hybred trout

[fish4fish]

does anybody have pics of the hybred trout species, such as splake, brake, cutbow brownbow, ect if so lets see them, and where they were caught if you know. thanks
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[PBH]

you asked, so here you go:



Picture number one is a picture of two Brake trout.
Picture number two is a picture of a Tiger Trout .

Picture Three has three fish in it. The top fish is a Rainbow Trout. The middle is a Brownbow Trout (notice the cataract in it's eye...), and the bottom fish is a Splake Trout.
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[Shrimpboy]

I've never heard of a brownbow. Would that mix have to be made in the lab because of the spawning habits of the parent species being at opposite times of the year?
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[BEARCLAW]

[cool]Great photos PBH.. Those Brake's are cool looking. I've fished for and caught plenty of tigers but no brake's.. Any hints or clues as to where to fish for em? Thanks for sharing the photos..
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[PBH]

You won't find too many brake trout, or brownbows anywhere anymore. Too difficult to make them. Brownbows had problems with cataracts in their eyes. Even with all the other senses, blind fish struggle....

Brake trout are a cross between Brown trout female, and a lake trout male. The problem with these hybrids is just the difficulty of culturing them. Survival rate's of Brake trout were very poor, and the cost/benefit just wasn't there. Production of Brake trout was discontinued, and the last batch of fish were stocked out in 1997. Your only chances for these fish would be at either Mill Meadow Res, or in Porcupine res. Good luck.



Brownbows are a cross between a female Rainbow trout and a male Brown trout. These fish had severe problems with cataracts, which left the fish pretty much blind. Like the Brake trout, Brownbows are no longer produced by fish hatcheries run by the state. They were stocked in Mill Meadow Res. As you can tell by the pictures, Brownbows were very difficult to distinguish from a rainbow trout. Pretty neat fish, but I think there are reasons that they are not produced in nature...



FYI -- the rainbow trout, brownbow trout, splake trout, and brake trout pictures all came from Mill Meadow Res.
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[Kent]

A few years ago I was fortunate to catch one (and only one) of those brake at Mill Meadow Reservoir. That was one neat looking trout.
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[loanfish]

That is the fattest little rainbow I have ever seen.
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[PBH]

the size of the rainbow was yet another reason that the Brake's and Brownbows were discontinued. The theory was that of "hybrid vigour", or that by crossing two different fish you would get an offspring that combined the feeding, and predatorial traits of both parents, thus creating a feeding machine that would grow faster than the parents and provide a bigger, better sport fish. After taking samples from Mill Meadow, rainbow trout were growing faster than the brake trout, or brownbows (and even the splake). They were outcompeting these "frankenstein" fish. Blame it on cataracts, or whatever, but the rainbows were doing better, even in the presence of Whirling Disease.
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[Fishrmn]

PBH,

Glad to see ya' back on the forum.

Keep tellin' it like it is.

Fishrmn

[Xman]

when i was a kid we use to go fish twave reservoir out on the ouray indian reservation. I caught a fish none of us could identify. we were told it was a experimental hybrid. I think it was a brownbow. but i had never heard of them experimenting with hybrids that long ago. do you know anything about the indian res out there having planted them there? it was a big fish i sure wish i was smart and had it mounted instead of eating it. it was probably 7 or 8lbs.
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[loanfish]

That's interesting stuff. I have never heard of a brake trout or a brownbow till today. I sure would like to have a brake trout decorating my wall though. What a beautiful fish.
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[HeGotAway]

i thought they stocked mill meadow with these hybrids to test their resistance to whirling disease rather than to make a better sport fish?

im not saying your wrong but i have never heard this before where did you hear it?
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[moby_dick]

Does anyone know if there is anywhere else around that those fish can be caught? (on a somewhat regular basis)
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[PBH]

HeGotAway -- you are correct. They were trying to find a WD resistant fish, while at the same time provide a good sportfish. The findings, however, showed that the rainbow trout were outcompeting these other fish, regardless of WD. Throw in the fact that Brake, and Brownbow trout were hard to raise, expensive, and had genetic deformities (cataracts), the rainbows were a much better gamefish. Natural reproduction of rainbows in Mill Meadow was not significant prior to WD, so it doesn't have huge impacts on the stocked Rainbow trout anyway. It was very interesting to see that the rainbows were growing at a higher rate than the other fish in the reservoir. Look back at the picture of the rainbow, brownbow, and splake -- all three of those fish were stocked at the same time, and at the same size, after the lake had been poisoned. All other things being equal, the rainbows just plain outcompeted the brakes, and browns.




Moby -- there are only two places to look for these fish: Mill Meadow Res, and Porcupine Res. The only problem is that both of these fish have been discontinued, and haven't been stocked anywhere since '97. Brownbows all develop cataracts, which leaves them blind....pretty tough to survive for very long when your blind. Brake trout where too difficult, and expensive to raise effectively. Essentially, Tiger Trout (Female Brown Trout x. Male Brook trout) have taken the place of Brake trout (Female Brown Trout x. Male Lake trout). Both Brook trout and Lake trout are actually a member of the char family. They both are different from trout in that they have a dark background with light colored spots (as opposed to a light background and dark spots, like 'bows and cutts). In both hybrid crosses, you cross a fish with ligth spots and a dark background with a fish with dark spots and a light background....you end up with a mix of the two -- big splotches, wavy patterns. Neat fish.
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[cat_man]

Hey PBH that's great info thanks! I remember reading an article many years ago in a magazine about Mill Meadow and the many hybrids they tried there. I wondered what had happened with that plan.
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[Theekillerbee]

Thanks for the info, and the cool pics. They sure have tried some strange combinations...just too bad some haven't worked out very well.
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[Kent]

As a child (and that was many moons ago) Mill Meadow Reservoir and the Fremont River were among my favorite fishing holes. The rainbows (don't recall catching any other species in those days) were always chunky in MMR and we caught some of our largest fish out of it. Brings back many fond family memories.
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[DonInDenver]

Hey PBH-

What's your background that you know all this good stuff?
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[PBH]

Don -- my background?

Computer information systems specialist. (IE: computer geek).

Avid fisherman (mainly fly fishing, but not ashamed to put down the flyrod in place of a worm-dunking pole)

Have lived in So. Utah for 26 years -- fishing the whole time.

Raised by an avid fisherman, who was also raised by an avid fisherman....it's in our blood. Pops used to pull fish out of a ditch on 3600 West (Granger -- now known as West Valley City) [url "http://www.utahonthefly.com/images/photoalbum14/pages/3600WestDrainDitch1957_jpg.htm"]http://www.utahonthefly.com/images/photoalbum14/pages/3600WestDrainDitch1957_jpg.htm[/url]

But, what your trying to get out of me might be answered by looking at the following picture. I'm the runt, Pops is behind me... http://www.fs.fed.us/dxnf/fishing/album/album14.jpg
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[DonInDenver]

Cool! Thanks. My earliest memories are of fishing with my Grandpa, at probably age 3 or 4. Looks like you were brought up the same way. Thanks for sharing the pics and the info.
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