Javascript Disabled Detected

You currently have javascript disabled. Several functions may not work. Please re-enable javascript to access full functionality.

Rainbow Trout

Started by Guest_NCNativeFish_* , Feb 23 2011 09:10 AM

Please log in to reply

10 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

Guests

Posted 23 February 2011 - 09:10 AM

I went out fishing last weekend in the mountains of western North Carolina, and one of the Rainbows I caught had a red belly. Its not urgent that I know why. I released everything I caught. I was just curious if there was any particular reason for it.

Attached Files

0219011254.jpg 318.96KB 3 downloads

Edited by NCNativeFish, 23 February 2011 - 09:10 AM.

Back to top

#2 Guest_mikez_*

Guests

Posted 23 February 2011 - 09:14 AM

I went out fishing last weekend in the mountains of western North Carolina, and one of the Rainbows I caught had a red belly. Its not urgent that I know why. I released everything I caught. I was just curious if there was any particular reason for it.

That looks like a stream bred fish. Wild born trout in good quality waters tend to have much more color than the "truck-bows" typically seen by most anglers.
A beautiful fish and highly appreciated by anglers. Too bad though. If the stream supports rainbow reproduction, it most likely was once a native brookie stream [unless it's a tailwater].

Back to top

#3 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

Guests

Posted 23 February 2011 - 09:21 AM

This particular fish was caught in Howard's Creek north of Boone, NC in a Hatchery-Supported part of the creek. There is a Wild Waters designated sign on the same piece of water a couple miles up the creek where I've also caught Rainbows.

Back to top

#4 Guest_fundulus_*

Guests

Posted 23 February 2011 - 07:03 PM

Rainbows in the Atlantic drainage, feh.

Back to top

#5 Guest_Skipjack_*

Guests

Posted 23 February 2011 - 09:27 PM

Fin margins are white. I honestly wonder after seeing this a couple times now in NC hatchery bred fish, if there is not some degree of accidental hybridization going on in their hatcheries. Brook bows?
And to quote Bruce , rainbows in Atlantic drainage Feh. Don't belong there anyway.

Back to top

#6 Guest_NCNativeFish_*

Guests

Posted 23 February 2011 - 11:06 PM

Has anyone answered my original question yet? I can't tell for sure.

Back to top

#7 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 23 February 2011 - 11:55 PM

Has anyone answered my original question yet? I can't tell for sure.

do you want to know why the fish is more red than others you have seen?... that would be speculation on anyone's part and they have speculated for you... maybe wild fish are just more colorful... maybe it is a hybrid... maybe other fish you have seen were dull hatchery raised fish...

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

Back to top

#8 Guest_brookiechaser_*

Guests

Posted 24 February 2011 - 09:06 AM

Fin margins are white. I honestly wonder after seeing this a couple times now in NC hatchery bred fish, if there is not some degree of accidental hybridization going on in their hatcheries. Brook bows?
And to quote Bruce , rainbows in Atlantic drainage Feh. Don't belong there anyway.

The white margin thing has come up on here a few times before. I've seen it in nearly every wild/stream-born rainbow I've ever seen in the Appalachians. I just think it something that doesn't show up in hatchery fish. I googled wild rainbow trout and this picture from Alaska was one of the first ones I found...it has white fin margins too, and Alaska is one of the least adulterated environments left in North America probably.
Posted Image

I seriously doubt there is any hybridation with brook trout. Brook trout will sometimes hybridize naturally with brown trout (tiger trout), but that occurrence is extremely low in nature, and they both spawn in the fall. With rainbows being spring spawners and brooks fall spawners I don't see this happening in the wild ever. It could possibly be accomplished in a hatchery setting, but I think if it were viable hybrid combination that hatchery managers would have already jumped on the opportunity to 'create' that 'new' trout for anglers to pursue.

As for the red belly, it could possibly be spawning coloration since rainbows do spawn in early spring. Otherwise, its just vivid coloration of stream born wild trout. Congrats on a beautiful catch.

Edited by brookiechaser, 24 February 2011 - 09:12 AM.

Back to top

#9 Guest_mikez_*

Guests

Posted 24 February 2011 - 09:57 AM

The fish was almost certainly not stocked and the color, including the white fin edges, are due to the intense color of young wild fish. I don't know that for a fact but I have personally handled literally thousands of domestic [hatchery bred] rainbows from six inches to six pounds in every type of water in half a dozen states. None looked like that.
On the other hand, I spent several days fishing an un-named brook in Oregon that had never been stocked and the fish looked that that, only even more colorful.
Esopus River in NY, in the Catskills, is known for a breeding population of introduced rainbows and the little ones also look like that. Local fishermen believe they can distinguish them by coloration and call them "natives" and release them while keeping other rainbows that clearly look like hatchery fish.

FWIW, Hartel et al in Inland Fishes of Massachusetts have 15 dots on the rainbow map which denote "reproducing populations".
There's no reason to believe rainbows wouldn't be reproducing in quality waters in NC that were once brookie streams.