Is this a lake spawned trout?

[Smallie Seeker]

My lady friend caught this fish last trip. 
Doesn’t look like a hatchery stocker like I’ve ever seen.
With all the high, fast water springs lately I’m amazed that they’ve been able to spawn at all, if this is indeed a lake bred trout. 

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Looks like it. But I know sometimes they have issues at the hatchery where young fish like that escape or something happens to a rearing pool and they have to dump them into the lake. More than likely that is the case.

[Phil Lilley]

Last year we noticed a large number of fry in the upper lake. We’ve unofficially tracked them over the months. I’ve discussed this with our fisheries biologist and we agree that we did in fact have a successful spawn last year. Not sure if it was in the lake or in a feeder stream, or both. 
 

There was no incidents of hatchery escapees in the last couple of years, at least not in the numbers we’ve seen. 
 

But the number of naturally spawned rainbows does affect any management decisions by MDC. They won’t stock less trout because of any natural occurring trout. 

[Bill Babler]

That would be the appropriate size and configuration of a January spawned rainbow.  Beautiful picture, thanks for sharing. 

Might we ask what location of the lake you caught this fish?

As Phil mentioned we have seen quite a few of these the past two years from Roark Creek thru the bottom of the restricted zone. 

[JestersHK]

Those white tipped fins look way to pretty to be a race pin stocker.  Looks like a wild bred one to me after chasing stream bred trout all winter. 

Beautiful pic and cool thing to see happen on Taney where I'd imagine the odds are not stacked in the spawing fishes favor there.

[tjm]

Can rainbow trout spawn in a lake? Particularly one with frequent water level fluctuations?

[jdmidwest]

The upper lake acts like a river, they form redds and spawn in the tailwaters or other spring fed tributaries if water levels stable

 

[tjm]

I don't think of trout spawning in rivers either, unless it has stretches of shallow riffles.  And I thought they kept that water unstable by generating? I can see them building redds I just have belief trouble with them being successful. But, I know very little about that. Every place I've fished for trout from Idaho to Pa. to the all the New England states to Mo&Ar  there have been stocking programs. I read somewhere that rainbows were "the artificial fish" because of the long history of domestication.

[JestersHK]

I think with the constant flows and high generating schedules allowed fish to bed and spawn. 

[rps]

Comparable to spawns by other stocked fish. Walleye in Beaver, Tablerock, and the Bull "spawn." Normally conditions -> water flow and level, temp, and so on - render that spawn unsuccessful. However, some years, some spawns produce fry.

BTW, that is a beautiful example of the species.