I value trout differently from some people. Some people place value only in size, others place value by beauty, others by purity.
I ALWAYS place wild trout over stocked trout, regardless of size. That big brown I caught yesterday was a good fish, and hard fish to catch, but the five inch wild brown I caught in my home water today is just so much more remarkable. I don't care how many little wild trout like that I catch, they will always mean more to me than any big sloppy tank scrubber. All of the fish bellow except the stocked brookie were caught today.
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| Stocked Brown |
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| Wild Brown |
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| Stocked Brookie |
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| Wild Brook Trout |
So keep that in mind. Stocked trout are artificial. They have bad genetics, the push out wild fish, and they are often unsustainable. Wild ALWAYS trumps stocked.
Good lesson!! I agree, nothing better than naturel. Love the colors.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write and photo on...
I feel similar in many ways. But even stocked fish have a hierarchy. Take the Farmington's survivor strain for example. I value them more than I do a typical stockie. They are the progeny of some of the river's best fish and are smarter and better looking than your usual fresh stockie. It's all relative I guess.
ReplyDeleteI agree, the survivor strain & CR program has been great, I just wish it would be applied to other streams that holdover trout, like the Black Ledge and the Jeremy.
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ReplyDeleteOne awesome trip for sure, I wish I had the luxury of fishing for wild trout; my closet is the Smokey Mountains---I am blessed to at least have trout to fish for 20 minutes from my house even if they are stocked. Beautiful colors on all those landed---thanks for sharing
I get it. Take what you can get. If I had a river with big wild trout I wouldn't need to spend time hunting big broodstock fish.
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