Rainbow trout with a fork tail?

[gdn443]

Well some peaple call it a steelhead, but does anyone know why the tailfin has a notch? Did I get some mutant ninga trout?

[inline "forked tail troutRJ.JPG"]

Edited to resize photo.
[signature]

[duke-i]

Spent a lot of time on the net and did not come across any rainbows or steelheads with a notch in the tail fin. You may have caught one that may have got the tail end of the bite (lol) I have had rainbows in my pond fore a long time. have not seen one with a notch yet. But I get a lot of trout fisher persons in the shop[ and will be asking them your question, maybe I can come up with some kind of answer.
[signature]

[tubeN2]

That looks like an identifier from a hatchery. Some of the hatcheries will trim the tail whereas others will clip the adipose fin. The one in the picture has the adipose fin intact but also has the squared edges on the tail that are commonly associated with the hatchery pets.[cool]
[signature]

[gdn443]

Did some research today and your right TubeN2 it was a stocked breeder thats been in there over a year. The other fins had grown back and the tail didn't have time to. Will be mounted on drift wood and the tail filled in. Looked ugly. The guy is renouned in the area and was only $37.00 more than Cabelas replica. Thanks for the help guys.
[signature]

[Dryrod]

[font "Poor Richard"][green][size 3]That can't be natural. The ends of the caudel fin [tail] is cut squared. Somebody must have been messing with this poor creature.[/size][/green][/font] [inline "Dry rods photoRJ.JPG"]

Edited to resize photo.
[signature]

[tubeN2]

Only in CA does the DFG mess with trout to disfigure them. In other states they seem to cross breed them to the point of self disfigurement. The trout in the picture is a sure sign of some Fish and Game employees boredom.[cool]
[signature]

[theangler]

Hello GDN,
Great fish even if the tail is a bit tweaked![]
[signature]

[gdn443]

The guy doing the job for me will fill in what's missing. I'll still hang a pic next to it of what it looked like when I pulled it in. Sad a fish like that had to be hacked up by hatchery personal.[crazy] You never know what will come up when Bass fishing. [cool]
[signature]

[RedneckLureGuy]

This is what it should look like

[inline 100_0260R.JPG]

Edited to reduce photo size for easier viewing.
[signature]

[Fishhound]

Regardless of it's small out of the ordinary details, that is a nice looking catch.
[signature]

[Snags_Alot]

Kinda reminds ya of this fish:


[url "http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://i500.nopdesign.com/skins/wallpaper/Blinky.jpg&imgrefurl=http://page2.macrumors.com/t.php%3Fl%3D1%26t%3D168561&h=160&w=160&sz=6&tbnid=E9Lzv4-q_qySaM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=92&hl=en&start=91&prev=/images%3Fq%3DBlinky%26start%3D80%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN"][/url]

No Really Nice fish!
[signature]

[gdn443]

There's still some more of those bad boys in Vt Fishhound. Next we want to see a picture of yours. Bring it home. The wife has agreed to let me hang it in the kitchen. Redneck kitchen, YeeeHaaaa
[signature]