Rainbow or Brook Trout

[Outdoor life]

Nice Rainbow for sure!!!! Those are also some very nice pics you others have posted. Love that Brookie 7mm08 as well, but they are a native fish here in TN as well.

 

[Timber Ghost]

Rainbow

 

[stik]

That big brookie is from Maine where they are native.

brookies are the only trout,actually a char, native to tennessee.

i have caught many wild, stream-bred trout from the clinch.

 

[7mm08]

True dat on he "native trout/char" for TN. QUESTION is , how do you know they where native/ stream born bows in the Clinch. I've seen the redds for years up along Miller's Island and above the weir but I figured those eggs would just get flushed. You think Mike's fish is native or just like everyone of us.....an individual? Any specific markings on the natives?

 

[7mm08]

Nice Rainbow for sure!!!! Those are also some very nice pics you others have posted. Love that Brookie 7mm08 as well, but they are a native fish here in TN as well.

You and Stik are right regarding native.....I was thinking the Clinch when I wrote that. I rarely fish the park anymore. Too many round boulders and rocks on my arthritic feet. I use to wear out the Little above Elkmount when you could drive past the old cabins up there.

 

[7mm08]

Mike243,
Getting back to your fish. Do you like the slot limits? Do you think they are producing a better fishing experience.....bigger, trophy fish when you go? Again nice bow.

 

[mike243]

The slot limit is making a difference on size from what little I have seen.went a 3-4 times last summer & caught a nice brown trout also.I havent took any home in a lot of years as I prefer other fish .Theres nothing wrong with keeping any size but if you look at the amount of pressure on them you could be lucky to even catch 1 over the size of what had been stocked.The fishing guide lists no stocking dates for the clinch that I could find,twra is saving $ by not having to replenish the river every week & its a win win for them & us as the $ can be used else where.

 

[stik]

True dat on he "native trout/char" for TN. QUESTION is , how do you know they where native/ stream born bows in the Clinch.

if all the fins are intact, it's a stream-bred fish. hatchery fish's tails are rounded off from wear in the hatchery raceways. and normally one of the pectoral fins will be clipped.

 

[Diehard Hunter]

True dat on he "native trout/char" for TN. QUESTION is , how do you know they where native/ stream born bows in the Clinch.

if all the fins are intact, it's a stream-bred fish. hatchery fish's tails are rounded off from wear in the hatchery raceways. and normally one of the pectoral fins will be clipped.

Wild rainbows will have a red tip on their dorsal fin. Hatchery trout will not. I don't know why that is, but the fisheries biologist for Cherokee national forest pointed that out to me last year. A hatchery trout will never get that red spot, no matter how long they are in the river.

 

[7mm08]

Stik. you know they are throwing in a 3-4" fish now into the clinch. I know what you are saying about the fins, but don't you think those small ones probably haven't been swimming in the concrete tanks long enough to wear down the fins?

I know there are native browns on the S. Holston. I would love to think there is some native reproduction on the Clinch as well.

 

[stik]

Stik. you know they are throwing in a 3-4" fish now into the clinch. I know what you are saying about the fins, but don't you think those small ones probably haven't been swimming in the concrete tanks long enough to wear down the fins?

I know there are native browns on the S. Holston. I would love to think there is some native reproduction on the Clinch as well.

they clip the pectoral fins on the hatchery fish. the reason clear creek is closed to fishing at certain times is to protect the spawning fish.