured, at least not in Pa.
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I agree with these observations.
 
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I don't know of the "markers" on tigers to tell with any confidence on what is wild and stocked. Generally, I see some of the smaller ones, fin condition, etc, and say definitely wild. Posts 1, 8, 23, 41, 42 fit in that category. The 1st pic in post 46 and the 1st one in post 53 I lean wild as well.

The rest, I guess I lean stocked. But I have no idea. Posts 5, 16, 2nd one in 46, 58. What does a wild tiger look like when it reaches stockie size? I'm much more willing to say "that one's wild" when I know it by looking. But hesitant to say "that one's stocked" even if I think it probably is.

BigJohn's multiple fish intrigue me. Honestly don't know.
 
The only tiger trout I ever caught was from Cold Run, Schuylkill County. It was sometime during the 1980's. That stream always had native brooks and browns, even when the state stocked it.
 
pcray1231 said:
I don't know of the "markers" on tigers to tell with any confidence on what is wild and stocked. Generally, I see some of the smaller ones, fin condition, etc, and say definitely wild. Posts 1, 8, 23, 41, 42 fit in that category. The 1st pic in post 46 and the 1st one in post 53 I lean wild as well.

The rest, I guess I lean stocked. But I have no idea. Posts 5, 16, 2nd one in 46, 58. What does a wild tiger look like when it reaches stockie size? I'm much more willing to say "that one's wild" when I know it by looking. But hesitant to say "that one's stocked" even if I think it probably is.

BigJohn's multiple fish intrigue me. Honestly don't know.
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Just to clarify, #16 (one I caught/posted) is 100% stocked by WV DNR.
 
SBecker, don't know if your trying to be a smart *** or if you don't read very well. The Tiger I caught in the original post 1 was caught in Schuylkill County in an unstocked stream. The one I posted a pic of in post 58 was obviously stocked.
 
Bigjohn, based on the apparently deformed doesal fin I would have called that “stocked at some point in its life” if I had collected that fish in a survey.

Mute, no error. The stream in question had a big yr class of golden rainbows. Two yrs later they were gone. Like the RT produced in that creek they probably don’t even make it to legal size. Never saw reproduction evidence of golden RT in any other stream. As far as I know, up until that point in time no other Pa biologist had run into it either.
 
Mike said:
Never saw reproduction evidence of golden RT in any other stream. As far as I know, up until that point in time no other Pa biologist had run into it either.
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Not PA, but I found a few last year. 3-4 inch fish and very clean. Admittedly pretty cool looking. Doubt they survived much after that, but they were there. I thought I was seeing things at first or that someone dumped some "Rosey reds" in the stream, but it was in a pretty remote area and they were pretty clearly baby "light'n troot". Could've hitched a ride in a stocking truck too I suppose.
 
Mike said:
Bigjohn, based on the apparently deformed doesal fin I would have called that “stocked at some point in its life” if I had collected that fish in a survey.

Mute, no error. The stream in question had a big yr class of golden rainbows. Two yrs later they were gone. Like the RT produced in that creek they probably don’t even make it to legal size. Never saw reproduction evidence of golden RT in any other stream. As far as I know, up until that point in time no other Pa biologist had run into it either.
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Dorsal fin really wasn't deformed. It was just laying down in the photo and not sticking straight up. Every fin was as perfect as could be on that fish. The location where I caught it also makes the odds a little greater that it was or could be wild. I don't think though anyone can say with 100% confidence that any tiger caught in the last 20 years is wild. Maybe one under 7 inches but even then those things sometimes get thrown into sportsmen club stockings and as you know fish travel great distances. I know one stream I fish that gets rainbow fingerling stockings and I'll find those things a long long ways from where they were put in at within a few weeks of being stocked. Even finding them in other connecting waters miles away both up and down stream.
 
Mike said:
Becker’s tigers in the Jordan was a joke. At least it was to me.

Way to keep the lips tight! ;)
 
I caught a wild tiger trout about 4 years ago now in a small, non stocked trout stream in Potter Co. PA. Very rare and a very cool fish!
Tiger
 
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