spawning trout

[cat_man]

Hey f4f, those nubs don't come from being eaten. The fins on the undersides of hatchery raised fish get rubbed raw and "sanded" down to nubs by the cement raceways that they live in while in the hatchery. You'll see the same thing in nearly all the 10-12" planter rainbow trout that they release during the warmer months for put-and-take areas. If the fish are release as fingerlings, usually the fins are intact and ok and they continue growing in lakes and reservoirs (as they are planted in Strawberry, the high uintahs, etc.). If they stay much longer than that in the hatchery, they develop those ugly nubby fins.
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