the first one right off the bat i say is a California golden trout to me the dead give away is the orang-ish lateral line with the larger black splotches and a tan to yellow greenish overall color.
The second one is a little harder to tell due to the light but i would say it is a beautiful rainbow trout
100% rainbows.... 1st one is definitively wild, second is a toss up between wild and holdover... either way beautiful bows... Pine Creek is stocked, however, there are native bows, browns, and brookies.... Tight Lines
Check this out. Both of these are Brown's that I caught in a recent outing in the sierra's. The first is a brown caught at a part of the creek where there is heavy tree growth casting a shadow on the water at almost all times (except for like between 11am-2pm).
The second Brown was caught about 100 yards away, but in a part of the creek that has almost no cover, just a few shallow undercuts. The differences are amazing, The second brown is almost entirely silver with only black spots. Cool hah :)
Last edited by sierratroutslaya; 07-20-2012 at 03:19 PM.
painted pike minnows.
I agree with fishnlic. They are 100% rainbows. The first one looks like a wild or hold over but I've never seen a wild trout in the sierras that was that fat. Wild trout up there are usually so skinny. Pine creek does contain goldens too though. pine creek is one of a few creeks in the region that you could drive to and fish for goldens.
Originally Posted by FSHNLIC
The creek hasn’t been stocked since the environmental challenge back in 2008.
Probably 95% of the fish in the creek are rainbows of varying colors with the rest being brown trout.
Golden trout would have to be washed down from the high elevation backcountry lakes and would be considered a rarity in the creek although not an impossible catch.
I dont know guys. The lack of spots on the front end of that first fish leads me to believe it has more gold in it then rainbow. I understand that the goldens are all hybridized now and some display more "pure" golden looks and some display more rainbow looking features, but I have caught several goldens that looks very rainbowish (heavily spotted forward of dorsal), but the only rainbows I have seen that look goldenish are very very small juvenile fish. And at that its only the parr marks that make them look goldenish.
Nice fish either way. :beer:
the first fish looks like a hybrid to me. it has the classic white tipped fins, big par marks down the side. I know there's Golden's over Pine Creek Pass, and Hybrids in Honeymoon Lake. Nice looking little chubster you caught there.
The first fish is most definitely not a golden or hybrid. The give away is the belly, which is devoid of the characteristic bright orange coloration. For example, here is a golden hybrid I caught earlier this month:
The markings on it are more like a redband rainbow. Coloration can vary greatly between trout of the same species. The rainbows I catch in the San Gabriels have a goldish hue with white edging on their anal fin. The ones I catch in the eastern San Bernardino mountains have greener qualities. And the ones in between are more silver, with fewer par markings and highly defined red lateral lines. All are the same species, but they vary as much, if not more, than the two fish pictured.
To me they both look like bows one native and one a stocker. I agree with abovi001
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