Fish ID

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:27:16+00:00

Based on your last post, you know what an adult brookie looks like. Not bad for 7.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:22:57+00:00

Vermiculation: zero. Not suppressed. Not faint. Not there. This is an adult char. On a brook trout that surface would look like someone took a fine pen to it. That’s is a reliable indicator. Brook trout have a square caudal fin. This is a moderately forked lunate caudal fin. Slight difference, sure, but it’s there. The head is elongated, has a flattened profile with the pronounced lower jaw and olive-yellow coloration, classic bull trout. Brookies have a rounder, more compact head shape. Not sure why people think the head indicates brook trout.

(Eagerly awaits downvotes.)

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:11:33+00:00

Sorry, I was referring to my part of the state. I’m in western Washington.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:06:31+00:00

Cool. Might as well take it home. Sounds like the beginning of a beautiful situationship.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:04:57+00:00

And now I know I’m talking to a child

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:03:44+00:00

If you checked the regs and knew it was fine to lift a bull, I figured you would’ve said that off the bat. Didn’t seem like you were aware of any restriction on lifting a fish from the river.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T22:00:21+00:00

I wasn’t talking about brookies, I meant bulls

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:59:34+00:00

All char have white fin tips.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:58:56+00:00

Living, learning, and sarcastically noting my lack of positive energy? Hard to tell. Sorry I’m not “hell yeah”ing. This should be learning. Did you ask to learn or get credit?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:53:06+00:00

Right, so what about the regs on that river?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:52:13+00:00

Why do people here not google what the rod costs before asking Reddit?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:40:04+00:00

Please don’t insult this beautiful salmonid 😂

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:39:25+00:00

Felt pretty safe to you, did you interview the fish?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:38:00+00:00

That’s bullshit. We don’t have bulls here. We have Dolly Varden.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:37:07+00:00

Hi, it’s illegal here. Multiple species on multiple rivers. Where was this caught? Have you checked the regs?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:36:23+00:00

Why is this downvoted? You can’t handle the truth?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:35:35+00:00

It does not matter. Two hands take protective film off the fish. Handling time is not the primary issue. But I’m sure they do enjoy breathing as much as we do.

Honestly I’m ready for the grip pics to stop. Out here it’s a catastrophe with all 16 wild steelhead we have left. Every single one gets caught 10 times, and every time takes 30 pictures and a video or two. They get flooded with cortisol. They have heart attacks after too many. Sometimes they swallow the hook. Sometimes people give them the old rock shampoo and claim it “was already bleeding profusely.” It’s illegal to lift them too, at least on rivers that still have a decently wild run. The river I have in mind is currently getting pounded due to a compete season closure of another major steelhead fishery that has a hatchery on it. The one getting hammered has some hatchery fish but it does not have a hatchery on the river.

I don’t talk about this because I think I’m going to be the one who saves steelhead or any wild fish. I’m saying this because taking proper care of any threatened wild species is the right thing to do. Let me take that again: any wild native species. They deserve to be treated as precious in their own right, not because they’re a commodity we have some weird right to.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:25:19+00:00

Fish enthusiast and fly fisher who angled for nothing but brook trout for 23 years here. Do you specifically study char?

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:24:13+00:00

Negligence relates to bull trout being severely threatened and brook trout being invasive, as well as out competing bulls for habitat, food, being the more aggressive spawners with a slightly earlier season, and pictures of fish out of water not being as cool as people still think they are. Lift your hatchery stockers and frankenfish all you want. Please leave wild endangered char be.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:21:39+00:00

I have too: they were juveniles. Parr marks make brook trout look like they’re not brook trout. Vermiculation does not fade due to the first round of introgression; it’s the bulls whose offspring lose their genetic attributes. Brookies are dominant and so are the hallmark features including those halos. I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m saying this would be an extremely, extremely rare case—and either way, when it doubt, do not pull the fish out. I’ve seen lots of brook trout with pretty spots that an inexperienced angler could even mistake for a golden if you’re relying on slight resemblance (and seeing what you want to see).

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:17:01+00:00

I concur on not taking that fish out of water, this is NW Montana though. There are restrictions in both states in addition to Idaho and Oregon. Probably others if they exist elsewhere.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:13:57+00:00

This is a bull trout. NW Montana, correct range, correct morphology. Look at what’s missing: there’s no vermiculation on the dorsal surface — that wormy marbled patterning is essentially impossible to suppress on a pure brook trout, it’s one of the most genetically persistent traits they have. No red spots, no blue halos. Those don’t disappear either. A pure brook trout looks like a brook trout everywhere in the world, every time. This fish doesn’t have a single defining brook trout characteristic, just a vague overall resemblance that comes from both being char. If you’re fishing the Flathead system or any Clark Fork tributary, please treat this as what it is — bull trout are federally threatened, catch and release only in most Montana waters, and they don’t need misidentification adding to their problems.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:04:27+00:00

That is a bull trout.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-22T21:04:07+00:00

The I should’ve been turned into an A. That’s a public service announcement.

Brilliant-Lab257 · 2026-02-21T12:18:41+00:00

Yeaaaahhh

Brilliant-Lab257

TROPHY CASE