Q.
How can you tell apart wild trout and stocked trout?
A.
This isn’t always an easy task, but here are
a few things to look for - and remember these
are just generalities.
Stocked fish, especially recently stocked ones,
are often quite pale in color as compared to
resident and wild fish. Of course, you need
one of each to compare this, but the point is,
wild fish attain darker coloration and richer
colors in their markings than do hatchery
raised fish. Another thing often common to
stocked fish are ripped or torn fins and tails.
This comes from crowding in raceways and abrasion
from concrete raceways.
If you have a question, please feel free to contact me.
~ C. E. (Bert) Cushing, aka Streamdoctor
105 W. Cherokee Dr.
Estes Park, CO 80517
Phone: 970-577-1584
Email: streamdoctor@aol.com
The ‘Stream Doctor’ is a retired professional stream ecologist and
author, now living in the West and spending way too much time
fly-fishing. You are invited to submit questions relating to
anything stream related directly to him for use in this Q & A Feature
at streamdoctor@aol.com.
Originally published February 14th, 2005 on Fly Anglers Online by Robert Younghanz.