The Golden Lightning Palomino Trout!!!

[bigslackwater]

The state seems to be stocking more golden trout year after year. I dont get it. I dont find them fun to catch. It's like fishing for goldfish. There is no challenge in finding them. You can spot them a mile away. Site fishing can be fun but it can be a lot more fun to read the water and try to find fish by "fishing" the water, rather than fishing to the fish. In my opinion golden trout can bring out the worst habits in any fisherman. You'll see 3 guys all bouncing flies or bait off the nose of a golden that has lock jaw and got spooked by them 2 hours prior. What are your thoughts?

 

[drakeking412]

WV has gold rush week and if you catch one with a gold tag you get a t-shirt. I mean who doesn't want a free t shirt!?!? In all seriousness keep putting bananas in so guys crowd them and not actually decent streams with decent fish.

 

[salmonoid]

bigslackwater wrote:
The state seems to be stocking more golden trout year after year. I dont get it. I dont find them fun to catch. It's like fishing for goldfish. There is no challenge in finding them. You can spot them a mile away. Site fishing can be fun but it can be a lot more fun to read the water and try to find fish by "fishing" the water, rather than fishing to the fish. In my opinion golden trout can bring out the worst habits in any fisherman. You'll see 3 guys all bouncing flies or bait off the nose of a golden that has lock jaw and got spooked by them 2 hours prior. What are your thoughts?

My thoughts are that you are not the angler the PFBC is trying to hook with the lightnin' trout.. Just because you are not interested in them doesn't mean that the majority of trout anglers are not.. Think what happens to the kid who manages to latch into one of those fish after being one of the 3 guys (or kids) bouncing bait or flies off of one of them.

There's plenty of water that does not have them in, for those that are adverse to fishing in an 'lectric storm..

 

[flyflicker]

In certain streams I get it. It proves that fish are in the water and always turns into the topic of conversation at the “local hole”. I am of the mindset that the more people we get on the water, the more funds for conservation. These people speak in the voting booths too. As for kids, they love them! And keeps their interest lest they only see “dead water”. I am in favor for certain streams or stretches.

I do favor not stocking them in wild or special reg sections.

Just my thoughts.

 

[krayfish2]

At least they are sterile

 

[salmonoid]

krayfish2 wrote:
At least they are sterile

They aren't sterile; just color variations of regular old rainbows..

 

[Solitariolupo]

I’ve caughten 100s and 100s of brown or rainbow trout and some days it’s not even fun taking them off the hook you catch so many. So when I get a golden rainbow it brightens my day so that’s all I target for the opening since that’s the only opportunity I get to fish for them. So it great for me to see them get stocked twice than just once. If a kid fishes next to me I give them the hole to catch those regular trout and I go after the lock jaw golden. Just my two cents.

 

[Prospector]

I caught 5 over the last 3 seasons and I never saw any of them. Swinging weighted flies across the current. Sort of a pleasant surprise especially since 2 were very big. I don’t target them more than 2 casts when I do see them in advance.

They are great for kids.

 

[Bobbop89]

Its a nice trophy for kids or weekend anglers and I'd be lying if I said I never bounced a few baits in front of them. They're just different which is what makes them special.

 

[silverfox]

I personally think it's a total buzzkill when you run into one of those mutants on a stream where they shouldn't be. I try to mostly target wild fish and explore off-the-beaten-path waters a lot. I absolutely hate running into them because it's a sign that the stream isn't natural.

I was fishing a class A late last year and ran into one. Really made me mad. The worst part? Technically, in the extended season, you aren't allowed to harvest fish in Class A streams. So even if I felt like catching it to kill it/remove it, I wasn't allowed to.

 

[redietz]

I do favor not stocking them in wild or special reg sections.

I don't favor stocking anything in wild sections.

 

[bigslackwater]

Silver Fox, I also caught one in a wild trout stream, not a class A, but a non stocked tributary that was very far from stocked water. It was a surprise but it also blew my theory that there were no stocked trout in this creek. I guess as a definitive indicator, they are good for that. There's no question that this was a stocked fish.

 

[bigslackwater]

I guess my gripe is more with the quantity they are stocking. They seem to be in equal proportion to Rainbows and Browns now. In prior years, the occasional rare golden was fun. Just last week they stocked a local C&RFFO section and you can literally look down the creek and see orange lines everywhere! It's golden overload!

 

[tomgamber]

I like em. They keep the Whoopies all gathered together leaving more stream open to fish. Like dangling a shiny object.

 

[Tigereye]

Yeah Tom. I call them TRACERS.

Actually I dont have a feeling about them one way or another. They are a stocked trout. No More, No less. I really have more important things to worry about than whether or not PFBC stocks them or not. They are part of the put and take management strategy. People like em and they attract anglers and in return $$$$. In that respect they are good.

One of the few fish I will keep. I Call them TRACERS because others will target the lone golden (usually of larger sizes ~18" or so) and catch a bunch of fish they didnt see, but for their persistence after the golden. Remove the golden and others make a few casts and move on, thus saving alot of fish.

I dont believe I have ever seen a golden take a dry fly (natural). I have caught them on emergers and streamers. Bait fishermen do well with spinners and salmon eggs.

Here one from the lehigh river last year. Never saw him until hooked. They are gaudy.

 

[Bruno]

My kid loves them. So there is a method to the madness get the kids interested and they will carry on the sport.

 

[afishinado]

Just remember, it took an awful long time for most of us to become the elite wild trout fly-fishing aficionados we are today!... :lol:

Most of us started fishing for stocked trout with bait as kids, so just try to remember those days (they were fun!).

As long as the stockies are not placed over a population of wild trout, don't worry about it, just let those anglers have fun, especially the kids.

And from that gang of guys and kids out the "first day" after stockies, a few elite wild trout fly-fishing aficionados will emerge, just as in the past, and everything will carry on and even become better in the future!

 

[Mike]

Will history repeat itself? Hard to say. In the 1970’s and prior to 1983 there were FFO Fish For Fun projects. They were essentially C&R because they carried a 20” size limit. Nevertheless, the PFC stocked them with some close to 20” trout and perhaps an occasional 20”er along with good numbers of normal size stocked trout, which averaged about 9.5” at the time. Non special reg anglers complained that “all” of the trophy trout were going to the Special reg areas, ie fly fishermen. After all of that the revised stocked special reg areas that appeared after 1982 were intentionally not stocked with brood or trophy size fish. More recently though, these fish appeared to make their way back into the special reg waters at a normal stocking rate applied to non-special reg waters. Shortly thereafter, however, the Keystone Select waters were established in which more than ever 14” to approx 20” fish were stocked.

Throughout the aforementioned lengthy time period the staff maintained an unwritten (to my knowledge) policy of no PRT’s and then later on no GRT’s in special reg areas. Apparently, that has now changed this year as staff, experiences, or philosophies have changed One wonders if this will all go full or partial circle again if anglers who frequent regular stocked trout waters or those who frequent special reg waters complain ... with one group again feeling slighted or the second group wanting nothing to do with GRT’s. The amount of anguish that can be generated by stocking adult trout is certainly an interesting study in human behavior.

 

[silverfox]

My personal opinion and reasons only; When I discovered wild trout and realized that there were these amazing, clean, colorful, healthy fish out there, with all their fins intact, that outclassed the stocked fish, I was hooked. It opened a whole new world to me.

My gripe is twofold;

1, that when in pursuit of wild trout, catching stocked trout is a letdown, because that's not what you're after. Like catching a bluegill while fishing for crappie (kind of).

2, that the stocked trout compete w/ the wild trout for habitat, food and mates, and therefore are detrimental to wild trout populations.

If there were a way to make sure the stocked trout didn't move, it would be one thing. The problem is, they do move, and they move into the same water that the wild trout (and native trout) are inhabiting. That's where I have a problem. I have an even bigger problem with where the state stocks right up to the imaginary line between Class A and stocked trout water.

The bananas are the pinnacle of the stocked trout culture. Their very presence is an exaggerated reminder of the artificial side of fisheries in this state.

 

[Kevin82]

https://youtu.be/L_uifs1Xqfs