What do you think bow or brown?

[Dave_W]

It's a rainbow.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

That's definitely a rainbow. As for fingerling stockings, they are pretty prevalent. Penns Creek gets 'bows and they do color up quite nicely after being in the system for a bit. See link: https://www.fishandboat.com/Fish/Stocking/Documents/FingerlingTroutStocking2022.pdf

 

[Fish Sticks]

For a few weeks no doubt! They do grow up fast though. By the spring they are easily legal size usually 7-10 inches.

7” can be snack size too in central PA lol.

 

[Swattie87]

It’s a completely normal Rainbow with a fairly sparse spot pattern. Nothing more.

It’s a nice looking fish. There’s a certain stream in NC PA that had a certain strain of Rainbows stocked into it by a pay to fish type outfit, and they’ve established themselves as a reproducing population in the stream. They’re nice fish, and look similar to the OP’s here.

 

[tomgamber]

Looks a lot of wild juvenile rainbows I saw out west. With spots that sparse I'd be tempted to look for red throat slashes.

 

[Acristickid]

And I will say also as well there is really not much difference from a wild rainbow and a stocked rainbow in PA anyway. If its born in a hatchery or 10th generation removed. Its still a fish that was inbred extensively to just eat and be aggressive with no significant adaptation to its awkward transcontinental living situation. Wild or stocked its what I call a “Honey Boo Boo trout”

Every now and again I see a picture of a native rainbow trout who's genes were sentenced to 100 years of hard time in the hatchery system on social media. Like an alaskan leopard rainbow. And you remeber “ holy crap their a real animal” no just some rubbery deformed bar of meat/outdoor party favor unleashed in foreign ecosystems.

I think there may be a big fingerling program in bald eagle can anyone else confirm or deny for me?

Leopard bow from AK , I believe it was caught on a dry- a flesh fly.

I’ve caught a couple wild bows on spring but they didn’t look like the original post.

redietz- good call on the spots on tale

 

[dc410]

Looks like a rainbow to me.

 

[Brown71]

Rainbow for sure. Theres not even a question.

 

[mossyoakpenn]

Silverfox, I caught a rainbow last week on Kettle creek that looked just like your “fingerling rainbow.” It had beautiful, full, dark pink fins that actually had white tips and a really nice stripe.

 

[joebamboo]

Brownbow?

 

[krayfish2]

I thought brownbows were in my imagination...but they exist

 

[Fish Sticks]

I thought brownbows were in my imagination...but they exist

Lachuppacabra, brownbows, and let us not forget the SAMSQUANCH

 

[redietz]

I thought brownbows were in my imagination...but they exist

They exist -- but they never reach maturity. Various hatcheries in the west have created them and find they always develop cataracts and go blind while fingerlings. An idea worth trying, I guess, but it didn't work.

 

[krayfish2]

To be honest, I thought they were extinct in Pa due to the predation of the elusive Pa mountain lion that is still roaming the hills but hasn't been seen in 100 years 🤔

 

[jifigz]

Rainbow for sure...I honestly think its next to impossible to tell a wild rainbow in PA. They stock a lot of fingerlings and they travel great distances.

Kind of, sort of. Except for all the streams they turn up in far and away isolated from any other watershed that receives fingerling stockings. I have 5 streams in Mifflin County I know of with wild rainbows, all confirmed by a PA state biologist except for one stream. I found a MTN freestoner this spring and I caught 5 wild bows. That's no coincidence. I had never turned them up there before but definitely aren't fingerlings.

 

[jifigz]

 

[jifigz]

That's every water that receives fingerlings in the state.....

 

[redietz]

That's every water that receives fingerlings in the state.....

Except those where Trout in the Classroom schools release fingerlings. There are over 400 schools in PA that participate in the program.

I know from experience in MD that some of those fish survive.

 

[jifigz]

Except those where Trout in the Classroom schools release fingerlings. There are over 400 schools in PA that participate in the program.

I know from experience in MD that some of those fish survive.

Sure. I guess I should have stated that that is every fingerling stocking done by the PFBC.

 

[salmonoid]

To be honest, I thought they were extinct in Pa due to the predation of the elusive Pa mountain lion that is still roaming the hills but hasn't been seen in 100 years 🤔

I believe they were extirpated due to the snow pack melt in PA...