Tiger trout

[ryansheehan]

I meant to post this on memorial day weekend but I'm a slacker. My 12 year old son has really got into fly fishing. We hit the lower savage and he got into some great dry fly action. As I was getting the net ready (my new job) I noticed it looked a little different and low and behold it was a tiger trout. Looking at the fish my first instinct was that it was stocked based on its tail. Then I started second guessing myself. Maryland doesn't stock tiger trout or the lower savage. West Virginia does stock tigers I believe but this fish was at the very top of the river, above the PHD pool. There would be a couple of pretty tough blockages to swim up from the North Branch this far. In all my hours of fishing the Savage I've never caught a tiger or heard of anyone catching one. Will post a pic shortly, he and I are headed back out tomorrow morning can't wait!

 

[larkmark]

Awesome. I cannot comment on the trout but spending time with the boy fishing is first rate.

 

[Dave_W]

larkmark wrote:
Awesome. I cannot comment on the trout but spending time with the boy fishing is first rate.

Well said and I'll second it. ^

Looking forward to seeing the picture. . .

 

[pcray1231]

Awesome. Only 1 wild tiger to my name still.. You say you never heard of anyone catching a tiger there, but they are so rare thats how it usually goes. Congrats on the time with your boy..

 

[Tucker733]

I’ve seen several pictures of wild tigers from the Savage in the past couple years so I wouldn’t doubt it was wild. The number of brown and brook trout would definitely make it possible. I’m still hunting for a tiger and cutthroat from the Savage.

Somewhere online there’s some pictures of electroshocked tigers the MD DNR has collected from various Western MD Streams including the Savage.

 

[Steeltrap]

I've always thought the Tiger Trout could not reproduce.

The tiger trout (Salmo trutta × Salvelinus fontinalis) is a sterile, intergeneric hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). ... The fish is an anomaly in the wild, with the brook trout having 84 chromosomes and the brown trout 80. Records show instances as far back as 1944.

 

[Prospector]

Steeltrap wrote:
I've always thought the Tiger Trout could not reproduce.

The tiger trout (Salmo trutta × Salvelinus fontinalis) is a sterile, intergeneric hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). ... The fish is an anomaly in the wild, with the brook trout having 84 chromosomes and the brown trout 80. Records show instances as far back as 1944.

You are correct. A tiger trout is sterile. A wild tiger occurs when a female brown trout and a male brook trout are mates in a stream. Any offspring are wild tigers. Stocked tiger trout from a hatchery are more common.

I believe my only tiger was a stocked fish due to the coloration. Despite catching it at the mouth of a known wild tiger producing trib in NCPA.

 

[drakeking412]

i recently fished the savage for three days. i caught more brook trout than normal which was kinda cool but i did find this dead tiger pretty far up. not up as far as you were ryan but still close to garret dam. i also found a ~16" dead rainbow that made it up behind the fly shop.

https://imgur.com/a/cIjBUfw

not saying these tigers you guys have caught/seen aren't wild but there's way more tigers in that river all of a sudden and there's plenty of willing mates in that river imo

also had a not so fun run in with some campers and their dogs at the whitewater lot. if they could fix the bridge to up top that would be cool

 

[ryansheehan]

Pretty sure his was a stocker, here's a picture.

tiger

 

[wildtrout2]

Ryan, that tiger trout looks very similar to the one I caught, which I know was wild because of where I caught it. It was only 8", as most of the wild one's that I've seen have been rather small.

 

[silverfox]

We've been catching a bunch of them down there. They're from WV for sure. They stock em up in the WW area and they swim down. I caught this one Sunday WAY down river.

 

[ryansheehan]

 

[gulfgreyhound]

#1Dad Award to you! Nice catch by your son. GG

 

[gulfgreyhound]

#1Dad Award to you! Nice catch by your son. GG

 

[Mike]

Saw a holdover, perfect condition, 22 inch tiger trout electrofished today. It was a solidly built fish with a very stream-lined body. All signs of former hatchery raceway fin wear were completely healed over and fins were of a natural length. Coloration was excellent. What a beauty that even a purist would have admired. Certainly was the largest tiger that I ever saw and it had to be examined closely to discern the hatchery origin from at least a year ago.

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
Saw a holdover, perfect condition, 22 inch tiger trout electrofished today. It was a solidly built fish with a very stream-lined body. All signs of former hatchery raceway fin wear were completely healed over and fins were of a natural length. Coloration was excellent. What a beauty that even a purist would have admired. Certainly was the largest tiger that I ever saw and it had to be examined closely to discern the hatchery origin from at least a year ago.

Very interesting ^

You wrote above, "...it had to be examined closely to discern the hatchery origin from at least a year ago."

What keys are used in an examination by the PFBC to make a determination any trout came from a hatchery or is stream-born?

 

[Mike]

In this case the upper caudal fin was back lighted and I could clearly see the scar from the formerly warn fin margin and about a half inch or more of new fin tissue and ray growth beyond the now embedded scar, and I was about 5ft away (Remember, it was a big fish with a big tail.) Additionally, there was a bit of a twist in the dorsal fin. You’ll see similar characters in one or more fins in many other holdover adult hatchery trout, but it would be unusual in fingerling stocked fish after a good period of growth. Color can also be a good clue on some Brown Trout. Holdover ST, at large through at least one summer and winter, are rare, at least in my experience. Scale samples are also useful at times, as hatchery fish have a high proportion of regenerative scales, but that requires return to the lab. In the field some fish that are borderline stocked vs wild in appearance require close examination of multiple fins and the coloration to find the clue.

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
In this case the upper caudal fin was back lighted and I could clearly see the scar from the formerly warn fin margin and about a half inch or more of new fin tissue and ray growth beyond the now embedded scar, and I was about 5ft away (Remember, it was a big fish with a big tail.) Additionally, there was a bit of a twist in the dorsal fin. You’ll see similar characters in one or more fins in many other holdover adult hatchery trout, but it would be unusual in fingerling stocked fish after a good period of growth. Color can also be a good clue on some Brown Trout. Holdover ST, at large through at least one summer and winter, are rare, at least in my experience. Scale samples are also useful at times, as hatchery fish have a high proportion of regenerative scales, but that requires return to the lab. In the field some fish that are borderline stocked vs wild in appearance require close examination of multiple fins and the coloration to find the clue.

^ thanks, Mike.