trout
 

I am new to the state and have never fished trout. I caught this on the caney fork on Saturday and It didn't look like the other rainbows i caught, since there was no pink stripe whatsoever. It was just a silver fish with black spots. What kind of trout is this? I took a quick pic and then slid her back in the water.

Correct me if Im wrong but that is a Speckled Trout, I caught some of those when I was in Louisianna fishing for redfish. Fun to catch.....they LOVE shrimp!!!!:D

It's a brown trout.

The Caney has Rainbows, Browns and Brook Trout.

Aren't speckled trout a saltwater fish?? I thought it may be a brown trout, but the pic of others i see are very colorful with brown, yellow and orange.

Yes speckled trout are also known as sea trout and are a saltwater fish. I used to tear those bastards up when I was still living in south Florida. What you have is a brown trout for sure. Just FYI if you ever want to take one home to eat, those have to be 24" to keep.

I suspect the reason for the pale color is that it was a recently stocked brown. Sometimes the newly stocked browns are pale for several months after they get stocked, just like the freshly-stocked brookies tend to be sort of slate-gray. After they have been in the river for a season, the colors tend to get more vibrant. Also notice that the pectoral fin is missing. For some reason hatchery trout tend to get their fins ground down. I've heard it's damage from the concrete hatchery raceways and I've heard that it's from the crowded hatchery fish nipping each others' fins. I'm not sure which it is, though I suspect the hatchery raceway is probably the actual cause since it's always the pectoral fins. After a fish has been in the river for a long time the fins will grow back.

bd

I am glad you said that. I caught one this past weekend about as long as my index finger, no fins missing and kind of butter colored. Do they have any reproduction in the river. I know not "technically" but really do they?

Guess I spoke too soon!!! :o Oh well........the ones we caught looked almost exactly the same.

As everyone has said, its a brown...you did the right thing by putting it back in since it would have been too small to keep.

The Caney Fork has special regulations with regard to trout...1 brown can be taken but it must be a minimum of 24 inches long. 5 rainbow or brook trout can be taken but none between 14 and 20 inches (the protected range) and only 1 over 20 inches.

The creel limit was adjusted as well from 7 to 5.

Your total trout creel can only be five. You can have a max of three big fish (brown 24"+, Rainbow 20"+, Brook 20"+) the other two have to be under 14" and brooks or rainbows.

yeah, i had known the regulations and it was in the "release slot" for all 3 species so i knew it had to go back since it was about 16". But since i didn't know exactly what species it was, i was absolutely going to release it. Always better safe than sorry! Man it would be pretty awesome to catch a brown in the mid twenties! That would be spectacular!