[gambusia]

Hit the upper North Mills DH.

With what little fishing I got in I ran into some wild rainbow trout.

No stockers but I didn't get to fish a lot.

Nice weather and plenty of people out.

 

[OptiMystic]

How do you tell a wild rainbow from a stocked one in a river that has hatchery support? I know they mostly stock small ones, but there are often a few bonus bruisers in the mix.

This article is old, but it is my understanding that this practice (putting larger average fish in DH water plus some really nice ones) continues:

Typical size of trout stocked is approximately 11 inches (in length). However, 4 per cent of our stocked trout exceed 14 inches.

 

[Fish_Fiend]

Anal fin or adapose fin is typically removed on stockers.

 

[m75rlg]

Anal fin or adapose fin is typically removed on stockers.

Caught 44 trout in a DH stream last Friday. All of them had intact anal and adapose fins.

I doubt that they were all "wild" trout.

Not wanting to start an argument, just saying . . .

 

[OptiMystic]

I wasn't trying to either; I am curious if there is a difference you can use to reliably discern stockers. A lot of people seem to base it on size, but that doesn't always guarantee anything, especially in DH where they stock a larger average size and include some bonus big ones. Now if you catch a brookie where they only stock rainbows, it is probably wild...

 

[cedarlakefan]

Very often stock fish have worn noses, tails and fins. Unless a stock fish has been in the river a good while they tend to be more silvery with less pronounced red on the side.
"Native" or wild Rainbows have a deeper green back and more visable red along the side. They also have vertical black oval bars along the side when they are smaller. I always look at the nose and fins first.

Brown trout wash out significantly in the hatchery. Brook tend to recover their color faster in the river than either Brown or Rainbow.

 

[wademaster]

Wild fish are hard to mistake for stocked in my opinion. Wild\Native fish are so much more vivid and bright. No comparison.

 

[Fish_Fiend]

Is it not a practive they use anymore? Errr...and I might add almost all of my trout experience is out west.

 

[Guest]

In my experience, You can also look at the tail fin, A stock trouts tail fin is rounded off by being in the concrete pools. "wild trout" or hold overs have sharp, crisp edges to their tail fins. I haven't devoted any time to fly fishing this season so far, been concentrating on Bow season in Lincoln county. My son-in-law and I did fish the Tuskegee DH, Sylva area the weekend prior to DH closing. bottom was slick as heck, water moving fast and water cloudy. I slipped and went down, it was hard to get back up. Luckly my waders didn't fill. couldn't get to where I wanted to be.