No Halo Brown Trout

OK boys and girls, I was fishing in a pond here in the desert with a couple of friends. Blain, my buddy's 16 year old step son landed a fish and held it up for us to see. It looked like a nice little 10" brown but on closer inspection there were no halos around the spots.:confused: I have never seen one without the circles. Naturally my camera battery was dead and it was getting too dark for a phone pic so I just said wow and he released it.
Has onyone else seen this? Is it a NY strain that swam to CA for spring break? I am returning to that pond soon and if I'm able to catch one or someone else does I'll get photos. Meanwhile can someone shed some light on this strain of trout? Jim:roll:

Jim -

Don't know, and can't help you. Kind of like a ringneck pheasant without a ring !!

John

I've seen this in stockers. Would that be the case with this pond? (I know browns aren't native to ponds in the desert) Is this a put and take place or is there some reproduction?

gutbomb, this is a private, almost secret pond hidden along the banks of the ##### River. It gets its water (and fish) from runoff from a trout hatchery. There is some reproduction but not much. Other browns we have caught there have the halos. This might be a quirk. The browns raised at the hatchery all have the halo. Jim

A local wild trout stream in my area often gives up two distinctly different types of brownie. Some have lots of small spots, no halos and orange spots mixed in along with an orange tipped adipose fin. The second has very few larger spots, halos and red spots mixed in with a red tipped adipose fin.

I'm no fisheries biologist but several factors including no stocking lead me to believe beyond a reasonable doubt these are wild fish of two distinctly different strains.

I don't know why it happens but that is far from the only variation I have seen in Brown Trout in my neck of the woods. Assuming ALL Brown Trout in North America derived from stocked fish, everything is possible.

How did it taste? I'm kiddin! So I guess the answer here, Jim, is to always check your batteries. ;)