North Fork issue

[Quillback]

If they are going to stock bows, why not stock fingerlings?  The few that survive to adulthood should have all the characteristics of "wild" trout as far as fighting ability and appearance.  The fish are somewhat protected with the minimum length and harvest regs, so the fingerlings should have a reasonable chance at surviving to adulthood.

[Ham]

18 minutes ago, Quillback said:

If they are going to stock bows, why not stock fingerlings?  The few that survive to adulthood should have all the characteristics of "wild" trout as far as fighting ability and appearance.  The fish are somewhat protected with the minimum length and harvest regs, so the fingerlings should have a reasonable chance at surviving to adulthood.

Or better yet (maybe) egg boxes. For Bows, Browns, and Cutts

[Devan S.]

1 hour ago, Ham said:

I live on the White River. I like fishing it. I have caught literally thousands of trout from the White. So, I have more than little experience with stocked trout.

Prior to 2017, I made a trip or two in the fall after most of the drunken floats were out of the way for about 5 years or so. I loved fishing up there. I didn’t catch a lot of fish each trip, but the ones I caught were healthy, pretty, no damaged fins, and all fought HARD. I didn’t catch any fish under 12 inches and several of the largest Rainbows I have ever caught I caught up there. I had a 23 inch and two others over 21 inches. I caught them in heavy current and they fought really well.

Those fish WERE SUPERIOR to the stocked Rainbows of Spring River, Taney, White River, and all the Trout parks. 
I’m not super romantic about trout. I enjoy catching them, but I do not hold them in higher regard than other fish. 
 You are of course entitled to your opinion, but it would carry more weight it you had fished NFOW prior to the 2017 flood. 

If its the "wild stream bred" genetics that make them better fighters and pretty fish then wouldn't the same premise apply to all the wild stream bred fish in the state? Every <12" fish I caught from all the other blue ribbon streams flipped and flopped just like RR or Taney <12" fish. 

Go to the Current, 11pt, and Little Piney. All streams with White Ribbon sections(and a trout park) right next to the Blue Ribbon sections. Fish the line between and tell me if you can tell the difference in genetics between a "wild stream bred" fish and a stocker that's been there 6+months. 

I'm not calling for multiple tens of thousands of fish monthly like the white but surely a one time stocking can help without making all the fish in the stream a bunch lazy non-fighting, inbred mutts?

 

[Ham]

The “wild” trout in NFOW had 50 plus years of making it own their own. You can tell the stockers that have dodged Power Bait for a few months from the fish that were dumped in a few days ago. You can certainly tell the difference in a fish that hatched in a River vs a raceway. 
either way, it’s going to be a long time before we get back to pre flood fishing
 

[Phil Lilley]

What MDC has to be careful of is over stocking the fishery.  Sounds like the food base isn't good - then why put more fish in just to starve?  They've reduced stocking numbers on Taney and we've seen good results - bigger fish. 

I think money should be spent on planting trees for shade and bank retention, looking at replacing gravel if needed and getting creative and adding structure to the river to accommodate FOOD for the trout rather than a quick fix of adding fish.

We selfishly want to fix things in our lifetime what would naturally take decades to fix after an event like this.  We can help a little... but we can also screw it up in the name of speeding things up.

And the dam- they took it out because people were getting hurt/killed by going over it - right?  What's changed?

[tjm]

Fingerlings! what an idea, they have pretty good survival rate when dumped out of aircraft into alpine lakes, and must be a lot cheaper to produce than full grown trout. Stocked in the upper reaches or near the springs, I'll bet the things would do fine. in fact I've wondered for many years why MDC didn't stock fingerlings in the better of the stocked steams. That is how those naturalized McClouds got to Mo. way back when. At first glance it seems more economical to let the fish forage than to feed them daily.

They could even stock 6-7"ers and set the limit as 12" minimum.

 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

They could even stock 6-7"ers and set the limit as 12" minimum.

So we stock it just to take them out again😂

[tjm]

Since the US fish commission first built the McCloud river hatchery in the 19th century, rainbow trout have been stocked every where in the world with the presupposition that they would be harvested. It's always been "put and  take"  the few places where they naturalized were accidents. But I'm guessing that if the invertebrates were scoured out in the flood that 6" stockers might mature and spawn before reaching 12", if the water is even cool enough for them to survive with no shade. If they grow faster set the minimum length longer.

[fishinwrench]

What was/is so special about the McCloud river and its fish ?   

Is the McCloud river still a great fishery?

[laker67]

17 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

What was/is so special about the McCloud river and its fish ?   

Is the McCloud river still a great fishery?

I don't know if they are special or were just the choice at the time. I will tell you this, they are the midgets of the rainbow breed.