Wanna See a Nice Pair?

[FrankTroutAngler]

The 8" tiger trout was caught on 5/23/24 in NCPA. It was my 25th lifetime wild tiger trout and the prettiest one.

The 9" native brook trout was caught on 8/19/24 in central Pennsylvania. It might be the prettiest one I've ever had the pleasure of catching.

 

[Tigereye]

Wow, they are beautiful. I'm not that big on brookie fishing, but they are both stunning.

Congrats.

Wonder if you can get replicas

 

[Cougarbaby]

Those are the 2 prettiest fish I’ve seen with out a doubt

 

[5footfenwick]

That’s awesome! Do you think that the orange in the brookie is due to diet, or just unique to that watershed. We should still be about a month away from pre spawn colors right?

Only reason I ask is I know a creek where the males are colored up year round.
I’ve been told it’s a crayfish diet.
I’ve been told it’s low summer water temperature.
I’ve been told it is males that didn’t spawn the previous fall.

Just curious what you guys think causes this in the months other than October?

 

[wildtrout2]

Those are two gorgeous trout! Your luck catching wild tiger trout is nothing shy of incredible, considering the odds.

 

[Dave_W]

Wow!
Makes me want to break out the paints.

 

[Dave_W]

That’s awesome! Do you think that the orange in the brookie is due to diet, or just unique to that watershed. We should still be about a month away from pre spawn colors right?

I certainly can't answer this, but am convinced brookie colors are strongest in the fall and on males (the conventional wisdom).

I think we can all agree that colored up wild trout are common year round and I too know some small streams, both freestone and limestone, that seem to produce gorgeous brooks and browns throughout the year.

I'd be interested in hearing Frank's opinion on this one based on his experience.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

That’s awesome! Do you think that the orange in the brookie is due to diet, or just unique to that watershed. We should still be about a month away from pre spawn colors right?

Only reason I ask is I know a creek where the males are colored up year round.
I’ve been told it’s a crayfish diet.
I’ve been told it’s low summer water temperature.
I’ve been told it is males that didn’t spawn the previous fall.

Just curious what you guys think causes this in the months other than October?

Hi 5foot,

I can only speculate, but I believe the orange color on the brookies I catch in this stream is mostly from genetics (and possibly somewhat from diet). On the day I caught this trout I caught seven brookies out of 114 that had a substantial amount of orange coloration. If it was caused by diet maybe more of them would be orange?

I believe the trout are colored-up like this year-round in this stream since I typically catch an orange one or two regardless of when I'm fishing. (I don't fish here in the winter.) I don't doubt that more color is added for the spawning season, though.

This may surprise some of you, but I believe the orange-colored brookie in the photo is a female. It has no hook-jaw. Further evidence that it might be a female is that probably thirty years ago I kept an orange-colored 7" native brookie on this stream due to deep hooking (hey, unfortunately it happens). It was full of eggs. Of course, maybe that one was just a male that identified as a female. 😉

I don't recall ever seeing a crayfish in this stream, though it is quite possible some are there. I doubt there are many, though.

I don't think the water temperature has anything to do with the orange coloration. (You probably don't, either)

I also don't think it has anything to do with males that didn't spawn the previous autumn. (You probably don't, either.)

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Those are two gorgeous trout! Your luck catching wild tiger trout is nothing shy of incredible, considering the odds.

I visited the stream where I caught the 8" tiger trout on 5/23/24 again on 8/8/24 and caught a 9" wild tiger trout, the 26th of my life. It was caught about a half mile upstream from where I caught the first one and was definitely a different trout.

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Wow, they are beautiful. I'm not that big on brookie fishing, but they are both stunning.

Congrats.

Wonder if you can get replicas

Thanks. Just getting a decent photo is enough for me. No desire for replicas.

 

[HopBack]

Wow!
Makes me want to break out the paints.

I would add those to my collection. Those are beautiful fish and you would certainly do them justice.

 

[HopBack]

That’s awesome! Do you think that the orange in the brookie is due to diet, or just unique to that watershed. We should still be about a month away from pre spawn colors right?

Only reason I ask is I know a creek where the males are colored up year round.
I’ve been told it’s a crayfish diet.
I’ve been told it’s low summer water temperature.
I’ve been told it is males that didn’t spawn the previous fall.

Just curious what you guys think causes this in the months other than October?

I know of a stream that has a large crayfish forage base and all of the brook trout there have red highlights and never orange. I have often thought it was the crayfish diet but I think genetics are far more likely.

 

[krayfish2]

Great looking fish Frank! You've played enough cards to know that 3 of a kind beat two pair 😉

 

[5footfenwick]

Hi 5foot,

I can only speculate, but I believe the orange color on the brookies I catch in this stream is mostly from genetics (and possibly somewhat from diet). On the day I caught this trout I caught seven brookies out of 114 that had a substantial amount of orange coloration. If it was caused by diet maybe more of them would be orange?

I believe the trout are colored-up like this year-round in this stream since I typically catch an orange one or two regardless of when I'm fishing. (I don't fish here in the winter.) I don't doubt that more color is added for the spawning season, though.

This may surprise some of you, but I believe the orange-colored brookie in the photo is a female. It has no hook-jaw. Further evidence that it might be a female is that probably thirty years ago I kept an orange-colored 7" native brookie on this stream due to deep hooking (hey, unfortunately it happens). It was full of eggs. Of course, maybe that one was just a male that identified as a female. 😉

I don't recall ever seeing a crayfish in this stream, though it is quite possible some are there. I doubt there are many, though.

I don't think the water temperature has anything to do with the orange coloration. (You probably don't, either)

I also don't think it has anything to do with males that didn't spawn the previous autumn. (You probably don't, either.)

Hey Frank, thanks for the reply.

I’m leaning towards genetics too.

Was just curious if you bought into any of the other theories. Haha I guess not.

Those are spectacular trout. I’m guessing you could print out about a 10” picture and frame it. Be the same size as a life size mount.

Just curious did you get the female vibe when you caught it? Or just thought that once you got home and started looking at pictures?

25 wow, That is an absurd amount of pa wild Tiger trout. I fish almost as much as anyone I know. I rarely fish for species other than native brook trout. I’m at 11 lifetime wild Tiger trout. I thought I was doing pretty good. You are more than double that. That’s quite mind blowing to me. Congratulations, I’m jealous 😉
~ 5footfenwick

 

[FrankTroutAngler]

Hey Frank, thanks for the reply.

I’m leaning towards genetics too.

Was just curious if you bought into any of the other theories. Haha I guess not.

Those are spectacular trout. I’m guessing you could print out about a 10” picture and frame it. Be the same size as a life size mount.

Just curious did you get the female vibe when you caught it? Or just thought that once you got home and started looking at pictures?

25 wow, That is an absurd amount of pa wild Tiger trout. I fish almost as much as anyone I know. I rarely fish for species other than native brook trout. I’m at 11 lifetime wild Tiger trout. I thought I was doing pretty good. You are more than double that. That’s quite mind blowing to me. Congratulations, I’m jealous 😉
~ 5footfenwick

Hi 5foot,

I kind of got the female vibes after looking at the picture at home. I caught a 10"er that day and it had a distinct hook jaw, even though it's hard to see in this photo. I have other photos of it that clearly show the hook jaw; however, those photos are not post-worthy.

To be honest, I'm quite impressed with your 11 wild tiger trout. That's a lot. A guy I know on HuntingPA has caught 28, I believe. He had 25 lifetime per his year-end summary for 2023 and has caught three more this year. Interestingly, almost all of his have come from streams where brook trout are the token species, while virtually all of mine have come from streams that are predominately brook trout fisheries with just a few wild browns.

 

[wildtrout2]

Hi 5foot,

I kind of got the female vibes after looking at the picture at home. I caught a 10"er that day and it had a distinct hook jaw, even though it's hard to see in this photo. I have other photos of it that clearly show the hook jaw; however, those photos are not post-worthy.

View attachment 1641237528

To be honest, I'm quite impressed with your 11 wild tiger trout. That's a lot. A guy I know on HuntingPA has caught 28, I believe. He had 25 lifetime per his year-end summary for 2023 and has caught three more this year. Interestingly, almost all of his have come from streams where brook trout are the token species, while virtually all of mine have come from streams that are predominately brook trout fisheries with just a few wild browns.

My one and only wild tiger trout came from a native brookie stream with very few wild browns as well.

 

[dryflyguy]

Nice eye candy for sure!

 

[5footfenwick]

Frank,

The reason I asked about realizing it was a female at home is because that happened to me once some years ago.

I caught a pretty trout. Snapped a picture and released it. I just figured it was a male without really looking at it closely. When I got home and looked at the picture I couldn’t believe it. It sure looked like it was a female.

I really enjoy it when I catch a wild Tiger trout. They are just a very pretty fish to me. And definitely rare. I have one friend who is obsessed with them and has only caught one. Unfortunately the pictures got deleted some how. So he is constantly thinking about them and wishing for another. I didn’t catch any this year yet. But the year is still young! All of my wild ones have been from brook trout streams with very few brown trout. Seems to be a pattern there.

~5footfenwick