Stocked Trout Recipes

[metlhead]

Do some hatcheries put out better product? Last season I switched to a different lake. The trout coming out of there were amazing and cut deep red. Fillet, brown sugar rub, smoke.

[Bullkllr]

Do some hatcheries put out better product? Last season I switched to a different lake. The trout coming out of there were amazing and cut deep red. Fillet, brown sugar rub, smoke.

I have heard rumors that some hatcheries are switching to a new, but more expensive, feed that produces more colored and better quality meat.

In my experience meat quality of trout improves directly in proportion with time spent in the lake; it varies some with water temp and quality in individual lakes as well. Fry-planted fish are usually orange-meated and good quality. Carry-over fish are always better quality than recent plants. You can even see the meat quality and color changing as the season goes on; by June a trout planted in March will have picked up a bit of meat color and have firmer and tastier flesh than it would out of the truck.  People have bad experiences and conclude that any planted trout is bad and that's seriously not the case. I agree with most that the white-meated buggers straight out of the hatchery are mediocre at best

[metlhead]

Here's some before and afters of those planters I found.

[Bullkllr]

Here's some before and afters of those planters I found.

Good ones for sure!

Are you certain those were newly planted fish?

Reason I ask is that meat looks exactly like the meat from fry-planted fish or trout that have otherwise been in the lake for a considerable length of time.

[metlhead]

Fairly certain as the plant reports show it being stocked in March. Maybe two months in the lake. Limits only take about ten minutes😁

[ctwiggs1]

If I recall correctly, many farmers add dye to Atlantic salmon so they'll look good at the fish counter.  I wonder if the trout are getting the same thing.

[Stein]

If I recall correctly, many farmers add dye to Atlantic salmon so they'll look good at the fish counter.  I wonder if the trout are getting the same thing.

Probably some shrimp, krill or something in the lake they were feeding on.  I don't think the run of the mill trout chow has the dye that some salmon chow has.

[nwwanderer]

Fancy dietary vitamin A, fed or natural the color is picked up from what they eat.  White fleshed kings, genetically, do not process the compounds the same.

[Fletch]

My Dad used to pickle planters.  Firms them up, gives them flavor and you dont have to de bone them.   

[Mtnwalker]

If I recall correctly, many farmers add dye to Atlantic salmon so they'll look good at the fish counter.  I wonder if the trout are getting the same thing.

Probably some shrimp, krill or something in the lake they were feeding on.  I don't think the run of the mill trout chow has the dye that some salmon chow has.

It's not dye, it is natural color from a krill based feed that some hatcheries are starting to use. A close buddy of mine runs a hatchery on the coast and this is what they've switched to in the last 5 years. His trout are incredibly healthy looking for hatchery fish.

[metlhead]

Ells Springs and Lakewood are the hatcheries that stock the lake that I frequent.

[Skillet]

If I recall correctly, many farmers add dye to Atlantic salmon so they'll look good at the fish counter.  I wonder if the trout are getting the same thing.

Probably some shrimp, krill or something in the lake they were feeding on.  I don't think the run of the mill trout chow has the dye that some salmon chow has.

It's not dye, it is natural color from a krill based feed that some hatcheries are starting to use. A close buddy of mine runs a hatchery on the coast and this is what they've switched to in the last 5 years. His trout are incredibly healthy looking for hatchery fish.

It's a chemical called astaxanthin that is added to salmon and trout feed to turn their flesh a reddish hue.  While it is true that it's not a dye, calling it "natural" is a stretch.  It does occur naturally, but the vast majority of it used in fish feed is synthesized in industrial chemical labs.

There is an active debate about the bioactivity of synthesized astaxanthin, enough so that fish farms that use any form of it are forced to label the packaging with "color added."  Hatcheries, however, would be hard pressed to brand every planter trout with the same warning, so just be aware it could be in there.

[Mtnwalker]

If I recall correctly, many farmers add dye to Atlantic salmon so they'll look good at the fish counter.  I wonder if the trout are getting the same thing.

Probably some shrimp, krill or something in the lake they were feeding on.  I don't think the run of the mill trout chow has the dye that some salmon chow has.

It's not dye, it is natural color from a krill based feed that some hatcheries are starting to use. A close buddy of mine runs a hatchery on the coast and this is what they've switched to in the last 5 years. His trout are incredibly healthy looking for hatchery fish.

It's a chemical called astaxanthin that is added to salmon and trout feed to turn their flesh a reddish hue.  While it is true that it's not a dye, calling it "natural" is a stretch.  It does occur naturally, but the vast majority of it used in fish feed is synthesized in industrial chemical labs.

There is an active debate about the bioactivity of synthesized astaxanthin, enough so that fish farms that use any form of it are forced to label the packaging with "color added."  Hatcheries, however, would be hard pressed to brand every planter trout with the same warning, so just be aware it could be in there.

That’s interesting info, I’ll have to ask him about that. Would that affect their overall health and appearance as well? His fish definitely appear healthier, fatter and much brighter overall on the new feed. The color of the meat isn’t the only difference, they do eat better too. Maybe a combo of nutritional improvement with that added in?

[Skillet]

He may actually be using a krill feed, which is relatively expensive and might show the other gains you are seeing. I was just wanting to clarify the point about the chemical involved, and referring to its use in commercial fish farms.

[rasbo2]

I raise help raise half a million trout on lake roosevelt, darn strong fish and good eats. grilled is my favorite  way to cook them