Brook Trout?

[steve98]

Caught this one on Kettle below the special reg area.
Stocked? Wild? Holdover?

Not sure
Steve 98

 

[steve98]

Never posted a pic having trouble doing so

 

[just_jon]

This may be premature, but I’d say wild.

 

[JackM]

I have to confess that I do not understand the difficulty people have posting pictures. It's simple, but maybe I have no problem because I am also simple.

 

[troutbert]

just_jon wrote:
This may be premature, but I’d say wild.

This also may be premature, but I'd say stocked.

 

[dryflyguy]

I spent a few days on kettle creek in late april.
And was surprised at the number of wild brookies that I caught

Most of them were small.
But I caught a handful of them that were in the 10 inch range.
All in the Kettle - as far down as Leidy brige.

Can't ever remember catching them like that in the main creek
I'm thinking that all the rain we've had the last few years, has them hanging out in the larger water longer

 

[Tigereye]

Try one of the free online file size changers. 9 out of 10 time picture file is too large.

 

[JF_]

troutbert wrote:

just_jon wrote:
This may be premature, but I’d say wild.

This also may be premature, but I'd say stocked.

Plus I'd say it actually a tiger trout

 

[jifigz]

The file size must be really tiny, under 150kb if I recall correctly. I use a photo resizer/compressor. If works but my photos then aren't always of the best quality.

And I'm just going to go out on a limb and say it's a brown trout, stocked for sure.

 

[troutbert]

We've caught brook trout in Kettle below the village of Cross Fork that at first glance looked like wild brook trout. Their fins and overall coloration looked pretty good.

But I'm certain that they were stocked trout. Almost certainly stocked by a coop hatchery or other small hatchery. Probably by Potter County Anglers or Western Clinton Sportsmen.

I've seen coop hatchery brookies like this in other places. On Young Womans Creek and its Left Branch, for example.

These coop raised brookies are pretty hard to tell from wild brookies. The fins are generally good. And the coloration is stronger than the typical PFBC raised brookies. But there are subtle differences. The overall body color is dark, kind of any inky color. And the red and yellow colorations are pale. There are subtle differences in the body shape and fins also.

Another clue is if you are only catching fish around 7 inches and larger, and not any around 3 to 5 inches. In wild brookies populations you typically catch a lot of that size.

And the location is a big part of it. If you are in a big stream that gets warm, and there are no tribs with substantial brookie populations nearby, the brookies you catch are probably stocked.

 

[dryflyguy]

Most of the brookies I caught were in the 5-6 inch range, leading me to believe they were probably wild.
Would they even stock fish that size?

 

[Steeltrap]

Quote:

just_jon wrote:
This may be premature, but I’d say wild.


This also may be premature, but I'd say stocked.

You premature guys have this premature thing thru all aspects of your life? :roll:

 

[PennypackFlyer]

LMAO!!

 

[Swattie87]

This is a momentous milestone in PAFF history. A stocked/wild debate with no picture!

70/30 stocked.

 

[pcray1231]

I have to confess that I do not understand the difficulty people have posting pictures.

It's file size and inability to change it. You have to have, like, photography software to change file size. Most ppl take their pics on their phones and such a feature is not standard.

I've resorted to photobucket and linking it.

Anyway, that's clearly a stocked fish. Look at the genetics!

 

[sarce]

Use snipping tool to take a screenshot of the full size picture. save the screenshot. Upload the screenshot. Most times the screenshot will be smaller than the upload size limit.

 

[KenU]

Quite a few years ago I was camping at Ole Bull Park in the middle of June. The water was a bit high but not a lot. My cousin and I fished the riffles where they flow into the pool in the middle of the park. We both caught several 5 to 6.5 inch brookies that were obviously wild. How did they get there? Fish swim!!! This notion that brookies can’t live in Kettle Creek is only true thru the hot summer months. They can live there from Late October to at least June, most years. Then easily move into the many tribs for the summer. They did 100 years ago and still do. They just can’t stay in the main stem all summer. Never could, even in The Good Old Days. This was how they once achieved much larger size than they do today. Now lower Kettle Creek is stocked and fished hard in the spring. Maybe that has something to do with it. The upper Kettle is no longer stocked and the brookies are doing fine.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

It could be that were being trolled.

 

[Swattie87]

PennypackFlyer wrote:
It could be that were being trolled.

If the OP starts a SBing or navigability thread next, and only leaves us with a teaser, then we'll know.

 

[KenU]

Not a troll. It's all in the history of Kettle Creek and the other big freestone streams of NC PA. Except for the brookies I caught there that June. Read "The Vanishing Trout" and Charlie Wetzel's description of trout fishing in Kettle creek.