STOCKED FISH????

The steelies may be stocked but they do go out into the lake(which is a very big lake) and then come back in so then aren't they considered wild then? (because they have the choice to run back in) I mean its not like guys fish them out like the local stocking around my house where in two days the trout are gone???? I DONT KNOW, WHAT DO YOU GUYS LIKE ABOUT THIS ISSUE.....

they are not wild fish
they are not native fish
they are stocked fish
 
is it that time of year for the steelhead vs resident rainbow vs steelbow-rainhead debate?

haha

i think I am going to bump the thread for old times
it was almost a year ago
 
I was actually a good read and a good convo with no personal attacks

This is a seasonal discussion.  The first are stocked.  The fish are not native to the area - actually ther are no native trout in PA - brookies are actually char and not trout. There has been some talk about a very small amount of natural reproduction in the streams, so there is a very remote chance a fish you catch may be a "wild" fish and not stocked.  The fish do spend a good portion of their life in the lake before they return so one could argue they have become "wild".  It is a debate that honestly has no end.
 
The bottom line for me is steelhead are fun to catch, I enjoy fishing for them and don't really care if they are natural, native, stocked, wild, semi-wild, or whatever.  Get out when you can and have a good time.

So lately I've been hearing that steelhead are not exactly trout.  How is this?  I was under the impression that steelhead DNA and rainbow trout DNA were one and the same and that the same baby fish may become either depending on where its bucket ends up (Erie trib, or another creek).  Is this right?

I caught a fresh steelhead earlier this year, and it "went wild" for about 30 seconds!

ORIGINAL: Cold

So lately I've been hearing that steelhead are not exactly trout.  How is this?  I was under the impression that steelhead DNA and rainbow trout DNA were one and the same and that the same baby fish may become either depending on where its bucket ends up (Erie trib, or another creek).  Is this right?

The rainbow trout, which is actually a member of the Pacific salmon family, is stocked in six continents and can be found in freshwater streams, rivers and lakes, not to mention saltwater bays and open ocean as steelhead (the sea-run form of the fish, which returns to freshwater during the spawn). 
Retrived from: http://flyfishing.about.com/od/fishspecies/a/rainbowtrout.htm
The rainbow is actually a salmon !

Because they all escape out into the lake, never to return...

ORIGINAL: Bwayangler
... 
and why are no rainbow's stocked in erie tributaries for regular trout season?

 
beacuse it is not an approved trout water and can't support a resident population of fish
 

ORIGINAL: Cold


Really?!  I thought it was considered pristine wilderness area, and it was classified as a heritage water.  There's some great little native brookies in there, you just gotta know where to look.  It's a really rustic experience.

 
you've been spending too much time at 16mile heitage wilderness perserve
 

First off, lets define "wild",  so everyone is on the same page.
By Executive order of Genieman77, the term "wild", will  hence forth and for ever be defined as a naturally reproduced Erie trib steelhedz

seriously '81, "wild" is generally recognized as naturally reproduced and nothing else.
(not to be coRnfuzed with "native"

ORIGINAL: Cold

@ MackJ

So by my understanding, we can compare "Rainbow Trout" to "dog", and "steelhead", "lake run", "lanklocked", "the PA mutt", "the OH mutt", etc. can be compared to "beagle", "bulldog", "spaniel", "dachsund", "mutt", etc.
This is speaking in terms of a scientist, of course.

Right?

Yes, that's  right for the most part.
You have the right idea.
But "land locked", or  "lake/ocean run", don't apply.
cause a steelie will always be a rainbow, but a land locked rainbow will never be a steelie.
It has to travel and mature in a BIG pond (either ocean or great lakes) to be considered  a steelie

There are many strains of steelhead.
You dog breed analogy is perfect.
The common strains stocked  in these parts that I know of are Manistee, (Michigan and Ohio) Skamania, (Michigan) and PA's Mutt fish.
(I don't know what strain NY stocks)

PA's  "mutt" fish label really doesn't apply in a  technical sense IMO, if we use the dog breed apology.
It may have started out as a "mix breed" pup at one time, but after so many generations and generations, it's become it's own breed, essentially.

clear as mUdd, right?


..L.T.A.

ORIGINAL: JEB

ORIGINAL: Bwayangler

What about brown trout? What's the story there?
and why are no rainbow's stocked in erie tributaries for regular trout season?

Browns were brought over from Europe originally, we have wild fish in PA, just not natives. They stock browns for regular trout season in Elk & 20 Mile creeks.
The PFBC is now stocking fingerling brown trout to hopefully support a fall run of them mixed in with the steelhead in the near future.

The regular rainbows you are refering to are not stocked due to fear they might reproduce with the approx 1-3%(Guys are my #'s right?) of our steeleheads that actually spawn in the Erie tribs. Plus a lot of people would not be able to tell if the fish was a stockie rainbow or a jack steelhead, thus increasing the possibilty of keeping a lot of younger steelheads. Hope that helps answer your ?'s.

Thanks, That does help out, I really hope a run of brown's exists in the future. Although i believe it might ruin the fun of catching a big brown.

So the browns that are caught in the tribs are those stocked during the regular fishing season? Are they spawning? or trying to?

ORIGINAL: genieman77










There are many strains of steelhead.
You dog breed analogy is perfect.
The common strains stocked  in these parts that I know of are Manistee, (Michigan and Ohio) Skamania, (Michigan) and PA's Mutt fish.
(I don't know what strain NY stocks)

PA's  "mutt" fish label really doesn't apply in a  technical sense IMO, if we use the dog breed apology.
It may have started out as a "mix breed" pup at one time, but after so many generations and generations, it's become it's own breed, essentially.

clear as mUdd, right?


..L.T.A.

You forgot about Chambers creek strain, London strain and Gonaronska strain ..I do belive the NY steelies are Chambers creek strain. From what has been told to me in the past our PA muts are part Manistee, part Skamania, part Chambers creek, part Gonaronska, part London and part domestic rainbow.

My understanding is once a trout makes it thru a season, although it IS stocked, they are referred to as "holdovers".
And since some of you fellers seem to know about rainbow strains and geneology, all this talk about onchorynkus mykiss? What ever happened to salmo gardineri ?

ORIGINAL: bluehalo

My understanding is once a trout makes it thru a season, although it IS stocked, they are referred to as "holdovers".
And since some of you fellers seem to know about rainbow strains and geneology, all this talk about onchorynkus mykiss? What ever happened to salmo gardineri ?

 
 
halo,
 
'Salmo' is the old nomenclature.  Salmo refers to atlantic salmon and relatives.  Brown trout fall under that category as they are very closely related to atlantic salmon.  Rainbows were originally named salmo because the people who named them were from the east, had worked with brown trout and relatives, and found browns and rainbows to be closely related (as are all of the trout families).  However, recent research says that rainbows are more closely related to the pacific salmon species, thus the Oncorhynchus naming.

Thanks,
Rick