Streams that produced wild tiger trout

[jifigz]

I've never caught a wild tiger trout, either. I fish a lot, and I frequent a lot of streams where they are a possibility, and I catch a lot of trout, but I have just never "won the wild tiger trout lottery," so to speak. Truthfully, I couldn't care less. If I catch one someday, that would be cool, too.

 

[Mike]

Never caught one myself. But i’ve talked to multiple people who’ve caught them out of the lower delaware in fall/winter.

Those fish are usually quite large and are stocked.

 

[Troutmeister]

Mike said "Those fish are usually quite large and are stocked." Gotta agree with that, I've caught several stocked Tigers, always bigger than the wilds pictured on this thread. If I had to hazard a guess, I think most tigers over 9 or 10" are stocked.

 

[wildtrout2]

Mine was caught out of a small rocky freestone that's about 98% browns with a very small population of brookies.

That's an especially pretty one.

 

[5footfenwick]

Welp, everyone else told my wild tiger trout story, so I can't help ya!

Though, there was one experience-the OG Sal (Brian) and I were fishing a very small stream in Northern Lancaster, and he caught one. This is a stream that he fished quite a bit, and never ever caught a single brown. I would also say, it wasn't a stream with a particularly high biomass. Never high enough to make it onto the Class A list, at least. It is heavily forested though.

What are your thoughts on the biomass affecting things?

I’m thinking if low biomass then it’s hard to find a mate so increased chance you mate with another species. Increased chance for a tiger!

But on the flip side, if there is a high biomass then there is sperm and eggs and milt flying everywhere from both species. Increased chance for a tiger!

~5footfenwick

 

[5footfenwick]

I've never caught a wild tiger trout, either. I fish a lot, and I frequent a lot of streams where they are a possibility, and I catch a lot of trout, but I have just never "won the wild tiger trout lottery," so to speak. Truthfully, I couldn't care less. If I catch one someday, that would be cool, too.

Funny you say this, I didn’t care much at all about them. Fished for 20 years and never even saw one.
Then my friend caught one while I was with him. That desert storm camo was just so cool. We celebrated for an entire weekend. I was fascinated. Started thinking about them all the time. Caught 4 the next year and it pretty much solidified my addiction to fishing small unstocked brookie streams.
Keep at it, and you will win the lottery man.
~5footfenwick

 

[sixfootfenwick]

For those who have caugh wild tiger trout, I'm curious what the population of that stream mostly consists of? Is it primarily a wild brown trout stream with some natives, or a mostly native brookie stream with some wild browns?
The stream I caught my one and only wild tiger on is roughly 98% natives, with very few wild browns. I actually fished it for a couple years (maybe 8 times) and only ever caught natives. Then, out of nowhere I caught my wild tiger. I had never seen, or caught any wild browns and wondered how this could be? After catching the tiger I went another couple years before catching my first wild brown. This was in 2009, and since then I've only caught a total of three browns on this stream.

Curious to hear what others have to say. I'd especially like to hear what FTA has to say (if he sees this thread) on the subject, since he's caught an amazing number of wild tigers.

You may find this link interesting, especially the part about the sex of each species and also the make up of the population of each stream. It was written by FTA's brother.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://patrout.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/tiger_trout.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwju7KfNndiMAxWRElkFHYgnHy8QFnoECB8QAQ&usg=AOvVaw0v5aQOAN8UieSFXJ9WGm-x

 

[wildtrout2]

Fished for 20 years and never even saw one.
Then my friend caught one while I was with him. That desert storm camo was just so cool. We celebrated for an entire weekend. I was fascinated. Started thinking about them all the time.

Ironic you mention "desert storm camo" on a wild tiger trout. That's the pattern/coloring my only wild tiger reflects. Some are much more colorful, but I'll gladly take what I got.

 

[5footfenwick]

Ironic you mention "desert storm camo" on a wild tiger trout. That's the pattern/coloring my only wild tiger reflects. Some are much more colorful, but I'll gladly take what I got.

That thing is awesome! Beautiful fish!!!!!

I’m with you, I’ll take what I can get. Sometimes I’m a little jealous of the guys who catch one with the orange belly and really mint green back. However I’ve never seen one like that in person. In fact the ones I’ve caught or seen all looked very similar to your photo. Desert storm camo haha. I like how it looks.
Oddly all were in the 5”-8” long range except the one bigger one from the brookie only stream.

 

[wildtrout2]

You may find this link interesting, especially the part about the sex of each species and also the make up of the population of each stream. It was written by FTA's brother.

That was interesting, thanks for sharing the link. The fact that is has to be a female brown and a male brookie makes the odds of it occuring in the wild so unlikely. It also mentioned the streams that are most likely to hold one are usually ones that are mostly native brookies, with some wild browns, which describes the stream mine came from. I've only caught 3 browns in this stream in all the years I've fished it.

 

[wildtrout2]

That thing is awesome! Beautiful fish!!!!!

I’m with you, I’ll take what I can get. Sometimes I’m a little jealous of the guys who catch one with the orange belly and really mint green back. However I’ve never seen one like that in person. In fact the ones I’ve caught or seen all looked very similar to your photo. Desert storm camo haha. I like how it looks.
Oddly all were in the 5”-8” long range except the one bigger one from the brookie only stream.

Thank you! The 5"- 8" size range seems to be the norm for wild tigers. When I see a large tiger trout, I'm always skeptical of it being a wild fish.

The only other wild tiger I've ever actually seen was caught by a childhood fishing buddy back in the early 70's. It was the more colorful rendition, only about 6"-7". We knew at the time it was a rare catch, but we didn't really understand just just how rare it was! I find it a fascinating subject.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

There’s definitely Browns in the bottom end of that now. Not surprising, given what’s happened in its receiving stream.

He caught that fairly high up though right? IIRC.

Yes above the split.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

There was a tiger posted on here years ago that almost everyone thought was wild but it wasn't.

It came from a limestone stream that gets stocked and has private property.

One of the reasons you don't see many large tiger trout is because limestone streams in our state very rarely have brook trout. Brown trout seem to take them over and push them out, so our most fertile waters won't produce them with any regularity (I mean regularity in the confines of how rare it already is).

I think Penns might be your best shot at such a fish right now.

 

[sandflyx]

saw creek near bushkill

 

[sandflyx]

bushkill in easton

 

[foxfire]

Rolling rock stocks tigers. There quite common on that stream

As a land owner adjacent to the RR properties, I can verify this to be true. Hybrid Vigor - easy for members to catch.

 

[JGR]

I've been fishing for wild trout for over 40 years and have caught a single tiger trout. It was from a very small first-order stream in the Laurel Highlands, that at the time I'd fished for 17 years and had only caught brook trout. I was shocked but later discovered the stream it flows into has a small population of reproducing browns well down stream explaining the source of the female parent.

It was an extremely aggressive fish. It took a dry fly, and I failed to set the hook. I barely rested the water, but it took the dry equally hard on the 2nd cast. It fought much harder than brook trout of the same size.

 

[wildtrout2]

I've been fishing for wild trout for over 40 years and have caught a single tiger trout. It was from a very small first-order stream in the Laurel Highlands, that at the time I'd fished for 17 years and had only caught brook trout. I was shocked but later discovered the stream it flows into has a small population of reproducing browns well down stream explaining the source of the female parent.

It was an extremely aggressive fish. It took a dry fly, and I failed to set the hook. I barely rested the water, but it took the dry equally hard on the 2nd cast. It fought much harder than brook trout of the same size.

Beautiful wild tiger, congrats! That seems to be the typical size they get. It really is like hitting the lottery. You described almost the same exact scenario as the stream I caught my only wild tiger on, almost to a tee. Including the stream it flows into.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

I've caught 26 wild tiger trout in my life. Without digging into my data to verify what my brain is telling me, I'd say that most, if not all of them, were caught in streams that have lots of native brookies and very few wild browns. With that said, there's a guy on another forum who sometimes posts on here who has caught a few more of them than me and his have mostly been on streams that have lots of wild browns and few native brookies, so no conclusion should be drawn from where I caught mine.

All of mine were caught in freestone streams.

As far as the overall biomass of the streams I caught mine in, they all had high biomasses, or I wouldn't have been fishing there in the first place. 😉

I've posted these wild tiger trout photos on here before, but perhaps a few of you haven't seen them before. The first photo is the most beautiful wild tiger trout I've ever caught (5/23/24). It was 8" long.

 

[ryansheehan]

I got this one on the gunpowder river. I know brookies are in there but I've never caught one.