Wild Bow Or Clean Holdover?

[sarce]

I am originally from south Jersey as well just went there on native chain & redfin excursion. Was also looking for native banded sunfish and native mud sunfish. Those Pineys got some rediculous fly fishing water to them selves. Altough i learned not many fly fish saw Zero people. Would catch these all day for 4000 years before hitting a Pa fishing license and boat artifishal fishery.View attachment 1641227684View attachment 1641227685View attachment 1641227686View attachment 1641227691View attachment 1641227692

That's a sweet redfin. I Haven't located that species yet but chain pickerel are one of my favorites on fly gear.

 

[pcray1231]

Rainbows are the toughest for me to tell, because I don't catch them enough to get good at it maybe. Also, I think the wild fish we do have are closer genetically to the stocked strains. We don't have native rainbows, and the browns were established in like the late 1800's and early 1900's that were distributed as fry, before hatchery strains were really developed. Our few rainbow populations are descendents of more recent established hatchery strains. That's also why they are so rare, those strains just don't catch on easily (in the southern Appalachians they stocked rainbows earlier than PA did, and those strains were less hatcheryfied at that time).

Par marks are a poor indicator. A large fish with parr marks often means it's young but grew fast, size isn't always the best indicator of age, young fish in big water can be big because they grow fast. Small fish in small water can be old because they grow slow. Color is a poor indicator too, in all species, but especially bows because it's so diet influenced (just look how much steelhead change color after being in the stream a while). Piscavorous bows in big water are very silvery. Shrimp and scud eaters get a super bright stripe. And fish in streams get darker.

I have always noted that on wild fish, a white tip on the anal and pelvic fins is common. I won't use the term always (on wilds) or never (on stocked), but I've noticed that, and this thread bears it out some.

OP's fish is a hatchery fish, IMO.

 

[Fish Sticks]

That's a sweet redfin. I Haven't located that species yet but chain pickerel are one of my favorites on fly gear.

Mine too, I will say in general if you like fishing without seeing anyone else in wild places native chains in schuyllkill, carbon and others. Or Native fall fish downstream of all the water that gets stocked with rainbow trout that ironically is where people flock too. Or native redbreast sunfish my god the opportunities available for someone who likes swinging wets on a two weight

 

[FarmerDave]

I am originally from south Jersey as well just went there on native chain & redfin excursion. Was also looking for native banded sunfish and native mud sunfish. Those Pineys got some rediculous fly fishing water to them selves. Altough i learned not many fly fish saw Zero people. Would catch these all day for 4000 years before hitting a Pa fishing license and boat artifishal fishery.View attachment 1641227684View attachment 1641227685View attachment 1641227686View attachment 1641227691View attachment 1641227692

I lived in South Jersey for a year and really enjoyed the Pickerel fishing in the Pine Barrens. Fishing the old abandoned cranberry bogs, and pickerel would hit on nearly every cast, even the bad ones.

 

[hooker-of-men]

Since this thread is pretty hijacked, I might as well share my PB pickerel from last week!

23-24 incher out of a cold a** Adirondack lake while fishing for landlocks (that basically never showed up this year). A day or so before, I also started to get into largemouth again in the same spot - they had left the shallows over a month ago - because the climate is completely normal.

 

[Kevin82]

Question about fish fins.
Will stocked fish regrow their fins when in the stream for awhile? Locally Ive been catching rainbow over the last 5-6 years that have full fins. white tips, and wild acting fish. They are spunky an make for a good fight. I've caught a few with parr marks as well. They seem wild to me.

 

[pcray1231]

Yes, albeit pretty dang slowly. They color up quick, but fins grow slower.

Aside from environmental "tells", I can usually tell a genetic difference between stocked and wild, especially browns, to a lesser extent brookies. But not rainbows really.

 

[1fish]

Since this thread is pretty hijacked, I might as well share my PB pickerel from last week!


View attachment 1641227693

23-24 incher out of a cold a** Adirondack lake while fishing for landlocks (that basically never showed up this year). A day or so before, I also started to get into largemouth again in the same spot - they had left the shallows over a month ago - because the climate is completely normal.

Stocked

 

[Mike]

As one example of timing for RT to appear wild:
Fall fingerling stocked RT in the Tully used to look wild by sometime during the following spring.
Fall adult stocked RT there have appeared to be wild looking by the following June 1.
When you have handled up to 150 RT in a single day from Big Spring, as an example, you see quite a lot of variation in the pink lateral band brightness and even the appearance of the pink coloration near the lower jaw that some here have described as being cut-like. There is also variation in the background coloration, with some even looking a bit yellowish.

I don’t know this for a fact, but it would seem logical that fin regrowth on stocked fish may proceed faster where overall growth rates are faster, which is a function of food supply and water temp…not too cold, not too warm. There probably is individual fish variation when it comes to fin regrowth/recovery based on observed recovery rates from fin clips applied during surveys and, degrees to which the fins were damaged among the individual fish, and overall variations in full body growth displayed by fish from the same year class. Some species show sexual differences in growth rates as well…striped bass and walleye are some quickly thought of examples.

 

[silverfox]

To Mike's point, here is a stocked rainbow trout that was stocked as a fingerling.