Quote Originally Posted by newbee View Post
To Everyone

I am a newbee to this fly fishing game and I just learned a year and half ago that the state of Tennessee stocked fish in different rivers. I need for someone to please explain to me how to tell one from the other, so when I catch a trout I will be able to say this one was from the hatchery and this one is a locale born fish. To me a trout in the river is a trout in the river. Thank you for your time.

WayneC
Sometimes the hatchery fish are fin clipped so they can be identified. This is done to identify fiihs planted in a certain year so that later studies on survival and growth rate can be done.

If you catch hatchery fish right after it has been planted and you keep it. The flesh on cooking will be white. A native fish or a fish that has been in the wild for many months will gradual change the color of their flesh.

Another way to tell is that the fins and tails of the planted fish will be worn away and scarred from rubbing on the concrete raceways of the hatchery. Check the bottoms of the pectoral, pelvic, anal, and caudal fins.