The Golden Lightning Palomino Trout!!!

[tomgamber]

silverfox wrote:
I'd bet the vast majority are only a generation or 2 removed from a stocked fish.

This is the statement that comes closest to answering my original question.It's what I always assumed to the the case.

I have heard it argued many times that stocked trout just don't reproduce. I never understood why it was so impossible.

We've heard it on this very site they don't "hold over" either. I don't believe that statement either.

Aren't there several waters that get stocked with fingerlings? What would make them so much more durable than other stocked trout?

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

tomgamber wrote:

silverfox wrote:
I'd bet the vast majority are only a generation or 2 removed from a stocked fish.

This is the statement that comes closest to answering my original question.It's what I always assumed to the the case.

I have heard it argued many times that stocked trout just don't reproduce. I never understood why it was so impossible.

We've heard it on this very site they don't "hold over" either. I don't believe that statement either.

Aren't there several waters that get stocked with fingerlings? What would make them so much more durable than other stocked trout?

Silverfox's answer was also the closest to answering your original question totally wrong.

Go back and read troutbert's last post. His questions are rhetorical in nature. His point is valid.

Think about it, if most wild brown trout were only a generation or two removed from stocked fish then wouldn't you think that virtually all streams that have gotten taken off the stocking list would quickly lose their brown trout populations? That has CLEARLY NOT been the case. And no, I don't think rogue stocked brown trout are invading these streams that aren't stocked anymore and replenishing the population.

In the Great Smoky Mountains wild rainbow trout are displacing the native brook trout. If those wild rainbows were only a generation or two away from stocked trout then the simple solution to stopping the invasion would be to stop stocking rainbow trout...and I think they stopped stocking the rainbows a long time ago but yet the invasion persists.

 

[troutbert]

tomgamber wrote:

troutbert wrote:
Trout stocking was ended in Yellowstone Park in 1955.

There are still many wild brown trout, rainbows, and brook trout in the park. All of these are non-native, introduced fish in those waters.

And when was the last time that English sparrows and starlings were "stocked?" These are also introduced, non-native species. I don't know when "stocking" ended, but I'd guess sometime before 1900. Yet there are still plenty around.

And how about carp? Do you think their populations require continuing stocking? Are all the carp only one or two generations separated from stocked carp?

Do you always answer a question with a question?

Why shouldn't I?

 

[troutbert]

tomgamber wrote:

silverfox wrote:
I'd bet the vast majority are only a generation or 2 removed from a stocked fish.

This is the statement that comes closest to answering my original question.It's what I always assumed to the the case.

Silverfox's statement is a direct answer to your question.

But as Frank said, his answer was wrong.

 

[silverfox]

Without a biological study, none of us know the answer, so I'm not sure how you guys can be so certain of the correct one. I'm simply stating an opinion, like anyone else on this topic.

My only "evidence" is anecdotal based on a stream I fish regularly. I remember when wild browns were rare there. Now? They're almost the entire makeup of the stream.

The state started stocking brood stock in this stream years ago. Seems logical to me that when you continually stock 3+ year old fish that are used for spawning for 30 some years, there is going to be natural reproduction from those fish. That mixed with an existing population of wild fish that are effective at reproducing accelerates the quantity of wild fish.

I personally do see stocked fish genetics (spot patterns) in wild fish. Especially from the stream above. They're mixed with browns that are clearly several more generations old or from different genetics/older ancestors. Regardless, from my years of experience there, all the wild fish are from stocks that are no older than maybe 40 or 50 years (IMO).

I think the river system plays a huge role in this too. Places where the stream is highly conductive to natural reproduction vs places where, without continued stocking, the population wouldn't be anywhere close to what it is.

Again, I'm not saying every brown trout in pa is only 1 or 2 generations removed from a stocked fish. There's likely a huge variance in generational separation from the stocked ancestor.

And comparing Montana to PA is ridiculous. Had they stopped stocking browns in PA in 1955, we'd probably (I don't know of sure. I'm speculating) have 1/8 the population of wild browns.

None of this has anything to do w/ the coveted "great banana trout" though.

 

[tomgamber]

troutbert wrote:

tomgamber wrote:

troutbert wrote:
Trout stocking was ended in Yellowstone Park in 1955.

There are still many wild brown trout, rainbows, and brook trout in the park. All of these are non-native, introduced fish in those waters.

And when was the last time that English sparrows and starlings were "stocked?" These are also introduced, non-native species. I don't know when "stocking" ended, but I'd guess sometime before 1900. Yet there are still plenty around.

And how about carp? Do you think their populations require continuing stocking? Are all the carp only one or two generations separated from stocked carp?

Do you always answer a question with a question?

Why shouldn't I?

Mostly because it muddies your point. Frank suggests you had one but it was lost in question rather just sharing the knowledge. I'll try and re-read though the smokescreen when I have time.

Sounds, so far, like I was correct in one thing. No one agrees. Was kind of thanks for clearing that up. I'm out.

 

[Mike]

No problem with long-term reproduction of browns in Pa. The populations do not require immigration by stocked trout to maintain or boost the populations.

 

[WildTigerTrout]

I fish a small local freestone stream that used to be stocked. It has not been stocked for at least ten years and the brown trout population has not suffered at all. In fact the fishing is better IMO.

Back to the OP. I have caught three golden rainbows over the years. None took flies on the surface. The first one took a red/black beadhead woolly bugger. The second a copper john beadhead nymph and the third a san juan worm. I no longer target them but use them as a "Sighter" fish. Surprising how many other trout gather around them! They are not all stocked fish either! The last golden I caught several years ago in July in BFC. Just prior to hooking the golden I caught a couple of really nice wild browns right next to him!

 

[Troy]

A few years ago I caught a Palomino way up Cedar Run in Tioga County. I couldn't believe it. I was about 5 miles up Cedar Run from Pine Creek. It was really weird. It was actually the only fish I caught that day.

 

[MKern]

I think it has something to do with them missing a crucial amino acid that is only supplied in their food. They are also all females which wouldn't allow them to reproduce. But then they added frog DNA to supplement the missing sections and somehow, life finds a way.

That was either brown trout or dinosaurs, but I can't remember.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I think the Palomino is great for photo shots....It adds color to a dull looking photo for sure.

 

[Chaz]

Truck chasers love them that's why they stock them.

 

[salmonoid]

On a local FFO water, they stocked lightnin' trout for the first time I can recall seeing in a special regulations water. A coop had stocked small golden rainbows in some open water a number of years ago, but these were state stocked fish, in the 16-20"+ range.

I fished the first Sunday after the stocking and the fish were pretty much in the location that buckets were dumped or they were extricated from the floats (not sure if they floated, but fish were spread around pretty well, so I suspect they may have). Goldies were all visible at that point.. Fished the next Sunday and only saw about half the goldies from the week before; figured poachers (human or heron variety) were already at work. Fished again this past Tuesday and I found them all again. With the exception of one fish, who is still hanging out in the open (but can run quickly downstream to a deep hole under a fallen tree), all of the fish have taken up hiding out in good cover and it's easy to miss them. It was only being at the right place at the right time that I managed to catch a glimpse of each fish, and the last one only showed because I foul hooked a tree across the creek. When I crossed the stream, walked upstream on the bank, and crawled out to retrieve my fly, my presence kicked him out of a deep rootball.

These fish may take a verbal beating from highbrow anglers, but they aren't as dumb as everyone makes them out to be. I probably spent an extra few minutes trying to entice each fish, but I didn't catch any and I didn't see any other anglers hook up with them either, although they drew a disproportionate amount of angling attention.

 

[Jessed]

The last pal I caught I was standing at the bottom of the pool and could not see the fish in the water. He must of been on the bottom

 

[Floggingtrout]

Only ever got this one

 

[Bruno]

Here is why -


https://www.facebook.com/CBSPittsburgh/posts/10157683813168822:0

 

[JimKennedy]

Personally, I'm agnostic on lightning-palomino-wvagolden trout, but they do serve a purpose when it comes to instructing kids how to fish for trout in a creek. The Maryland Chapter, of the Brotherhood of the Jungle **** has been using them to demonstrate where trout (well, stocked trout) hang in a creek. Instructors can point out the fish in the creek and teach the kids how to get a good drift on the fly to the fish. The original idea, by the way, was to paint bricks gold and put them in a creek in a place where we thought trout would be likely to be. This is better, because they're actually trout and the other trout are in the same holes where the yellow trout are. You can read the whole tale here: https://bojcmd.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/2017bojcnewsletter.pdf

 

[Mike]

Yes, salmonid, this year is the first year during which GRT are part of the INTENDED allocation to stocked special reg areas. Sorry for the caps, but I need to make sure that those skimming my response see the most important word.

 

[Baron]

I'm 61. At 15 I caught a Palamino in Worlds End State Park. It was a big big deal. It made me buy a license year after year.

Two friends both caught two in the Bushkill here in Easton. They were reported to be 18". One on Fly Rig and the other conventional rig. It was important to them (one guy home fro Iraq).

They are great promoters of our hobby.

On the other hand I fished a natural area last night for three hours and got nothing. It was lonely and peaceful. That is how it would be allot of the time if they didn't stock.