Tiger trout ? Not sure any suggestions

[deaone123]

Broke out the rod for the first time today after a iob interview hit the manasquan river without a touch, then figured id hit spring lake managed a 15 inch 2 1/4 pound trout which i thought was a brook, but after some reserach the lack of spots led me to believe this a tiger trout!!
Im actually quite confused why there was a tiger trout in there if thats what it is but even if its a brook trout i have to say thats preety amazing to.
I only kept it because it was slimier then A eel and i could not grip it so i ran quite a bit to my car for my boga grips and i noticed it was bleeding a lot so i kept it i would have rather released but a fish that will prob die is pointless to release to me.

[Striper Tattoo]

Can't tell if it is a tiger or not, The Shark River Surf Anglers Club stocks Spring Lake every year The club stocks more than 600 rainbow, golden, brown, brook and tiger trout purchased from a New Jersey hatchery. Some of the trout weigh up to 10 pounds. The fish are put into the lake a week ahead of time so they become acclimated to the water.

[deaone123]

Thanks striper tattoo that makes sense, i looked it up its a tiger due to missing the spots and the hatchery they use has them,
I dont know why my pictures are so low quality they are fine on my phone but the quality is horrible on here

[FASTEDDIE29]

That’s a Tiger Trout! Nice catch dude!!!

[Dave B.]

Yup, definitely a tiger. Nice catch, congrats!

[Chrisper4694]

looks like it was in the wild for a good amount of time too, very natural look to it.

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by deaone123

...
...I only kept it because it was slimier then A eel and i could not grip it so i ran quite a bit to my car for my boga grips and i noticed it was bleeding a lot so i kept it i would have rather released but a fish that will prob die is pointless to release to me.

Sorry I missed this part on my initial read-thru. Listen, don't apologize for keeping a legally caught, legal sized fish. All the hype and hoopla over C&R these days is borderline ridiculous when it comes to stocked fish. Keep if you choose, release if you choose. So long as you're following the regs it's strictly a matter of personal choice.
I imagine you would have felt better being able to release this particular fish since tigers are a bit of a rarity, but this one and thousands more like it have come from some private hatchery somewhere and were stocked specifically to be caught. It's not like you were on some gem of a WTS and happened upon a rare wild tiger. Even then though, one of that size would likely be near the end of it's lifespan anyway, so again not necessarily a great moral crime to consume it.

As for the 'slimier than an eel' part, yep. That's the brook trout genes in them. Brookies for whatever reason are much slimier than browns or 'bows. In fact most 'char' seem to share that trait, including lakers.