# Resident?



## 1siena (Apr 15, 2007)

I have heard people talking about resident and stocked trout. Browns and Roinbows. How can you tell the difference by looking at the fish? Will a stocked fish eventually become a resident? Does anyone have any pics of the two different fish?


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## soggybtmboys (Feb 24, 2007)

1siena said:


> I have heard people talking about resident and stocked trout. Browns and Roinbows. How can you tell the difference by looking at the fish? Will a stocked fish eventually become a resident? Does anyone have any pics of the two different fish?


Stocked fish used to have a clipped fin. I do not think the DNR does this anymore, but older fish may be clipped, those are stocked.


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## Whitetail70 (Feb 13, 2007)

The adults for the most part will grow that fin back!


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

When fish are fin clipped, the remainder of that fin might grow with the fish, but the fin does not actually grow back. I have caught probably thousands of clipped fish, and am confident in this statement. 

When I was a kid I sometimes clipped fins on Bass I would catch at our cabin, so I could tell if I caught the same fish more than once. I used different clips for different years, and sometimes caught the same fish 2 years later - and knew that from my clips. The fish and fins would grow, but the clip remained the same. 

I also learned to clip the tail fins on Sucker minnows, when fishing them under a bobber. They have to wiggle their tails like crazy to try to get away, if a Bass or Pike is looking at them. It triggered amazing hits sometimes.


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## Creek-Chub (Apr 15, 2004)

No, and no. Clipping of steelhead occurs, and you can find out which strains/states clip where and when in a few other threads. To my knowledge, however, no stream trout planted in Michigan (browns) are clipped. Telling the difference between planted and "native" trout is not easy. Some guys will tell you they know definitively on every fish they catch, but its a pretty subjective thing. As a general rule, hatchery fish are thought to be more bland in coloring, have scuffed up or split fins, etc. Resident trout are more vibrant in color, look more "natural", etc. That said, there is so much middle ground that its hard to be sure.

Your best indication should be the size of the fish and river that you caught it in. If I catch an 8" Brown in a local river that I know to be stocked heavily, I'm probably going to assume it was planted. If I catch an 18" brown out of the same river, its alot more gray. Could be a resident, could be a hatchery fish that was lucky enough to get through a season and start to thrive. That same 8" Brown from a different stream that doesn't see a stocking truck would be assumed to be a wild fish. Even the definition of "wild" and "planted" is a tough one. How long does a fish have to survive to finally be called "wild"? Guys debate it all day long.

And no, fish do not regenerate their fins. You might see a slight amount of growth around the nub that was clipped, but that's it. Anyone that has caught a fin-clipped 4 year old steelhead still missing the fin would agree.


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## Silverexpress (Sep 6, 2006)

Creek-Chub said:


> No, and no. Clipping of steelhead occurs, and you can find out which strains/states clip where and when in a few other threads. To my knowledge, however, no stream trout planted in Michigan (browns) are clipped. Telling the difference between planted and "native" trout is not easy. Some guys will tell you they know definitively on every fish they catch, but its a pretty subjective thing. As a general rule, hatchery fish are thought to be more bland in coloring, have scuffed up or split fins, etc. Resident trout are more vibrant in color, look more "natural", etc. That said, there is so much middle ground that its hard to be sure.
> 
> Your best indication should be the size of the fish and river that you caught it in. If I catch an 8" Brown in a local river that I know to be stocked heavily, I'm probably going to assume it was planted. If I catch an 18" brown out of the same river, its alot more gray. Could be a resident, could be a hatchery fish that was lucky enough to get through a season and start to thrive. That same 8" Brown from a different stream that doesn't see a stocking truck would be assumed to be a wild fish. Even the definition of "wild" and "planted" is a tough one. How long does a fish have to survive to finally be called "wild"? Guys debate it all day long.
> 
> And no, fish do not regenerate their fins. You might see a slight amount of growth around the nub that was clipped, but that's it. Anyone that has caught a fin-clipped 4 year old steelhead still missing the fin would agree.


I know of one that did regenerate its fins...we have a salt water fish tank that once had a clown fish in it. The little guy got sucked into the filtering unit, and as a result lost his tail fin. A few months later he started growing another one back, and before he died you couldn't tell the difference.

Also, if you know they stock 8-9" fish and you catch a 6" then you can be sure that the 6" was a stream born and wild (but if it was produced by planted fish would it be considered wild?).


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## Frogfish101 (Apr 5, 2007)

If you really want to go back...Brookies are the only trout/char that are native to Michigan, witht the exception of the now extinct grayling. Browns, rainbows, and salmon have all been introduced.


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## kype138 (Jul 13, 2006)

Don't forget lakers, they are members of the char family (salvelinus naymacush)...


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## Creek-Chub (Apr 15, 2004)

Silverexpress said:


> I know of one that did regenerate its fins...we have a salt water fish tank that once had a clown fish in it. The little guy got sucked into the filtering unit, and as a result lost his tail fin. A few months later he started growing another one back, and before he died you couldn't tell the difference.


You sure that wasn't just a movie you saw?


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## johnobub (Sep 23, 2006)

I've never seen a clipped fin growing back.


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## Silverexpress (Sep 6, 2006)

Creek-Chub said:


> You sure that wasn't just a movie you saw?


Wait a minute....are you referring to that movie with the purple fish, and the tiny orange one who was searching for his son......He was no clown fish... ;-P


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## Troutlord1 (Jun 6, 2007)

Another tough thing about telling the difference between wild and stcoked browns in the paint are its now 50% stocked and 50% naturally reproducing on its own. Plus the rainbows you can catch there the DNR doesnt stock bows in the paint so either the smolts they plant at yates swim upstream over the dam or in high waters adult Steelhead get up and spawn and reproduce. Either way its a good indictor that the paint and clinton are starting to shape up but they still need the states and our help. Just my thoughts is all


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## UPJerry (Dec 14, 2006)

I think some of the terminology is off here and makes this more confusing. By my understanding:

Native = Species existed naturally in the stream before man and continues to naturally reproduce. Only brook trout can be native in Michigan, and only in certain streams. From what I have read, none of these streams are in the Lower Peninsula.

Wild = Fish that naturally reproduce in a stream, or maybe those that have lived there a long time and are capable of reproduction (this term is more fuzzy)

Stocked = "Put and take" fish that came straight from the hatchery and often are not fully intertwined in the ecosystem of the stream

------------------------------------------

And now a *totally different* dichotomy:

Resident = Lives its entire life in the stream

Anadromous = Lake run; lives most of its life in one of the Great Lakes and is in the stream only as a juvenile or for spawning


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## kype138 (Jul 13, 2006)

Anadromous = live in salt water, reproduce in fresh water
Potamodromous = live in fresh water, reproduce in fresh water


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## UPJerry (Dec 14, 2006)

kype138 said:


> Anadromous = live in salt water, reproduce in fresh water
> Potamodromous = live in fresh water, reproduce in fresh water


Thank you for that.


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## Creek-Chub (Apr 15, 2004)

Silverexpress said:


> Wait a minute....are you referring to that movie with the purple fish, and the tiny orange one who was searching for his son......He was no clown fish... ;-P


Sure he was - he just wasn't that funny...


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## Troutlord1 (Jun 6, 2007)

*English *anadromous Fish that ascend rivers to spawn, as salmon and hilsa do. Sub-division of diadromous. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km. 

*English *diadromous Regularly migrating between freshwater and seawater. This category includes anadromous, catadromous and amphidromous fishes such as sea-lampreys, sturgeons, salmons, _Anguilla_, _Alosa_, etc. Migrations should be cyclical and predictable and cover more than 100 km. 

hope that helps a little more


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