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#1 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

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Posted 25 September 2010 - 07:12 PM

I took a couple hours and went out looking for some fishing spots. I didn't go very well equipped as far as clothing and tackle goes. I was just going to check out a couple spots, but I did take my rod and a small tackle box just for kicks. All these fish were caught in the north-western corner of North Carolina. I'll post pictures of all of them just so you guys can have fun IDing them.

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If you need anymore info for ID let me know :)

#2 Guest_star5328_*

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Posted 25 September 2010 - 07:30 PM

I see some kind of trout, a creek chub, and a green sunfish

#3 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 25 September 2010 - 08:07 PM

Brook trout, looks stocked rather than wild. Green sunfish. Chub, not sure, Nocomis of the local variety.

#4 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 25 September 2010 - 08:36 PM

Look to me like a rainbow trout, a creek chub, a bunch of green sunfish, and a Nocomis, probably leptocephalus?

#5 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

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Posted 25 September 2010 - 08:48 PM

It was indeed a rainbow trout. I know the lighting was really bright so the color's didn't show up as well as they should have. I wasn't sure about the sunfish because of how the pattern on the sides continued down onto the anal fins, but I can't find a better example of it. Creek chub, yes. Nice ID on the Nocomis, also. I had no idea on that one.

I'm going out again tomorrow. I'll post anything new that I find.

#6 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 26 September 2010 - 12:36 AM

I sure thought it looked like a rainbow, but have never seen that white pelvic fin margin on anything except brook trout. Figured it was a washed out hatchery brookie.

#7 Michael Wolfe

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Posted 26 September 2010 - 08:48 AM

I sure thought it looked like a rainbow, but have never seen that white pelvic fin margin on anything except brook trout. Figured it was a washed out hatchery brookie.


I agree and think it was a hatchery brookie (orange fins with white margin), creek chub based on the mouth size, green sunfish and then bluehead chub.
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#8 Guest_panfisherteen_*

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Posted 26 September 2010 - 05:03 PM

other than the fins that looks like a lot of the juv. rainbow trout from around here. And the fact that theres no red dots, let alone red dots with blue halos, its silverish instead of a brownish color, the spots are black and not yellow, and theres no worm like markings (light in color) on the top of the fish, really makes it hard to believe its a brook trout (for me). I think its just a juv. rainbow trout that happens to have brook trout-like fins

#9 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 26 September 2010 - 05:27 PM

other than the fins that looks like a lot of the juv. rainbow trout from around here. And the fact that theres no red dots, let alone red dots with blue halos, its silverish instead of a brownish color, the spots are black and not yellow, and theres no worm like markings (light in color) on the top of the fish, really makes it hard to believe its a brook trout (for me). I think its just a juv. rainbow trout that happens to have brook trout-like fins

Have you ever seen the hatchery brookies that North Carolina stocks? Pitiful, washed out creatures, nothing like the wild ones you find in adjacent waters. They are virtually devoid of any vermiculations. But, the fish in question looks more like a rainbow in the photo, but those fins..... Might just be the lighting. And the OP seems to think it is a rainbow, so it may very well be.

#10 Guest_panfisherteen_*

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Posted 26 September 2010 - 06:40 PM

I will guarantee you that its a rainbow trout, brook trout dont have a pink line that follows the lateral line.
Posted Image
notice that rainbow has a bit of the white leading edge on the fins, something the fish in question does have as well

#11 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 26 September 2010 - 11:03 PM

I learned years ago never to guarantee an ID on a fish in a photo on line. All we can do is make educated guesses. The quality of the guesses increase with the quality of the photo. I am very familiar with North Carolina trout waters. My favorite state to flyfish. I could fish the Davidson river daily for the rest of my life, and not get tired of it. I have seen the brook trout that the state stocks, and am not 100% convinced either way. The fish smacks of rainbow, dark spots on lighter background, but if the camera is telling the truth, the fins scream brook trout. I can guarantee you with 100% certainty that this fish is not a paddlefish, or a gar. As I said the forum member who started the thread is convinced that it is a rainbow, so it may very well be. You are quite possibly right PanfisherTeen. You don't have to make any guarantees to me.

#12 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

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Posted 27 September 2010 - 05:39 AM

You guys are pretty fierce about this ID stuff. As the person who caught the first, I will tell you that it was OFFICIALLY a rainbow. I took the picture on a cell phone cuz I didn't have anything else. If you'll notice my thumb is completely white because of the glare from the sun. There was a bright pink stripe right down the middle with green underneath and big spots all the way down the side. All the colors just got washed out by glare.

So no more vicious trout accusations :)

#13 Guest_panfisherteen_*

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Posted 27 September 2010 - 12:06 PM

lmao sorry if i did seem a little vicious, i was trying to show that rainbows can have the white leading edges on their fins as well lol :fishy:

#14 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 27 September 2010 - 05:31 PM

Re the Nocomis chub, there are 3 possibilities in northwestern NC: River chub in the Tenn tribs, Bigmouth chub in the New/Kanawha, and Bluehead in the New/Kanawha, Yadkin, and Dan. Its possible Blueheads might have gotten introduced in some of the Tenn tribs by now too. Your pic looks like Bluehead, but they're not easy to tell.

#15 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

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Posted 28 September 2010 - 08:20 PM

I looked at those 3 fish and I settled on the Bluehead chub, judging by the gradually darker coloration from bottom to top and the red eyes. For what its worth I was fishing just north of Boone above the New River. Thank you all for your help IDing.

#16 Guest_NateTessler13_*

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Posted 18 October 2010 - 07:52 PM

The fish smacks of rainbow, dark spots on lighter background, but if the camera is telling the truth, the fins scream brook trout.


I know I shouldn't say anything...but I agree with you 100%, Skipjack. That fish's anal and pelvic fins are classic Brook Trout (or just Char in general). The rest of the body is indicative of a Rainbow Trout. But, the more I look at it, the more it seems like the camera is just playing tricks on us. Rainbow Trout it is.

Edited by NateTessler13, 18 October 2010 - 07:56 PM.


#17 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 19 October 2010 - 05:34 PM

I know I shouldn't say anything...but I agree with you 100%, Skipjack. That fish's anal and pelvic fins are classic Brook Trout (or just Char in general). The rest of the body is indicative of a Rainbow Trout. But, the more I look at it, the more it seems like the camera is just playing tricks on us. Rainbow Trout it is.

Thanks Nate, as good at fish identification as you have become, makes me feel in good company, or at least not 100% crazy. Interestingly though I have never seen a rainbow with the strong white leading edge on the fins, I do see it fairly often in brown trout.

#18 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

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Posted 25 October 2010 - 12:25 PM

Thought you guys might be interested to hear this. Every rainbow I've caught in this immediate area (north eastern NC) that has come from a hatchery-supported stream has had some kind of white outer markings on one or both of its bottom fins, while when fishing in the only marked "wild trout waters" I've been able to find up here are missing those markings. I also caught a brown trout in hatchery-supported waters up here that had white on its fins. Who wants to take a swing at that?

#19 Guest_ashtonmj_*

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Posted 25 October 2010 - 02:02 PM

I'm going to give a few reasons why I don't see a brook trout, hatchery raised or not. The tail is too deeply forked, it is quite heavily spotted, there is no red or really any other hint of pigment on the adipose fin, and there are no vermiculations on its dorsal side. The way the fish is held, with the paired fins compressed is the real problem. All you see is the leading edge of the fin, no rays, and some pigment. I also don't think the scales are tiny enough...>190 LL scales in brook trout vs. 100-150 in rainbows.

#20 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

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Posted 25 October 2010 - 06:55 PM

Yeah it was already established that it is a rainbow.




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