Hybrid Game Fish of The Northeast

Tiger trout are a sterile hybrid stocked to provide trophy opportunities for fishermen in trout ponds and streams. Although they are from different genera (brown trout are in the genus Salmo, brook trout are in the genus Salvelinus), they can be produced quite reliably in hatcheries. This is done by fertilizing brown trout eggs with brook trout milt and then heat-shocking them, which causes creation of an extra set of chromosomes and increases survival.

The tiger trout has a light-colored pattern of vermiculation down its sides that is quite different from the spotted patterns displayed by either parent. These markings give the tiger trout its name.

When it comes to behavior, tiger trout more closely resemble brook trout, showing little of the cagey nature of brown trout. Tiger trout are aggressive predators, and will eagerly chase down a lure or baitfish-imitating fly. While they are relatively easy to catch, they can be difficult to locate since they are usually present in smaller numbers than other trout.

Tiger trout grow quickly and can reach large sizes if they have an ample food supply. The world record, caught in Lake Michigan, weighed more than 20 pounds. The largest recorded tiger trout in the Northeast was a 9-pound, 7-ounce fish taken in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts is the only state in the Northeast that currently stocks tiger trout. Private hatcheries do stock tigers in other states for trout derbies or private fishing clubs.

Because tiger trout are rare but aggressive, the best way to find them is to cover water by throwing artificial lures. Jigs, spoons, and stickbaits will all catch tigers, as will streamer flies.

The tiger muskie, a sterile hybrid of a female northern pike and a male muskellunge, has been used by state fish and game programs as a means to control populations of panfish while also creating trophy fisheries. Since the hybrids cannot reproduce, the states can control the number of these top-level predators in a water body.

Tiger muskies are easily distinguished from muskies and pike by their irregular tiger-like stripes. Like muskies and northern pike, tiger muskies are aggressive predators. In waters where both tiger and true-strain muskies are present, tigers often display a little more of a pike’s willingness to bite.

Tiger muskies are stocked in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts. They share the northern pike’s preference for weedy habitat. While pure-strain muskies will often hold on offshore structure, rock, and wood, tigers seem more likely to hold near weedlines or in thick weeds.

Big tiger muskies feed on smaller fish. Typical pike and muskie lures such as bucktails, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, spoons, and soft-plastic baits will all work on tiger muskies, but they seem to prefer smaller-size baits. Matching the forage in the lake can be important, such as fishing perch-colored lures in lakes where they are prevalent.

When fisheries managers in Maine were looking for a hardy fish that would provide excellent put-and-take fishing in some of the state’s waters, they discovered that the cross between brook trout and lake trout was the perfect fish. Called splake—an amalgamation of speckled trout (brook trout) and lake trout—this hybrid char is stocked for its high growth rate and sporting qualities.

Splake are fairly close in appearance to brook trout. The most reliable way to differentiate a brookie from a splake is to look at the tail. Brook trout have a squared-off tail, while the tail of a splake is forked, like a lake trout.

Splake grow faster than either brook trout or lake trout, reaching a length of 18 inches rather quickly. They also have a better rate of survival than stocked brook trout, giving anglers more opportunities to catch fish. Splake have been able to survive in waters where brook trout have not because splake feed on species that tend to out-compete brook trout, such as yellow perch and white perch. They also eat smelt and minnows.

Splake are highly piscivorous (meaning they feed on other fish), resembling lake trout in that regard. While splake are capable of reproducing, reproduction has not been documented outside of a hatchery environment.

Maine is the only state in the Northeast where splake are stocked. They are put into lakes to provide a quality fishing opportunity in waters that would otherwise have very little value to anglers.

In winter, splake spread throughout a lake as they search for smelt and juvenile perch. In the spring and fall, they feed close to the surface, but in the summer, they move deep, preferring water cooler than 60 degrees.

Splake are a popular species for ice fishermen in Maine. They will take a live shiner under a tip-up and also hit jigs. Spring and fall, when the splake are feeding near the surface, is the best time to fish for them. They can be caught on artificial lures cast on light tackle and on flies.

The hybrid striped bass, nicknamed “wiper,” was initially created as a sport fish to be stocked in southern reservoirs with robust populations of gizzard and threadfin shad. Millions of pounds are also produced as food fish in aquaculture facilities in the United Sates. In hatcheries, the most common hybridization is the female striped bass and the male white bass. Wild hybrids do occur, but are usually between male striped bass and female white bass, which produces a slower-growing offspring.

The wiper has a deeper body than a striper, grows larger than a white bass (reaching up to 10 pounds in New Jersey lakes), and has broken stripes on its sides. Some fishermen believe that, pound for pound, hybrid stripers fight harder than true striped bass. In the lakes that they inhabit, hybrid stripers usually roam in packs, hunting schooling baitfish like alewives.

New Jersey stocks hybrid stripers in three waters: Lake Hopatcong, Spruce Run Reservoir, and Manasquan Reservoir. In those lakes, hybrid stripers are often found suspending near baitfish schools or over drop-offs and channels in open water. They rarely move into shallow or heavily weeded areas.

Though hybrid stripers aren’t as likely to come to the surface for a topwater lure as a striped bass, they will aggressively hit jigs and diving plugs. However, the most effective tactic is using natural bait. Live alewives and shiners are the most popular baits for hybrid stripers, but chicken livers can be surprisingly effective when other tactics fail.