Fished for two days (Jan. 1 & 2) with my brothers while we were visiting our grandparents in southwestern VA. We caught tons of fish as usual for that area, plenty of both wild and stocked trout. We kept a good number of stocked fish (decided to start releasing the wild ones we catch). I filleted them all, half are frozen and the other half are sitting in a brine right now before getting smoked  .

Bluebasser, you will have to look elsewhere if you are in need of cutbait.

wow! Those are absolutely beautiful! I used to stream fish a lot until I discovered bass; still love to see nice trout though.

Nice catching.  Not to taint your opinion, but wild fish, or ones that have been in the river/strem a long time, seem to tast better to me than stockers.  Stockers always tast grainy!

 

Jeff

How would you tell them apart, may I ask?

Around here, the easiest way is to look at fins.  Stocker trout will have ground off fins from being in cement tanks.  Also, they tend to have less color, more of a muted grey color. 

 

Jeff

A lot of the stocked trout have clipped fins.

How would you tell them apart, may I ask?

Fins on wild fish are 100% perfect, and their colors are usually much more vibrant than the stocked fish. It takes a few years to produce a 12" wild trout (12" minimum area) but the stockers go in that size by the hundreds each year and will be replaced quickly. Wild fish do taste better though

Nice catching.  Not to taint your opinion, but wild fish, or ones that have been in the river/strem a long time, seem to tast better to me than stockers.  Stockers always tast grainy!

 

Jeff

Not a fan of the dog food stocker flavor either

Not a fan of the dog food stocker flavor either

The only thing we do with stockers is fry them in breading which would probably even make a carp taste good, or smoke them, and then flake the meat apart and mix it into a cream cheese based dip that is TO-DIE-FOR   .

A lot of the stocked trout have clipped fins.

they have stopped clipping the adipose fin on our stockers here and the colors have been fantastic from the stockers lately.  

 

if our streams weren't completely fished out by spin fisherman and the bobbers&corn guys in the open season i'd assume many were wild.

they have stopped clipping the adipose fin on our stockers here and the colors have been fantastic from the stockers lately.  

 

if our streams weren't completely fished out by spin fisherman and the bobbers&corn guys in the open season i'd assume many were wild.

They clip the fins in some areas in VA but all the stocked fish we caught had adopose fins in SW VA. But there is never a doubt about a fish being wild or stocked, normally I can tell before I even land them. All of our fish are raised in concrete ponds so their fins really show it, and they get fed so much that a 13" trout will have the head of a 10" fish and is shaped like a football

They clip the fins in some areas in VA but all the stocked fish we caught had adopose fins in SW VA. But there is never a doubt about a fish being wild or stocked, normally I can tell before I even land them. All of our fish are raised in concrete ponds so their fins really show it, and they get fed so much that a 13" trout will have the head of a 10" fish and is shaped like a football

 

Yeah the pectoral fins especially are beat up and look crippled.  i always laugh at those football fish.  if you ever look up the Soque river in North GA. they have feeders set up on the river for their fish and it's mostly private land.  the fish are just absurdly fat and round.

here is a pic of one 

 

here is a pic of one 

 

  You weren't kidding! Do they fight? I have caught some smaller-scale footballs and they kinda squirm around like a catfish.

  You weren't kidding! Do they fight? I have caught some smaller-scale footballs and they kinda squirm around like a catfish.

ive never fished there. I've been told they're like pulling up a lead weight. I don't think there are many places the public can get on the river so you have to pay or rent a guide.

Nice trout, mind if I ask what creek you fished?  Looking for somewhere too visit in SW VA this summer for a few trout.

^^ Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.  PM coming Everything

 

My guess maybe the Smith River.

here is a pic of one 

 

 

That is not a trout.  That is a football painted like a trout!

 

Very nice catch!!!!!

Nice fish as always! Will all your posts about trout, you have motivated me to get off my behind and visit a little creek I know for Bows and Cutties tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some half as nice as the ones you've gotten.

Nice trout! I'm hoping to get down to some Ozark steams and do some trout fishing, but its just too cold right now.

Nice fish as always! Will all your posts about trout, you have motivated me to get off my behind and visit a little creek I know for Bows and Cutties tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some half as nice as the ones you've gotten.

Cutthroat! You're making me jealous...Catch any?

Cutthroat! You're making me jealous...Catch any?

 

I caught a couple; nothing to write home about really. Was a difficult day even for the locals that I talked to. Apparently I'm about a month too late for some of the big Sea-run Cutts that come into this system. Was a great day out though; beats sitting at home playing video games!