A nice colorful bow from a recent trip. Relatively new to fly fishing (3 years) and I only target wild/native trout, not really interested in pellet pigs or stocking over wild/native populations.
I live in the NE United States so the only native trout here are brookies.
I sometimes still have a hard time identifying stocked vs wild, I know to look for clipped adipose fins, eroded tails/fins, lack of color, soft mouth etc… but this bow I’m not 100% sure if it’s wild. I’m leaning towards yes.
What does the community think?
Posted by SecretSquirrel45
4 Comments
At least a hold over!
It’s nearly impossible to definitely say a fish is wild unless you look up the state’s stocking report and there’s zero history of stocking that body of water. Some stockers look just as healthy and vibrant as a wild trout. I don’t love catching obviously stocked fish but either way, you’ve got a nice looking fish there.
Looks pretty clean. I would say wild
Just enjoy that you caught a beautiful fish. You can’t tell definitely from a picture, so there’s no use asking. Now if there were things like fin erosion, fin clips, or other factors. But absence of that doesn’t necessarily mean that the fish is wild. Colors can change to adapt to environment, fins can regenerate etc.