Golden Rainbow ?

[denjac]

My son caught this fish today at Capps Creek. I know I should post it on Capps but though I could get more input here . Is this a golden? What is a Golden ? Is it a rainbow or a species all to itself ? Does neosho hatchery raise these or where do they come from. Any imput would be appreciated.

[Guest]

There are goldens out west that are a separate species (subspecies?) but what they call goldens over here are just regular rainbows, just a funky genetic mutation that occurs when they are spawned in hatcheries. Cool catch though. Thumbnail didn't show up for me BTW.

[Buzz]

There is a hatchery near Ava, Mo that raises them. They are mostly for private stockings of ponds and streams. The Neosho biologist thinks it may have gotten out of someplace like that, but it had to travel upstream quite a ways to make it to where it was caught. Kansas stocks them in a trout pit near Columbus and the White River got some last year.

[Outside Bend]

Your photo wouldn't work on my machine, nor could I upload any photos of the two critters in question.

But if it was in Missouri, I'd bet a twelve pack what you saw was a genetic variant of rainbow trout, sometimes called golden or palamino trout. They're basically a color variant of rainbow trout, not a separate species. Like how koi and common carp are the same species, just different colors. Or horse, or dog breeds. Same species, different colors. It's just a breed of rainbow trout- some hatcheries select for that coloration, but it also crops up from time to time in nature. Neosho probably doesn't specifically breed that strain, but when you're raising thousands of fish a year some are bound to wind up freaks

"Real" Golden trout, depending on who you ask, are either a separate species from rainbow trout entirely, or are unique subspecies of rainbow trout. They're native to a few watersheds in northern California, and have been stocked in some high-elevation lakes in the west. Chances are they wouldn't be able to survive in Missouri trout streams.

[denjac]

See if this picture works better . The Neosho biologist did say that it accures in the wild but is very rare . He said like buzz said that they are bred by private hatcheries and are very inbred and dont do well in the wild .

[Outside Bend]

Yep, that's a rainbow color variant.

[Stoneroller]

if it had red eyes, it was an alibno, otherwise it's called Amelanism or would be referred to as an amelanistic trout, meaning it has no melanine in it's skin/scales. most of the animals people see that they call albinos are actually amelanism, true albanism is very rare. as you can imagine a 'white' (in this case yellowish) fish would not live long with predators around. usually hatchery fish have their adipose fins removed, but i'm not sure if that's standard practice in all the hatcheries in missouri.

[dennis boatman]

I grew up out west fishing in the Sierras. We used to catch Golden Trout, but only above 10,000 feet. Only a few lakes had them, and they did not seem to be present in lakes that had Brook Trout.

[troutfiend1985]

See if this picture works better . The Neosho biologist did say that it accures in the wild but is very rare . He said like buzz said that they are bred by private hatcheries and are very inbred and dont do well in the wild .

Cool fish, Buzz do you suppose this is how you caught that monster in Hickory?

I have one final left, then freedom for about 3 & 1/2 weeks. So I'm looking forward to going out and getting a little fishing in. Wish I could hook into a fish like that, just for the novelty of it.

Tight Lines

[Nighthawk]

Cool fish, Buzz do you suppose this is how you caught that monster in Hickory?

I have one final left, then freedom for about 3 & 1/2 weeks. So I'm looking forward to going out and getting a little fishing in. Wish I could hook into a fish like that, just for the novelty of it.

Tight Lines