Trout, native or hatchery?

Tucked away in the mountains, far from any civilization, my 4wt 4pc. Bent over like a thin switch.  Give and take, pull, listen to my reel zing, pull some more.  After 15 minutes, which seemed like eternity, a thick-shouldered rainbow finally surrenders.  Admiring the fish, wishing I had a picture of it, I couldn’t help but think, is this a wild trout or was it hatchery raised?

Wild trout are often found in the off the beaten path lakes and streams of northern Arizona.  Or are they?

Define wild?  To most it often means that the trout were born from spawning in the natural environment.  But don’t some stocked trout live, or shall I say escape and breed in the wild?

Don’t stocked fish rise to midges, little blue-winged olives or even suck up nymphs?  The answer is yes, but do they fight as hard?  99% of people will say yes, but I say most of those 99% have not caught a wild trout.  Yes there are exceptions.

After a year in the lake or river, the fish become so attuned to their environment that the hatchery fades a distant memory and your detectable, unnatural movements signal that it’s time for them to leave.

Lees Ferry monster rainbows.  Wild?  Yes they spawn in the Colorado, but weren’t they introduced into the river?  Yet they still spawn.  Wild?  At best it’s opinionated.

A wild trout to me is one that is challenging to catch, requiring refinement of technique and absolute care in stalking, whether born in a stream or in a natural or man-made impoundment.

As I released that beautiful rainbow, it didn’t matter to me where this creature was hatched.  I was completely satisfied that I was out on the water, doing what I love to do.

- Scott Milkovich