Could it be?

[MathFish]

I made it out to Meadow Run this morning and fished from the natural waterslides to about halfway up to the cascades. I caught some very nice hard fighting Rainbows. Many of the Rainbows had some really nice coloration.

All of the fish I got into today were Rainbows except for one...

The one and only Brown I caught today (photo is attached below) looks to me to be a Wild Brown. I am kind of new to having an appreciation for catching wild trout and to this point, I have only caught Wild Brookies.

From what I can recall from reading posts on this site, Wild Browns have red spots (not orange), they have a red mark on the adipose fin and they have a blue spot on their gill plate. This little guy seems to have those features...

What do you think? Is it a Wild Brown?

Thanks for any and all input.

 

[HopBack]

100% wild

 

[troutbert]

Yep, wild brown.

I saw in another thread that Meadow Run is being proposed for addition to the natural reproduction list.

Good stuff!

Have there been water quality improvements?

 

[Sylvaneous]

Impossible that it's a stocked, hatchery fish. Too small, too colorful. That's what wild brown trout look like in streams like Meadow run.

Syl.

 

[MathFish]

Thanks for the confirmation fellows. It was a really cool surprise for me this morning - definitely the highlight of the outing!

I am not sure if there have been stream improvements to Meadow Run. It sure does seem to have a pretty thriving population of trout. On top of that, I am not sure that there are too many streams around that have the beautiful scenery and views that Meadow Run has. I am glad to hear that it is on a natural reproduction list.

I have caught some Rainbows in there that looked way too healthy to be stocked fish - vibrant coloration with all fins to be seemingly intact, but I have heard that streams that hold naturally reproducing Rainbows are few and far between. That being said, I will have to get some photos next time I hook into one of those bows to see what you guys have to say about them.

 

[fayettenamese]

That is a wild brown. There is a tributary to meadow run that holds a pretty solid wild brown trout population. I'm sure it drifted down from there.

 

[fayettenamese]

Meadow run has has natural reproduction of rainbows , brookies, and if you count it's tributary , then browns as well for at least the 5 years that I have lived nearby. I was surprised to see that it was not on the natural repro list when I started fishing it.

 

[krayfish2]

Yep, it be.

 

[steveo27]

Awesome. Glad too see more wild fish in SWPA