I know this will be hard to answer but a ballpark answer will do. How far will a stocked rainbow travel upstream?
Thanks,
hNt
All the way up to the first pellet dispenser.
Until something stops it.
Till it runs into Chuck Norris.
ya’ll are a lot of help. Lol
Well, you asked advice from a man in a Hawaiian shirt in a landlocked state (Dub, not me). But seriously, there is nothing to stop a stocker from traveling where it wants. I know of a case in MT where grayling were stocked in the Gallatin and some had traveled over 100 miles within a day or two.
Many of the steelhead in Idaho’s ocean-going river systems are stocked fish. They travel downstream to the ocean and then come back up river as far as the Salmon River near Stanley, Idaho. There are a lot of miles traveled by these “stocker” fish. Not the same as many put-and-take waters, but all were raised in a hatchery in their beginning.
Kelly.
Q: What does a fish say when it hits a wall?
A: Dam!
Some years back, our fish & wildlife department put transponders on a number of fish that were stocked in the state’s featured tailwater and tracked the movement of the fish over a period of time. There were some that went miles upstream (and likewise down) as I recall. The graphical representation of the individual fish travels was pretty cool. While most didn’t travel miles, they still dispersed pretty widely.
It varies to a large degree. For most put-and-take stockers, they’ve bred most of the migratory tendencies out of them so that they stay put. On the other hand, in some cases the fish that they stock do still have some migratory tendencies, traced back to their steelhead ancestors.
hNt-
Your thread prompted me to look for the maps associated with that study again. You may find them interesting…
That is a very interesting map John. thanks.
I’ve got a little more time now to explain what and why I was asking this question. There is a creek near here that is stocked on a fairly regular basis. About 2 to 3 miles upstream there is a huge spring that feeds this creek. The creek is healthy and clean creek, but I know the water will be alot colder closer to the spring. Thus I’d assume that at least in the summer time the trout would be more likely to travel the 2 to 3 miles up stream for the cooler water?? And it just so happens that there is 2 large farms, one on each side of the creek near the Spring. Actually one of the farms is named Big Spring Farm. And it just so happens that I got permission to “help myself” from both farmers. 
I got permission from the last one this past week. Of course, only I would have the kind of luck to get the final permission in November when the water will be even colder and the trout are all a2 to 3 miles down stream from where they are stocked, but there is always next summer.
thanks for the info,
hNt
“greenies” seemed to move a good bit.
This isn’t trout, but its related to arbitrary or opportunistic fish migration. I can’t find a link to it, but I recently read a newspaper article about a Musky that had been tagged in West Okoboji or Spirit Lake (NW IOWA). It left the lake during some high-water events, traveled downstream through another lake system or two, passed a few dams, made its way downstream to the Missouri River, then upstream a good distance into South Dakota, where it was caught by the SD DNR in some sturgeon nets. It had traveled something like 350 miles!
Similarly, the Iowa DNR had netted/tagged/released some walleyes in Big Creek Lake in the early Spring. Within a couple of months, tagged fish were caught below Saylorville Reservoir (the fish had to go over one high/large dam, and through another), and also upstream at the next dam, which was about 35 miles away.
Fish species around here that are NOTORIOUS for passing dams around here include Walleyes, Muskies, and Wipers.
That Spring would be a safe bet! Look up a study with one of the researchers being
Wesche at the Univ of Wyoming on how the species of trout migrate in the N Platte and level out according to elevation and flow. Incldued tagged Cutts, Bows, Brookies and Browns. One of the Browns went nuts and made it all the way up into the headwaters in Colorado’s North Park but he was the exception for his species.
One trout with a transmitter implanted went 24 miles down the White River, up the Norfork River and back to the starting point.
This was a survey done at Mountain Home Ar. One of the transmitters was found under a Heron’s nest, and one was found in the desk drawer of a local resort. they didn’t call to report the find when the fish was caught and cleaned by a customer.