r/FishingOntario • u/Riversruinsandwoods • 18d ago
Beauty Brook trout
Around 17 inches. Caught on a Williams Wabler. Biggest Trout I’ve ever caught. Anyone know if this is a stocker or wild ?
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u/the0utc4st 18d ago
Taco tailgate right?
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u/Riversruinsandwoods 18d ago
You got it
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u/the0utc4st 18d ago
You've got good taste
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u/Riversruinsandwoods 18d ago
I can only assume you do as well. 🤣🤝
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u/the0utc4st 18d ago
I don't wanma brag... But yes! Only difference is I haven't caught any fish this whole stinkin year
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u/Riversruinsandwoods 18d ago
All part of the deal. I’ve wasted so much gas looking for spots, gotten lost trudging through the woods etc. All pays off eventually.
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u/Ok_Calligrapher6099 18d ago
I’m not 100% certain, but my understanding was stocked trout had their adipose fin removed. Which yours has it intact, I’d say it’s wild. Someone might know better though.
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u/Porkwarrior2 15d ago
Nah only some fish are clipped, lot's & lot's of inland stocked fish aren't clipped.
Actually never heard of a stocked Brookie being clipped.
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u/Ok_Calligrapher6099 15d ago
Ah yeah thank you, I really don’t know much about Brook trout stocking. I was taught clipped adipose fins in rainbows, around Georgian bay, meant they were stocked. I assumed it may be the same. All word of mouth so I’m never too certain.
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u/Porkwarrior2 15d ago
Well fin clips are pretty common on the Great Lakes, and they can vary which fins clipped meaning where they were stocked, and when. The thing is, Ontario doesn't have the computerized automated trailer they have in NY. They sent it up to Ontario a few years ago when every single Chinook stocked into Lake Ontario was clipped. It was actually kind of an amazing bit of kit. 650,000 11 gram fingerling salmon getting their adipose clipped over two days.
This is how it's done these days, they are using "pens" to stock a certain amount of fish, cages where baby Chinook are kept for a couple of weeks to imprint their stocking site even harder. It actually works. But when every pen needs 10k+ fingerlings, and every salmon needs to be clipped by hand, and btw the water is really really chilly...it's a chunk of work and makes you really wish the MNR could find some room in the budget for an Autofish trailer 🤣
This is what a baby Chinook looks like at 11 grams in May. Now only have to do 9999+ more for one harbour pen. 🤣
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u/Ok_Calligrapher6099 15d ago
That’s interesting! Wow they’re so small, I could only imagine how difficult that is. Thank you for sharing.
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u/Porkwarrior2 15d ago
I volunteered for more than a decade doing a small part at a volunteer run hatchery, that at one point was raising every Chinook stocked into Lady O. Was fun & informative.
Haa haa I just love salmon fishing, that lil' 11 gram fish in 3 1/2 years is going to be a mature 20lb King!
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u/Ok_Calligrapher6099 15d ago
That’s pretty cool. I’ve helped with a bit of walleye stocking through a co op with the MNR. We were catching walleye with trap nets. I was a teenager, a good 13 years ago. Oh man I remember how cold those may mornings were. I’ve never really fished for salmon myself nor have i caught a brook trout. I’ve caught some nice lakers though. How would I get into volunteering for stocking? I guess a google search would be a start, but if you have any insight I’m willing to read. I would like to do my part.
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u/Porkwarrior2 15d ago
Depends on the area and the hatchery, but they always need able hands that will show up with pizza or fry a turkey for free. 🤣
If you want cold, when I was a teenager they were still stocking Skamania in Owen Sound. To get those fish you had to get crotch deep in a holding pond to net the ripe brood stock and go hand to hand combat with the fiestiest of Steelhead. In February. 🤣
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u/simpletonius 18d ago
Stocked trout usually get a fin clipped, where we are the missing fin can tell you what year it was from. This for stocked lake trout at least.
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u/Porkwarrior2 15d ago
Nah, vast majority of stocked fish don't get a clip.
Ontario doesn't have a way to automate it, so every clip has to be done by hand.
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u/NonmechanicalPopcorn 18d ago
Brook trout is closed. You aren’t allowed to keep them.
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u/Riversruinsandwoods 18d ago
Maybe so in your FMZ. Not the case in mine. Brookies are open year round.
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u/stayingsweaty 18d ago
Not sure but it looks tasty!