Fishing Forum

Just wondering if others have heard of lightning trout. I believe they are mainly planted in Santa Ana River Lakes in California, but I wasn't sure if they are going to be put into other lakes outside of California. These trout are golden in color and are suppose to fight and taste better than rainbows (subjective).

The fish are actually rainbows that were bred from a rainbow that was very bright in color. I bet they would look really great in a very clear lake on the end of my line.

Thought it was a very interesting looking trout. I saw a picture of one next to a rainbow and you can really notice how bright the lightning trout are when placed next to a regular rainbow. I attached a picture of one I found.

[url "http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/17/SP273673.DTL"]LINK TO ARTICLE[/url]


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Sounds interesting!!! Would be even more interesting if you had really attached a picture so I can take a gander at one of these specimen!!!HAHAHA[]
TS
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They look like common albino rainbows to me.
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Thanks for changing the picture Pat. That was a better picture than the one I had anyways.
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Ditto for me. They are albno rainbows. Very common in utah as planters.[]
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The albino and "lightning trout" look different to me. I have seen some albinos with color but the lightning trout look to be almost completely orange in color. Haven't seen either the albino or lightning trout in person so can't say for sure.

Here is a link to another article about them from last month. The newspaper article had a picture of them showing how different the regular rainbows compared to the lightning trout. The pictures are not included in the online article, unfortanetely.

[url "http://www.ocregister.com/sports/lightning-trout-santa-1982883-ana-river"]http://www.ocregister.com/sports/lightning-trout-santa-1982883-ana-river[/url]
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I have caught albios ranging in color from white to flouro orange. I am cinfident they are one in the same. Maybe TD will clarify things.[cool]
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None of the lightning trout are white. They are orange. I'm sure the genetic alteration that results in albino trout is different than the one that results in the lightning trout color. They are both the same species, but so are regular rainbows. I still think there is something different between the two.
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I'll keep replying to my own post cause I find this stuff interesting. Here is a link to a You Tube video of lightning and rainbows.
[url "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWd42xmy6Fg&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWd42xmy6Fg&NR=1[/url]

I also found a picture and article about blue trout. Come on Lunker, you can't say these are one in the same[sly]. In the journal article they make reference to different strains of rainbows which inlcude albino and golden rainbow trout (not to be with golden trout Oncorhynchus aguabonita). I bet the golden rainbow trout are the same as the lightning trout.
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Sorry man, but they are Albinos. Here is a pic of a huge Albino Rainbow that BFT member McLennon caught. It looks identical to your "Lightning trout".

[inline "McLennon's Albino.bmp"]

All of the Albinos that I have caught are this orange color. I actually have never seen a white albino, the are all this orange/yellow color.
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Cabelas has trout of this color scheme and so does Clear Springs trout farm in Buhl, ID. If you don't already know, trout(and all other species for that matter) change colors to adapt to their surroundings. Look at the difference in a brown from a river and a brown from a lake. The color differences will be very noticible. Same with LMB and SMB. A smallie from pineview looks different than one from Lake-X. I am not convinced on either the lightning or the blue trout. I hear people all the time comment about the "golden" trout swimming in the pond. Golden trout look absolutely nothing like an albino. It is lack of knowledge on their part. If they were indeed their own species then IGFA would acknowledge them. I don't see either. Need more man.[]
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Yes need more, man[]. So the scientific journal articles seem to think there are differences. Even if there are similarities between the two, doesn't mean that there are not differences. And yes lunker, I understand that the same species of fish in different lakes can look different. You make it seem like I am not educated and ignorant of what is blatantly obvious. I wasn't looking for an argument. I thought the other BFTers would find this interesting.

You and hookjaw are stating that there are no differences like this is a fact. Hookjaw shows one picture and states that is all there is too it. I tend to be a little more flexible in my thinking.

What I am saying is that I see differences and scientific journal articles are using different terms for the two. Albino, palomino and wild-colored trout are both used in the following articles. Palomino is the golden colored rainbow trout.

[url "http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/5/405"]http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/5/405[/url]

[url "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/jai/2000/00000016/00000003/art00147"]http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/bsc/jai/2000/00000016/00000003/art00147[/url]
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I am not calling you ignorant at all. I am just skeptical because this certain body of water is the only one that calls them lightning trout and that they are any different than albinos. The IGFA like i said has no entry for either and i can't find any more info than what you have posted. That is all i can find on a search too. If you can find solid scientific proof of the said species i will stand corrected. I am not trying to start a battle, just want the truth.[cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]Happens every time. Somebody posts a fish picture and everybody has to become an instant authority. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The group that developed the "lightning" trout could have named it the "Sick Looking Pale Trout". But they didn't. They are in business to sell fish to private lakes, etc., so they gave it a snappy name. Could have called it the albino trout. But they didn't. Not a true albino anyway. it's all about marketing. "Hot" names sell more fish. Wimpy names don't.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are several varieties of "golden rainbows" pruduced in different hatcheries around the country. They are mostly the result of genetic engineering to get the desired shade of orange, or pink or whatever. It is doubtful that any of those strains produced independently are exactly the same, but they have similar appearances and they all start with pure strain rainbows...or at least purchased brood stock from one of the other funky hatcheries. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]So, all of you are not wrong and all of you are not right. The fish is what it is and it doesn't matter if it looks something like the fish we catch in Utah and call them something else.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sheesh.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]I am editing in three pics from a BFT tuber in Oregon who fishes for the "golden rainbows" they stock in some of the lakes over there.[/#0000ff]

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Lunker. if you look in my post above I clearly state that these are all the same species. I make no claim that this is a different species. What I am saying is that there are differences among the three trout (albino, golden and regular rainbows). Albino is still the same species as regular rainbows but you tend to see a difference. Not sure what you base that on.

Lightning trout is just a term that is used for these rainbows which I stated I believe to be the same thing as the golden rainbow trout. I think whether it's the blue, golden, or albino, they are all novelty rainbow trout.
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Thanks for putting it so simply.

If they want to call the genetically altered rainbow trout a "lightning trout" or a "Super duper bright orange with a light pink stripe trout" then that's fine with me. [cool]
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Ok I was skeptical and thought it was another name for those good old albinos, but if you look more closely at the eyes.....in TD's last three pics.....this does look like a separate strain of albino. Our albinos have pinkish corneas in the eyes. These lightning or whatever the heck you want to call them seem to have normal colored eyes, not pinkish. Coloration is pretty much the same.....caught dozens of 5lb fish colored exactly like Mclennon's and the lightning trout at a community pond a few years back. But the eyes were all pinkish. No pics, i would have to scan them onto a computer or something.....all hard copy prints. But yeah, I almost thought it was just an albino too at first, haha.
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Regardless of what kind of trout it is or what strain that it came from it is still a trout no matter what you name it!!! In my opinion if I was fishing and had one of these at the end of my line I would probably freak the "F" out and cut the line and let it go. The damn thing looks freaky and ghost like, matter of fact I think I am going to have nightmares because of some of the pictures that you guys have posted!!! How do these taste compared to other trout? You dont have to cut/fillet it at a difficult angle or you will poison yourself do you? The thing just looks to "sickly" to me. Just curious, but if fish adapt to their surroundings by changing their appearance, where the hell are people catching these things from??? Lakes of MILK??? Should name it the Ghost Trout!!!
TS
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My friend actually caught a lightning trout from Santa Ana River Lake and the meat is different. It is pinkish and it tastes very different from a regular trout. Tastes more like a salmon... I think it's different from an albino trout because I don't think albino trouts have pinkish meat..or do they?
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[cool][#0000ff]These "Frankenstein" trout (laboratory created) would taste like any other trout after they had a chance to live for awhile in a lake and adapt to the local food source. However, in many of the waters from which they are caught they are harvested soon after planting. That means that their flesh will have the taste and appearance acquired from dining on whatever they were fed at the hatchery. Some hatcheries feed special blends of nutrients designed to produce fast growth and quality flesh. Others feed pellets that make the fish grow fast but do not necessarily create firm pink meat that tastes good on the table.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In other words, you can't paint those trout all with the same brush. There can be wide variations in appearance, fighting ability and in the look and taste of the flesh. And "taste" is a subjective thing, anyway. Unless you gathered specimens of all these different fish, and prepared them the same way, and had trained testers sampling them, you could say anything. And, what does "tastes different" mean?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Only in a few well managed waters, without natural predators and with catch and release programs, do the light colored rainbows survive long enough to live a natural existence. But, wherever they do set up long term residence they usually gain a reputation for being more difficult to catch than regular hatchery pet rainbows...and for putting up a good fight. [/#0000ff]
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