Does pequest hatchery dye their feed? also nice trout

[DanPrk]

I *caught* a really nice rainbow trout yesterday on the south branch raritan (read: a guy next to me gave it because he felt bad for me not catching anything). 19 inches and I would estimate around 2 to 3 pounds. I was really surprised to see stunning red/orange meat, it even resembled the farmed salmon that they dye outrageously red. I was expecting it to be gray/white as I've heard stocked trout usually are. My theory is that they the feed dyes their flesh orange. I've eaten one other stocked trout, much smaller than this giant and the flesh was the slightest light orange. So bigger fish who spend longer in the hatchery would have eaten more of the dyed feed making them more colorful. Or, maybe it was a holdover for maybe one or more multiple years (its fins and in general were pretty clean and not torn up). That's what I would hope but seems a bit unlikely for it to get that colorful especially since I don't think there are many shrimp or crustaceans in the river.
Anyways here are some pictures of it.

https://ibb.co/JxwdKrm
https://ibb.co/KyQmkmV
https://ibb.co/Lr3d4Sm

[BT67]

Several of the fall stockies I kept last year for smoking had that orangeish flesh..that and the vibrant pinks we're seeing are no doubt a product of the feed.

[Treble Hook Jim]

Hatcheries like the Musky trout hatchery in Asbury have changed their feed to include nutrients (not dye) that give the fish a more appealing color. This is because the sell to restaurants and markets and the pink flesh is more appealing to consumers. The state hatchery may have done the same. Or the fish is a holdover and the natural diet over time has altered the flesh color.

[muskynut]

Orange flesh tells you the trout has been in the stream for some time......holding over......their flesh color comes from carotenoids....pigments found in the invertebrates they feed on.....carotenoids give carrots their orange color.....clear clue fish is a hold over ;)

[NJSquatch]

I watched a you tube vid hosted by F&W where Chris Lido stated that the hatchery has added something to the feed and/or water to make the fish more colorful and tasteful a few years ago.

Check out Min 43:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTovukvuHOE&t=3073s

[EJS]

Yes, the hatchery did change the feed. No its not a dye changing the color of the meat. Time in the river will also change the meat color. Rivers that have a high in Iron level produce a very pink to almost red colored meat.

[nate01]

I kept 3 trout from the same stretch of the same river one day last week, all around the same size and recently stocked. Two of them had white meat and one had orange. Hard to explain that one???

[Jigman13]

I bet they'd make good swordfish baits...

[John D.]

I bet they'd make good swordfish baits...

That’s such a myth. Lol. Same with eels. Swords eat anything and the only good thing about a trout is the shape and size. Nothing beats a live large squid. Nothing.

[Jigman13]

Yea they're garbage cans. Theyll eat whatever they can get down the hatch!

[Fluken-Around]

I worked for a private trout hatchery in Pa for many years. In late January we would change there feed so in April when you catch them there flesh has that pink or orange tint that everyone relates to a native trout. If my memory serves me right it was a shrimp base feed that turned them that color not a dye. That feed was more expensive so we only fed them that feed a few months proir to when the majority of fish are stocked then would switch back to normal feed.