Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations New World Record Rainbow Trout Controversy

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/biotechfishing?npu=1&mbid=yhp

It brings up an interesting topic: Should artificially produced triploid fish be considered for records?

What do you all think?

My opinion, with an asterisk...

Just like a believe their should be different record kept for private and public waters.

Same should go for any game animals that are raised with human help as in high fenced areas.

I think the asterisk is a good way to let it be known that "this species of fish can get this big, but here's why".

I have mixed emotions. Yeah, it was maybe a manufactured fish. However, he is the guy who worked his butt of to catch it.

I had this conversation on a fishing website. First of all I personally believe triploid trout are over rated. Looking at the condition factors of this rainbow and other rainbows from that lake there must be an incredible amount of forage in the lake these fish came from. My state DNR planted some triploid rainbows with normal rainbows and didn't notice any increased growth rate or other advantages.

Secondly an angler on another site said fish such as that are not "natural." Maybe so, but what's natural about manually hatching eggs and growing out yearling trout or salmon in a concrete raceway and then dumping them into a lake?

How natural are the plantings of musky, tiger musky, hybrid striped bass, and other species by state fish and game agencies?

BTW tripliod rainbows and sterile female rainbows are quite commonly planted and grown out for consumption these days. The reason is private and public producers don't have to keep broodstock on hand and spend time manually spawning fish. Many just order eggs from suppliers that specialize in egg production.

No doubt it's a great fish whether triploid or not...

Wow, that is one hell of a trout.

But we have to ask, where will we draw the line? If a triploid fish is not allowed for a world record, should a Florida-strain LMB introduced into an artificial reservoir in California and fattened on stocked trout fingerlings county? If I put a handful of male CNBG into a 1/4 acre pond and feed them aquamax for five years, should I get to count one as a state record?

BTW, the Texas state Brook Trout record is .67 pound. If somebody on here has a very cold spring-fed pond in Texas, I'd bet that they could break it. Orangespotted Sunfish and Golden Shiner records look similarly breakable.

I wonder if Texas counts records from private ponds. My brother caught by far the biggest bluegill that I have ever seen in my life on a hula popper in my uncle's pond, it was longer than the record listed for the state.

Bass, Palmetto (Striped X White) 5.40 21.00 Mar 19, 2009 Robert Benton hot dog




I want to stock one Golden Shiner in a .1 acre pond and set a fly-rod record. Of course, state private water fly rod records are about as non-prestigious as someone can get. Still cool though.

Fly Rod record for Texas private waters is 4.20 .... I've busted that several times but not intersted in records....
James would be the all tackle champion several times over!!

I know this guy that planted some 10 inch yellow perch from a supplier into a 3/4 acre pond and fed them just like any other pond owner. Three years later One of them shattered the state record, but he was told, Sorry your fish was on a feeding program we can't count it."

Seriously that guy is of course me. But what's really disappointing is someone that should know better, thinks producing a state record is simply a matter of feeding. If that was the case someone would have grown a new world record largemouth a long time ago.

Truthfully I'm like George. State records don't do much for me either, now that I know what it's all about. However the personal achievement means a lot to me.

I will be willing to bet, a small amount, that over time it will be the natural fish that have asterisks in record books. Natural game fish will follow food fish in that they will just become out numbered due to increasing pressure on natural stocks, along with increasing demand.

I remember as a kid all of the Rainbow trout had pink flesh. Some years later only a few would be pink, don't know if it is true but we were told the pinks were natural and the whites were stocked.

Actually stocked trout will eventually get the "pink" flesh color once they get enough carotene in their diet from crustaceans (like zooplankton) and things that eat crustaceans. Some hatcheries are even adding astaxanthin to their feeds to enhance colors of their fish, not just for the food market.

Cecil.
True, but where we fished (California)most were caught before they turned pink. As a kid we fished when school was out and stocking was the heaviest, so was pressure. Later, as an adult I fished when school was in session and occasionally caught a few pink trout late in the season.

Plus, as a very young kid all of the trout we caught were pink to start with. I was just trying to make the point that times have and are changing. And, I am guessing so will the way we look at things like fishing records.

Look at the bait for the record Blue cat ! That should be something to think about for ponds.

Ewest refresh my memory on what that bait was? Please.

Bluegill.