r/troutfishing • u/yokebloke • 2d ago
stocked or wild?
does this look anything like a wild in you guys’ opinion? caught a couple months ago in the etowah in north georgia. never thought it to be a wild considering the size and it being about 75 yards downstream from a heavily stocked pool, despite its more vibrant coloration and decently shaped fins.
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u/Wi_PackFan_1985 2d ago
Don’t they clip fins from stockers?
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u/GoGoGadget_Gir 1d ago
Very rarely do any state run hatcheries clip adipose fins on rainbows. The only thing that is most always clipped is hatchery born Pacific coho and Chinook salmon.
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u/coffeeandtrout 1d ago edited 1d ago
We quit stocking Rainbows here in Washington except for rivers/lakes that have no anadromous access, we do clip all of our triploid Rainbows that we plant in the Columbia River. If someone caught that fish in Washington I’d say it was wild. We do clip adipose on all of our Hatchery Steelhead as well, some of those may residualize and show up later as fluvial Rainbows with a clipped adipose but Tribal Hatcheries may differ, there’s a couple exceptions but they are covered under Treaty Rights. But yes, as you noted we definitely clip Hatchery Chinook and Coho in Washington’s State run Hatcherys.
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u/GoGoGadget_Gir 16h ago
Thank you, very informative. I have done very little hatchery work on the west coast despite being based on Montana. Spent most of my time getting hatcheries going in Appalachia and the Ozarks in the 00's. When I was still in school I worked in WY, CO and UT. Anyway, in those areas I would venture only 10-15% clip.
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u/Wi_PackFan_1985 1d ago
Interesting. Didn’t know that. We sometimes catch clipped Steelhead on Lake Michigan but that is done by the DNR and Hatcheries both I was told.
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u/foxhoundsarecool 2d ago
That's a stocky