Brookie Or Bull?

[Taco]

 

In case you wondered why brook trout are a threat. A picture of a fish I caught a few yrs ago and didn't realize I had. Taken in the front range south of Pincher

[dryfly]

Laker ....

[Smitty]

Laker ....

 

Hmmmmm...you sure about that? It doesn't have the distinct leading white edge on the fins that members of the Char family have. And look at the gill plate and cheek; sure resembles a brown trout (though the rest of the body doesn't).

 

Gotta be a hybrid of some sort...brookie-brown, or brookie-bull, or laker-brown?

 

Interesting!

 

Smitty

[Hawgstoppah]

It honesty looks like a tiger. Brown x Brookie

[McLeod]

 

I can tell you with 100 per cent certainity that it is a Brown that appears to be crossed with something.

 

Taco while your dislike for Brook trout is apparent I wish you would include Browns and Non Native Rainbows

in that animosity.

[Taco]

That fish was caught above the locked gates on South Drywood, based on location and the dorsal vermiculations on the body, I was assuming bull/brookie

 

http://individual.utoronto.ca/venturelli/P...ichEtal2011.pdf

 

Jim if you read this, bail in please

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't worry McLeod there's animosity toward all invasives. It's just that I consider brook trout the bigger threat at the moment

[DaveJensen]

Really looks like a tiger. Neat shot - for what it is.

To pick up on a thought - brookies the biggest threat for the moment - to you. In the Bow drainage, is the brookie the worst thing that happened? Maybe to the bulls but the rb and browns certainly took a sledge hammer to anything else. Rainbows in the OMR vs brookies in the OMR - which is worse...

For you, obviously, got it - brookies in your back yard. But on a larger scale, what a lot of folks consider prime fishing is like playing with an acreage full of dandelions to someone else.

Not arguing anything in your post, just sayin' for sayin' sake. Hope fishing remains good down there.

Cheers

[Taco]

Agreed Dave. Just trying to do something for the remnants in one tiny headwater stream

[dutchie]

my guess , it's a baby tiger , pretty well the same marking as this bad boy , i like how they look , love the colour of the fins , a great fighting fish and i'm glad i took a couple days this year to go after one , and thanks Dave for the advice for my trip ,

 

now i see nothing wrong with having them in lakes where they can be enjoyed and can't get out into rivers ,

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FraserN]

Brook trout spawn in the fall. So do Brown trout. It looks as if a brook trout got into a brown trout spawning area somewhere on drywood creek, producing the fish your showing in the picture. Interesting.

[Guest FoamStoner]

my guess , it's a baby tiger , pretty well the same marking as this bad boy , i like how they look , love the colour of the fins , a great fighting fish and i'm glad i took a couple days this year to go after one , and thanks Dave for the advice for my trip ,

 

now i see nothing wrong with having them in lakes where they can be enjoyed and can't get out into rivers ,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dutch, that is one of the nicest, coolest, most beautiful tiger ive seen. Very nice work!

 

 

 

[Guest 420FLYFISHIN]

to bad for the ugly biped in the back ground j/k

[monger]

Looks like a brown trout head on that Tiger to me. Lots of mutts in our streams these days.

 

Awesome fish Dutchie

[softhackle]

My vote is brook-brown X. Dont know how as the Brown is salmonoid and the bull is char family, kinda two different families but I am not a biologist. I did find this though...Google

 

Hybrid populations of char occur in some North American habitats, such as the splake (brook trout x lake trout), the brook trout x bull trout hybrid, and the tiger trout, a cross between brook trout and nonnative brown trout.

 

I also know I used to catch tons of brookies in that watershed along with the bulls and rainbows. Dungarven has lots of brookies.

 

A rare fish to be sure....especially if occuring naturally...

[softhackle]

Dutch, that is one of the nicest, coolest, most beautiful tiger ive seen. Very nice work!

 

That is cool. Who can hook me up with some of those????

[Jayhad]

That is cool. Who can hook me up with some of those????

The province of Manitoba

[wheels]

I was out yesterday and caught this guy. It certainly didn't look like all the other cookie cutter brookies I was catching. Hybrid or just a brookie that is missing the orange spots and green hue?

 

[CopperJonny]

I'm no official Biologist but the first one .... Tiger I would say for sure.. this last one , Brookie no doubt about it... and as far as breeding and being separate families... haha .... I'm not sure yet I don't think the fish read Latin lol... we "mix" all the time.. no different .

if it looks like a duck.....quacks like a duck... must be a......

[Birddog]

Splake?

[Taco]

Consensus from the experts is that it's likely a tiger. One problem with that, there's not supposed to be any brown trout that high up in that system.

[Hawgstoppah]

I'd bet they can find a way up. There are lots in the reservoir. Somehow they can find there way through, just like the browns on the Crow have found a way above the falls in recent years and are starting to show up more often.

[Taco]

TU has never yet found a brown above the Palmer's dam which doesn't mean some knob didn't walk a few around.

[jstelfox]

I was out yesterday and caught this guy. It certainly didn't look like all the other cookie cutter brookies I was catching. Hybrid or just a brookie that is missing the orange spots and green hue?

 

 

I'm no official Biologist but the first one .... Tiger I would say for sure.. this last one , Brookie no doubt about it...

 

CopperJohnny is right on both accounts. The first fish can't be a bull X brook hybrid, because it has black spots on its side. However, it sure looks like a tiger trout.

 

The last fish is definitely a brook trout. It has no black spots on its side, but has distinct black markings on its dorsal fin. It is also likely a female, since they tend to be less colourful than the males.

 

The Idaho Fish and Game Department prepared an excellent field guide, which shows how to identify bulls, brookies and hybrids, based on the the differences in markings on their dorsal fin.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/96377272/Bull%20X%...RIBUTION%29.pdf

 

I’ve also attached a link to a photo of a bull X brook hybrid,

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/96377272/Bull%20X%...%2860%25%29.jpg

 

as well as a link to a recent paper on the subject.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/96377272/Bull%20X%...l%20%202011.pdf

 

Cheers,

Jim

[Taco]

Thanks Jim

 

Since I took a big swing and a miss at IDin' the first fish I thought I'd better keep my yap shut on the rest,

[FraserN]

The recent paper by mr. Stelfox is of great interest. I did not know that the extent of hybridization of Brook trout with Bull trout is as severe as it is. In any case, I have noticed an increase of brook trout on a small stream that I regularly fish, namely Fish creek. I have caught and removed a few brook trout in the past few years, from places which only have contained rainbow trout in the past. I have never caught a cutthroat trout from upper fish creek. I presumed that they must have been displaced by the Rainbows many years ago.