Palomino trout

[maxima12]

Back in the day, I harvested 8 palomino's on the west branch of pine creek in Galeton pa. That's when 8 was limit. I generally use fly tipped with salmon egg, small piece of worm


and switch back .and forth


Palamino is out, golden is in. yep, caught a pile If it's there, I will get it.

I like them, I give them to the old lady's who's husbands fished and are now passed away. Cleaned well and laid upon a bed of lettuce.

I always shop the the thrift store and find a nice platter to do my business. Make's a beautiful presentation.


PS. why bother to get your dish back.


Go with it, make friends and memory's


I can't describe how you feel, when helping someone is in need of an old memory. It is cool. MAXIMA12

 

[Chaz]

I’ve seen them in the same place in a stream for months at a time so don’t think that they aren’t wary. Nymphs and streamers should do the trick. Btw they are golden rainbows if it’s a stream stocked by PFBC.

 

[FarmerDave]

A few years back I saw them at the seafood counter of an upscale grocery store near Cleveland. They were advertising them as Golden Trout.

I of course corrected them, too.;-)

 

[Solitariolupo]

just to correct you guys golden trout are completely different species. As I did call them golden rainbows in my original post and yes they are a palomino. The fish commission started with palominos and as they where breed so many times they lost color so then they where hybridized with golden rainbows. Now they just call them golden rainbow trout. Lol that’s like calling a steelhead a rainbow trout to me. Both the same thing just two different types of living.

 

[FarmerDave]

Solitariolupo wrote:
just to correct you guys golden trout are completely different species.

Exactly, which is why I corrected the grocery store.;-)

As I did call them golden rainbows in my original post and yes they are a palomino. The fish commission started with palominos and as they where breed so many times they lost color so then they where hybridized with golden rainbows. Now they just call them golden rainbow trout.

Also true.

Here is a link to the history of the West Virginia golden rainbow trout.

Worth noting in all this, WV does not export eggs to other states.

PA started propagating a cross between the WV golden rainbow and regular rainbow (as did several other states). This being a cross, or true palomino, they called it a Palomino trout.

Cutting to the chase.

Over the years, PA has selectively bred for the gold color tot he point that they now call it a Golden Rainbow trout.

Here is a PF&BC link to PA trout descriptions. Scroll down to Golden Rainbow.

Us old timers knew this fish as a palomino back in the day, which it actually was (in PA). But it wasn't so shiny back them. More drab because it was crossed with regular rainbow. Some will still argue about the name, but we all know what we are talking about. But since this strain has been selectively bred to be more golden, PF&BC now call them Golden Rainbow and have for quite a few years.

Just don't call a wild one, native. ;-)

Lol that’s like calling a steelhead a rainbow trout to me. Both the same thing just two different types of living.

I have a friend who insists on calling them steelhead salmon. I told them that they are lake run rainbow trout, but he didn't believe me.

 

[Dave_W]

Some good stories... :lol:

Palominos, or whatever you want to call 'em, can indeed be strange fish and just seem to be at the root of all kinds of odd and comical fishing events. They can act odd themselves too - often swimming around in circles and other weird stuff.

Chaz is right, however, that they can persist in a creek for a long time. Some of them seem to have a strange imperviousness to getting caught by anglers. There was one that lived for years under a root ball in Falling Springs back in the day. It was not easily seen, and I don't think it was ever caught, certainly not by me.

They're weird in a fun way.

 

[Dave_W]

FarmerDave wrote:

laszlo wrote:
I would love to paint a cement trout yellow and throw in into decent pool and have anglers fish for it.... over and over again

Sit it on an old bed spring if you need to restock your tackle box.

I'll be chuckling about this one all day....
😛int:

 

[Prospector]

Palominos are very strange fish. I agree with Dave that they exhibit odd behavior all of the time. I Don have some memories from days gone by of these oddballs

- at about age 16 I caught my first palimino on a GRHE nymph on the Neshannock creek in what was open water at the time but now is the DHALO section on Neshannock creek. It was the only fish I caught that day. I released him.

- a few years later on the second day of the season on the Neshannock I caught a fish on my first cast and it was an 18” palomino. It was in deep water and I never saw it. I put it on the stringer thinking I would be loading up all the clips but that was the only fish of the day.

- when my son was young I started him off bait fishing and at some point we found out butter worms were a super bait for trout. He was fishing for an active palomino but soon lost interest. I went over to it and the fish was feeding continuously. When I had weight on I could easily get the bait to the trout and he really checked it out without eating it over and over. So I removed the weight and that was the ticket, the 20 incher ate it the first time past. I returned him to oil creek

- on opening day I took my son to Neshannock creek and the main hole was full so we stood upstream about 25 feet. As we waited for 8am to arrive we could see four large palominos in the main hole below us. We caught some fish in our riffle, kept some, turned some loose and watched a little girl nab one of the palomino’s in the first 1/2 hour. As the morning wore on many people left the creek and my son was about ready to go. He put #4 on the stringer and I told him to hold off on #5 because we were going to get a shot at the 3 palominos soon. In no time, space opened up and he was tossing butter worms at the big boys but he caught a few rainbows and finally said I’m done I’m putting my last one on the stringer. So I said give me a few minutes. I took my weight off and caught all 3 palominos on butterworms in about 10 casts. After I turned the 3rd one loose we headed for home.
Possible experiment: I haven’t fished bait since my son graduated to a fulltime fly fisherman, but during those bait years the largest butter worms that had the brightest yellow color were a Palomino’s demise. Maybe tie a fly that looks a lot like those magnum butter worms if you want to catch one. Make sure it’s unweighted. I’ve never tried since I don’t target them anymore.

- circa 2007, we were on Kettle Creek and my son had his fly rod. He was fishing the kids area and I gave him a #16 Rusty Spinner. He had caught about 4 trout and several were still rising but he kept casting to a 20” palomino who was acting like your typical disinterested golden trout. Finally I said “don’t cast to that fish anymore, they never eat dry flies”. So in typical fashion for an 11yr old, he casts to the Palomino anyway and, right on cue, that palomino made the picture perfect rise to that fly and the fight was on. Before he could get it land it a total downpour ensued. We both got soaked but he landed the fish and we laugh about that trout every time we stand on the bridge and eat ice cream from Kinneys Store. Moral of the story: don’t listen to your dad

- Heading into last June I don’t think I ever caught a palomino in Kettle Creek despite fishing there for 44 years. Last June I was in a large pool that I love to fish. There was no surface activity, so I tied on 3 wets. Well it was one of those days when every fish in the stream was feeding. I finished the day with 15 browns, 19 rainbow, 15 brook and 2 Palomino. This was the first time I ever caught all 4 types on same day. Then 3 days later I did it in the same pool when I landed 13 brown, 7 rainbow, 11 brook and 1 palomino.

Palominos are a real thrill for kids so I think they are a nice fish for kids areas and small streams where they are easy to reach. However
I will be fine if I never catch one again.

 

[Fly-Swatter]

Prospector: Good stuff!

 

[Solitariolupo]

Prospector wrote:


- on opening day I took my son to Neshannock creek and the main hole was full so we stood upstream about 25 feet. As we waited for 8am to arrive we could see four large palominos in the main hole below us. We caught some fish in our riffle, kept some, turned some loose and watched a little girl nab one of the palomino’s in the first 1/2 hour. As the morning wore on many people left the creek and my son was about ready to go. He put #4 on the stringer and I told him to hold off on #5 because we were going to get a shot at the 3 palominos soon. In no time, space opened up and he was tossing butter worms at the big boys but he caught a few rainbows and finally said I’m done I’m putting my last one on the stringer. So I said give me a few minutes. I took my weight off and caught all 3 palominos on butterworms in about 10 casts. After I turned the 3rd one loose we headed for home.
Possible experiment: I haven’t fished bait since my son graduated to a fulltime fly fisherman, but during those bait years the largest butter worms that had the brightest yellow color were a Palomino’s demise. Maybe tie a fly that looks a lot like those magnum butter worms if you want to catch one. Make sure it’s unweighted. I’ve never tried since I don’t target them anymore.

Thanks for the tip. Also great stories and memories for ya.