# Tiger trout color



## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

I was fishing a norther Utah reservoir earlier this year and caught quite a few tiger trout. I noticed that their color varied quite a bit . Some were a drab silver/gray while others were a bright yellow/ brown with even brighter orange belly stripes . All had the distinctive tiger spot markings. Can anyone tell me what determines the color of tiger trout? I did notice that the bigger ones all had the yellow/brown/orange color.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Since tiger trout are a hybrid some tend to display the male brook trout characteristics and some resemble more of the female or brown trout side.

The darker more colorful tigers you mention are showing more of thier brook trout colors and will usually have a more hook shaped jaw. The ones that look more silver are showing more of the female brown trout side of their genetics. Brookies have a bit of silver in them too, so it's hard to say that this is always the case.

Great looking fish. I love brookies and browns so it's not a bad mix in my opinion. Tough fighters and good table fare as well!


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Here's a couple of pictures to show how much the colors on these fish can vary.



















Caught at the same place on the same day.

.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Even though tigers are a sterile hybrid fish, they do go through a false spawn and just like all trout and char, color up during this time. The males especially will put on some gaudy coloration. Where I have caught a lot of tigers, it has seemed that they also don't falsely "spawn" at the same time, so some will be colorful and others quite pale at any given moment. 


As an aside, a buddy and I harvested a number of tigers through the ice at a popular tiger water one year. When we cleaned the fish, we found that the pale colored fish had much redder meat than their showy counterparts and tasted a touch better too. I suppose this isn't surprising since spawning trout usually don't taste as good, but I wouldn't have expected it to affect the meat color.


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## sawsman (Sep 13, 2007)

Catherder said:


> As an aside, a buddy and I harvested a number of tigers through the ice at a popular tiger water one year. *When we cleaned the fish, we found that the pale colored fish had much redder meat than their showy counterparts and tasted a touch better too.* I suppose this isn't surprising since spawning trout usually don't taste as good, but I wouldn't have expected it to affect the meat color.


My observations have been the same. Tasty red flesh on those silvers..


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

Female tiger trout will fight much harder and have far better quality meat at all times of the year. Seems like the males will have a more yellowish meat, whether going through a false spawn or not. The silverish, mid-sized females have always been the best table-fare IMO. The ones from Huntington are particularly delish.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

With females, the odds are pretty good that the meat will be great. Nice and red. Males are a crap shoot though. You never know what to expect, but I've had a good amount of both tasty red and mushy yellow.-O,-

They sure are pretty though.



From a northern Utah tiger lake:





The females, with their white bellies, shiny muted color, and long thick bodies. The rib meat on a good sized female tiger is pure gold. 1-1.5" thick and mmm, mmm tasty.



This one was also from a northern Utah tiger lake.


_____

It's not just tigers though. Males of any salmonid species will usually display more vibrant colors and an overall pointier appearance than females, with tend to be long and tubular with rounded snouts and shorter lips.

Sometimes I get a little confused when dealing with the mutant freak tigers, but it's generally pretty easy to tell based on that color and body shape.

That last tiger pictured looked pointy like a male, but had the coloration of a female. I ate it, and the meat was perfect female flesh. Tigers are delicious, especially fried in bread crumbs and Parm.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

campfire said:


> I was fishing a norther Utah reservoir earlier this year and saw quite a few anglers. I noticed that their color varied quite a bit . Some were a drab pasty white while others were a bright, healthy brown -- some even had brighter orange hair stripes . All had the distinctive angler markings. Can anyone tell me what determines the color of anglers? I did notice that the bigger ones all had the reddish stretch markings on their bellies.


That's the funny thing with all of us, including fish. We're all unique. Different lifestyles, diets, activity levels, etc.

fish aren't much different. You're going to find individual differences with all fish. Some are dark, some are light. Some are very colorful, while others not so much. Things can change quickly too -- based on diet, temperature, etc.

Take the crustaceans away from a flamingo for a week, and you'll have a white flamingo. It's still the same flamingo.


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