Golden Trout

[kevin]

On 6/12/2021 at 9:57 PM, Symmetre said:

 

 

Look man from 11 years ago, I don't want to pee on your parade, but that isn't even close to being true. Cutthroat trout have never been stocked in any of the Great Lakes. Write to MNR if you don't believe me, they will tell you the same thing. No one - not MNR, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin - no one has ever stocked cutthroat trout in the Great Lakes.

 

The fish in your pic is just a heavily spotted rainbow trout. Again, ask MNR. Any biologist will tell you that. Spotting, color and overall appearance on rainbows is highly variable. Some fish have lots of big spots, some have fewer fine spots, some have hardly any spots at all. Still all rainbows. You can't identify them by just color pattern or spotting alone.

 

For what it's worth, the so-called golden trout or palamino trout that Pennsylvania used to stock in the 1990s were also just a color phase of rainbow trout. They were not a different species at all.

 

Email your photo to MNR and ask them. They will also confirm that cutthroat trout have never been stocked in any of the Great Lakes, by anyone. They don't get "accidentally mixed in with some rainbows" that is not how fish hatcheries work.

 

Not trying to be a dick, but that is just complete nonsense.

Thanks for the follow up.  I fully understand how hatcheries work.  I studied aquaculture, and worked for the MNR as a fish culture technician.  There were plenty of cutthroat that were stocked into the upper great lakes.  You could refer to this, directly from the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission.  

 

"CUTTHROAT TROUT Salmo clarki Richardson. Michigan was the first state to propagate cutthroat trout, a native Western North American species, and stock it into waters of the basin. The federal fish hatchery at Leadville, Colorado, began active propagation of the species in 1889 and was primarily responsible for distribution of cutthroat trout to various state fish commissions (McDonald 1893, 1894). The Federal Fish Hatchery at Northville, Michigan, was an early recipient of fish from Leadville, and had 940 cutthroat trout on hand in 189 1 (Worth 1895). In 1892, the Minnesota and Wisconsin Fish Commissions both received small numbers of fish from Leadville (McDonald 1895). Although most cutthroat trout produced went to western states, the Leadville Hatchery also distributed small numbers of fish and eggs to various state fish commissions in the Great Lakes basin until the early 1900s, but whether any of these states, besides Michigan, stocked cutthroat trout in the Great Lakes or in the basin is uncertain. In 1895 the Michigan Fish Commission began planting cutthroat trout in the south branch of the Pere Marquette River, a tributary to Lake Michigan (Michigan State Board of Fish Commissioners 1897). Michigan continued to stock cutthroat trout in state waters from 1895 to 1940. A total of 105,000 fish were stocked by Michigan, but apparently all introductions failed because no fish were reported caught from waters of the upper Great Lakes basin (Holcomb 1964). Cutthroat trout may also have been introduced into Canadian waters of Georgian Bay, but the year or years of introduction and the outcome were not reported (McAllister and Crossman 1973)

 

 

[Symmetre]

And if you want to read further you'll note that the "waters of the basin" Michigan tried introducing cutthroat trout into were inland lakes in the UP, not the Great Lakes.

[kevin]

On 9/27/2021 at 9:14 AM, Symmetre said:

And if you want to read further you'll note that the "waters of the basin" Michigan tried introducing cutthroat trout into were inland lakes in the UP, not the Great Lakes.

I'm not going to argue with you sir, because there's no need to.  Cutthroat trout have been stocked into migratory tribs of Huron, and Michigan.  There are still some caught to this day in certain areas.  

 

 I'm confident if you take even 5 minutes of your time to read about the history of cutthroat plantings in the Great Lakes, you'll find more than enough to keep you busy reading for a while.

 

Regardless, this is an 11 year old post about Palaminos.  I was simply pointing out there have been several strange stockings over the years.

 

Cheers, and tight lines.

 

 

[kevin]

[dave524]

60 years ago the Ontario Fishing regs would specifically name Kamloops Trout in addition to Rainbows, sounds like they tried them back then as well.

[kevin]

On 10/2/2021 at 8:54 PM, dave524 said:

60 years ago the Ontario Fishing regs would specifically name Kamloops Trout in addition to Rainbows, sounds like they tried them back then as well.

Exactly.  The history of species stocked in the Great Lakes basin is pretty interesting.  

[dave524]

On 10/4/2021 at 6:07 PM, kevin said:

Exactly.  The history of species stocked in the Great Lakes basin is pretty interesting.  

 

About 1960 there was a few lakes that had Landlocked Salmon in them, Mazinaw Lake was one I recall. They were also referred to as Ouananiche in the regs

[smerchly]

On 10/2/2021 at 8:54 PM, dave524 said:

60 years ago the Ontario Fishing regs would specifically name Kamloops Trout in addition to Rainbows, sounds like they tried them back then as well.

I believe the Kamloops trout were stocked in the 12 Mile Creek system . a friend told me he caught a 10 lb one at the Decew Hydro rapids when we were allowed to fish there .