Plan B Unicorn - 1/12/19

[thmyorke1]

Now if it's a brown where is it from? Creek tributary?

[bulletbob]

Were you guys jigging?.. Nice job at rescuing what could have been a skunker of a day. Thats a brown trout..

Best way to tell is the tail.. The Ll has a more forked tail than a brown.. Also a more pronounced dorsal, and the skin coloration is much more silvery, with none of the gold color of a brown trout.
last but not least the salmon "speckles" are always black, not of varying colors like a brown might have, and they aren't round spots like a brown, they are more jagged shaped with a lot of definition against the skin color.. bob

Interesting picture. You should send it to F&G and see what they think. From researching it on line, few points. LL salmon mouths come to middle or rear of eye, brown trout extend beyond rear edge. LL's markings usually end at or above the lateral line and have no makings on the adipose fin or upper tail which your fish doesn't appear to have. LL tail is more forked as others have mentioned, brown more squared. If I had to guess I'd guess it is a colored up salmon but as Bob pointed out what's unusual is no black markings. Males can have red markings, I've attached a picture of the land lock I caught late last year which had a lot of red in it but notice the markings are all above the lateral line. Yours has all red, no black which is odd. To me the biggest issue is the mouth not extending past the eye and a slight forked tail but as others have pointed out coloration is a bit unusual although I've seen brownish spawning male LL's but they've all had some degree of black marks.

Below is a link that explains differences between various trout including browns and Atlantic Salmon.

https://seagrant.sunysb.edu/glsportf...ntario2012.pdf

Again I'd send the picture to F&G and let them weigh in. Possible you discovered a new species, maybe they'll name it a Land Locked Squatch. Either way, nice catch!

[NJSquatch]

Here are some more shots. Click on the thumbnail to bring up the high res image.

[Chrisper4694]

i honestly don't know...i thought it was a salmon seeing it in person til i saw the red dots then i thought it was a brown, but then Justin told me salmon get the red dots this time of year too so i went back to thinking it was a salmon...don't look like a brown trout face either, eyes and mouth.

all i know is it jizzed all over my damn arm and reels...

[reason162]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

all i know is it jizzed all over my damn arm and reels...

Now all you need is a source of brown and salmon eggs...and you'll figure it out...science!

Found this on line.

Landlocked salmon have brown, green or blue backs with many small black spots. The sides are silvery and the dorsal fin also has large black spots. During the spawning season, the colouring becomes more bronze and the males develop red spots on the body.

If I had to guess I would still say with the position of the mouth relative to the eye and dots above the lateral line, this is a young male LL in spawning colors. If you look close, there are some faint black markings and the tail looks slightly forked as opposed to square.

I'd still send it to F&G for their opinion.

[Dave B.]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

i honestly don't know...i thought it was a salmon seeing it in person til i saw the red dots then i thought it was a brown, but then Justin told me salmon get the red dots this time of year too so i went back to thinking it was a salmon...don't look like a brown trout face either, eyes and mouth.

all i know is it jizzed all over my damn arm and reels...

I would agree with you, based on the head and forward body shape my call would be definite LL. Coloration can be affected by a number of variables, body/head shape doesn't change except in the case of stunted fish which this clearly is not.

[bulletbob]

This is an enjoyable thread, and a great one for mid winter when we are sitting around thinking about fishing instead of fishing!


I still say brown, but I have seen too many weird salmon/ trout up here to be 100%.. Even DEC guys have had differing opinions on photos over the years.. they count fin rays and check the vomers in the mouth when these types of things come up.


I hope its ok for all involved that I got my friends from Lake Ontario United involved.. these guys are really adept fishermen and well versed in all types of salmonids and their various color quirks.. These guys troll the Finger Lakes year round and have seen every variation out there as it pertains to brown trout/Landlocked salmon.. The majority say its a brown, but I do think a few guys think it might be a salmon as well .. Its all in good fun anyway, and I think you all might enjoy the input of knowledgeable guys we don't normally converse with here...bob

https://www.lakeontariounited.com/fi...-or-ll-salmon/