9 replies to this topic

[davidjh2]

A bit of a back story here. About three years ago I was sampling a small unnamed stream in Sussex county NJ, it is a tributary to the Flatbrook river a small trout stocked river that in turn flows into the Delaware. I came across a school of these small fish that I still cannot identify. I took this picture last year when I went to try and find some and managed to find one lone fish, unfortunately I did not have a photo tank with me so I could only get this one fairly awful shot. This one really has me stumped so any assistance would be great appreciated.

 

 

[Michael Wolfe]

It's a trout juvenile.  Kind of hard to see the adipose fin on top... but pretty sure it is a trout of some type.

[davidjh2]

That was my suspicion, I just didn't want to come out and say it since my id's tend to be way off lol. Thanks Michael. It is pretty neat that they are getting this far upstream, it's not a long distance but they have to come through a swamp and then a lot of shallow water and the stream dries up pretty quick in the summer to just a trickle.

[Michael Wolfe]

I've seen them occasionally in streams in North Georgia... people sometimes don't think that trout are reproducing and that it is all hatchery fish... but they are out there.

[Sean Phillips]

100% Brook Trout. I've caught dozens of smolts at that size in north-central PA.

Here's one I caught last October  image.jpg   97.57KB   0 downloads

[Josh Blaylock]

I concur with the trout ID.

[gerald]

I think it's a European brown trout, not a brookie.

[Matt DeLaVega]

It is in my opinion a brown as well.

[Jconte]

The vertical bars say Brook trout.

[Matt DeLaVega]

All juvenile salmonids have parr marks. This may be a brook trout, but not my guess. Brook trout have huge mouths. Also, a brook trout of that size usually starts to show some adult coloration. I think that it is also unlikely that brook trout are pulling off a successful spawn in a stocked trout stream. Just generally does not happen, unless there is a waterfall or some other barrier between them and the rainbows and browns.