manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

had the itch to fish all week long & got lil jim out the house decided to hit manasquan for the sea run browns. Got there bout 9am one other guy, water was up and murky.Walked all way up stream, had one little guy follow & turned at my feet.Threw a hook with some P bait and landed small native brown. Decided to head home and try the gorge.Got there and Water was perfect and clear. Just about every other hole we had fish on :D last hole found 3 fish all over 4lbs managed to hook and land one them, all fish were released as always:D here some pics

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Never heard of a native brown in the Squan only some tales of native brookies back over 40years ago. Sure it wasn't a fingerling stockie for the sea run program?

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

That's a huge rainbow !!

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

def was a native had awsome red spots all over :)

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

I'll pass this on as I was corrected one time,browns are not native to NJ so it was it wild brown.Probablly part of the sea run program they toss a crapload of fingerlings in the squan.Once a brown has been out of the hatchery for a while it will get nice red and yellow spots.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Guess you have not trout fished much in the central/northern part of the state?

Although browns were imported 150 years ago, they absolutely positively 100% reproduce in the wild. Some streams have phenomenal numbers of wild fish.

So perhaps "native" is technically incorrect, wild and stream bred browns are extremely prevalent in some waters of the Garden State.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Spots and enhanced coloration can be acquired by an individual trout after spending time in the environment. What cant be acquired are the perfectly clean, full lobed fins, that once scarred in the hatchery will always show that evidence. Its very rare for a stocky to have perfect fins, especially the pectorals.

This is the best way to identify a fish as wild....the condition of the fins.

That little guy in the gloved hand is not an "native", the brown laying in the sand with the orange rapala looks like it could be wild.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

So which is this one???

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Yeah yer right, I dont trout fish.Maybe you could show me a thing or two.Wilson,that looks to be a brown fish with either chiken pox or measels.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Well your on the right path....Bedbug bites:eek:

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Looks like a wild brown in full fall coloration.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Bro, that was a question and not a statement. It appeared by your statement that you were unaware of the degree of natural reproduction of brown trout here in New Jersey. That's all.

I have not caught a trout in 3 years. I have trout/flyfished from Utah to the West Branch of the Penobscott. From the Bighorn, Green, Snake, Provo, Madison and the Firehole to Balls Eddy, Cairns Pool, Junction Hole, Spring and Fisherman Creek.

I have met and talked with Harry Darby, Poul Jorgansen and Art Lee.

Ever trout fish the Passaic River?....There are stream bred bows, browns and brookies.

P.S. The concept of identifying a trout as wild by the conditions of their fins was not made up by me....it's pretty much an accepted practice in places where there is an abundance of stockies, their holdovers and stream bred fish

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

i think the point that shucker was making was just that, brown trout aren't a native species to new jersey, so none of them in this state are native, doesn't matter if they are born outside a hatchery. he doesn't need to fish the streams with little trouts up here in northern NJ to figure it out... it just depends on what the original range for the species was before us humans decided to spread them around.

browns born and reproducing in streams in europe are native. browns born and reproducing in streams here in NJ are wild, or could possibly be described as feral as well.

brook trout, pumpkinseeds, chain pickerel, shad born in new jersey are native.

largemouth bass, bluegills, walleye, muskies, pike, etc are wild.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Any stocked fish will reproduce in the wild under the right conditions. That's why streams classified as wild trout streams are not stocked; to prevent the gene pool from being diluted by stocked fish.

I'm not 100% sure, but unless the fin of a fish is clipped I believe it can completely regenerate after a period of time. I have caught trout in various stages of fin redevelopment, from fresh out of the raceway to almost flawless. I don't doubt that there are some that I have mistaken for wild fish when in reality they had been stocked.

As a point of comparison, the photo on the left is of what I suspected to be a stocked brown that grew back its fins. On the right is a photo of what I believe is a wild brown.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

some other states stock near sterile hybrids like splake for this reason also

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

I believe that if you were to closely inspect the holdover, it's pectorals would not have that full lobed appearance of the wild trout on the right.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

Just to clear up some trout terminology:

A “native” trout was born wild and is native to the area. Only brook trout are native to NJ, so you can’t have a native brown, rainbow or lake trout here in NJ.

A “heritage native” trout is a native trout from a water body that has never been stocked, so it’s DNA hasn’t been crossed with other strains of trout not native to the area. Again, in NJ these can only be brook trout.

A “wild” trout is a trout that was born in the wild.

A “hatchery” trout came from a hatchery.

A “holdover” trout came from a hatchery and survived a season, typically referring to the summer or stocking season.

It can be easy to tell if a trout came from a hatchery based on color and fin damage, but it’s nearly impossible to tell with 100% certainty if a fish is wild unless it’s from an area that has no history of stocking. Hatchery trout are pale because they are fed protein pellets that don’t have the minerals to support the vivid color you find in wild trout that eat insects, and their fins are often worn or deformed from rubbing against concrete walls. Typically wild brown trout have a blue spot behind their eye and a red adipose fin, but a trout stocked as a fingerling can also have those characteristics.

If you look at enough trout and add all that up, you can usually guess where it came from.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

You may be right. I couldn't tell, as I forgot my microscope that day. :p

Whatevs, as long as they put a bend in the rod I'm not picky about where the trout come from.

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

I'm with you Lard!:)

Re: manasquan river / ken lockwood gorge /sunday
 

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