Mountains, Rain, and Trout

[troutbert]

ryansheehan wrote:
If you were at almost any place except Slate I would go with a no doubt wild. The fish they put in Pine are the closest looking to wild fish I've ever seen and many run into Slate when Pine warms. Many of the stockers have the blue or black hue near the eye. The only way I knew they were stockers was because the fins and tails were a little rough bit that would heal pretty quickly. I will try to find some pics. My verdict is they are beautiful fish either way but I wouldn't even try to guess in that stream. Congrats on a great day on Slate, that's a tough little stream.

Many hatcheries are now coloring up their trout using synthesized carotenoid pigments that are also used by the salmon raising industries to make the flesh reddish and the chicken industries to give egg yolks a deep yellow/orange color.

So, they can produce hatchery trout with vivid colors. A few years ago the PFBC was experimenting with this also, but how much they are using it now, I don't know.

 

[Dave_W]

I agree that the stockies in Pine Creek look really good (I've caught ones with red adipose fins and looked great - I'd love to know more about how and where they are raised) and they do run up Slate Run.

However, Slate has produced large wild brown trout for decades, long before these club fish were stocked in Pine. For many years, there was a small dam down near the mouth of Slate that stopped fish passage (or at least impeded it) and anglers and surveys still turned up 20" class BT way upstream.

I'd definitely vote wild on this guy.

 

[rrt]

Klingy,

I'm sorry I brought up whether these are wild or stocked fish. These are beautiful fish, whether they are from Pine or were born in Slate Run. I should've asked you in a PM. Again, they show just how special a place Slate Run is.

 

[TYoung]

These fish were caught above a waterfall. I'm not sure how people can think they might have come from Pine Creek.

 

[Swattie87]

They’re wild fish. Manor Falls isn’t much of a waterfall and is likely passable for fish however.

 

[klingy]

rrt wrote:
Klingy,

I'm sorry I brought up whether these are wild or stocked fish. These are beautiful fish, whether they are from Pine or were born in Slate Run. I should've asked you in a PM. Again, they show just how special a place Slate Run is.

No worries man. My joy in fishing comes from the whole experience, and that will be a fish that I won’t ever forget. After catching probably thousands of wild trout by this point, that thing launched itself and fought like few fish I have ever hooked. Whether it’s origins are in the stream or elsewhere doesn’t take away from that encounter for me personally. Though I generally choose to target wild fish, I’ve come to realize that I’m after the wild fish experience, and the fun and challenge of meeting them on their terms. If a stockie or two get mixed in during that pursuit, so be it.

 

[Prospector]

klingy wrote:

No worries man. My joy in fishing comes from the whole experience, and that will be a fish that I won’t ever forget. After catching probably thousands of wild trout by this point, that thing launched itself and fought like few fish I have ever hooked. Whether it’s origins are in the stream or elsewhere doesn’t take away from that encounter for me personally. Though I generally choose to target wild fish, I’ve come to realize that I’m after the wild fish experience, and the fun and challenge of meeting them on their terms. If a stockie or two get mixed in during that pursuit, so be it.

Well said!!

 

[Fly-Swatter]

+1!

 

[pcray1231]

My apologies for my part in it. I was trying to state, in response, that it was the only one I wasn't 100% sure of. I'm still not 100% sure.

But, I'm still a strong lean towards wild, and it's a great fish either way.

 

[Prospector]

pcray1231 wrote:
My apologies for my part in it. I was trying to state, in response, that it was the only one I wasn't 100% sure of. I'm still not 100% sure.

But, I'm still a strong lean towards wild, and it's a great fish either way.

pcray,

As stated before, I’m either catching obvious stocked fish or obvious wild fish strictly based on the stream or size of the trout. There are only about 8-10 fish per year I need dig deeper into a larger set of clues. I really appreciate your very detailed and thorough writeup on the clues to look for to have a reasonable shot at assessing stocked vs wild. I learned a lot from it and it was the first time I heard about a blue eye spot. Just to clarify the blue spot is at eye level on the fish and about a 1/2” back in the direction of the tail.

 

[Dave_W]

Prospector wrote:
Just to clarify the blue spot is at eye level on the fish and about a 1/2” back in the direction of the tail.

Correct.

On a foot long trout, this spot is usually about the size of a fingernail.

Sometimes is is quite large (look at Fly-Swatters avatar above - fish has a very large blue spot) and sometimes it is a broken up - look at Klingy's avatar above: fish has two blue spots, one behind the eye and then another a bit further back on the gill cover.

 

[wildtrout2]

Prospector wrote:
I learned a lot from it and it was the first time I heard about a blue eye spot. Just to clarify the blue spot is at eye level on the fish and about a 1/2” back in the direction of the tail.

There's always the exception, this one had two.

 

[krs]

Klingy,
[/quote]

No worries man. My joy in fishing comes from the whole experience, and that will be a fish that I won’t ever forget. After catching probably thousands of wild trout by this point, that thing launched itself and fought like few fish I have ever hooked. Whether it’s origins are in the stream or elsewhere doesn’t take away from that encounter for me personally. Though I generally choose to target wild fish, I’ve come to realize that I’m after the wild fish experience, and the fun and challenge of meeting them on their terms. If a stockie or two get mixed in during that pursuit, so be it.[/quote]

Yes, well said!

 

[pcray1231]

Interesting wild trout.

I think the more forward one is the traditional "eye spot". At least based on typical placement I see. But the coloring on the gill plate has the very same coloring and reflectivity. Not sure I've seen that before.

Did he have one on the other side? lol. Maybe he's becoming a flounder.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

It's the elusive "Bluegill Trout"!

 

[wildtrout2]

pcray1231 wrote:
Interesting wild trout.

I think the more forward one is the traditional "eye spot". At least based on typical placement I see. But the coloring on the gill plate has the very same coloring and reflectivity. Not sure I've seen that before.

Did he have one on the other side? lol. Maybe he's becoming a flounder.

Pat, I don't recall what the other side looked like. I actually caught a wild brown on Bear Creek a number of years ago that had three eye spots! I'll try to did up that pic.

Here's that crazy brown.

 

[StreamBottom]

Damn that was a nice TR!!
Great pics & fish. I particularly liked the meadow stream shot.

int:

 

[OldLefty]

Considering my limited experience with Pine, Slate and Cedar, and with those browns located so far upstream, I would be at minimum greatly surprised if they were anything but stream-bred fish.

Years ago I really believed I could tell the difference between hatchery-originated and stream-bred...until I was humiliated by a couple biologists.

As has already been stated, many of our freestoners produce some unusually large specimens of Salmo-trutta. Don't believe that Slate Run is that exceptional. Some know and others would be surprised to learn what's in many of our wild trout streams.