The stocking glossary

The words on a stocking report, in plain English.

Stocking reports are written in hatchery shorthand. These are the terms that actually show up in agency postings, defined plainly. If a report says something we have not covered, tell us: contact@troutstockingreport.com.

Catchable

A hatchery trout stocked at keeper size, usually about 8 to 12 inches. Most put-and-take plants are catchables; agencies often list them simply as 'catchable trout'.

Fingerling

A juvenile fish a few inches long, stocked cheaply in large numbers with the expectation that a fraction grow to adult size in the water. Fingerling plants are an investment in next year, not this weekend.

Sub-catchable

Between fingerling and catchable: stocked small to finish growing in the lake or stream.

Fish per pound

How hatcheries state fish size: 2 fish per pound means half-pound fish. The smaller the number, the bigger the fish.

Put-and-take

Stocking management where catchable fish are planted for anglers to harvest within weeks. The fish are not expected to survive long term or reproduce.

Put-grow-and-take

Stocking smaller fish that grow in the water before entering the fishery, common where summers are cool enough to carry fish over.

Holdover

A stocked trout that survived past its stocking season, usually by finding cold water. Holdovers behave and fight more like wild fish.

Triploid

A sterile hatchery trout with three sets of chromosomes. Because triploids cannot breed with wild fish, agencies use them where protecting wild genetics matters; energy not spent on spawning can also go into growth.

Fin clip

A missing fin, clipped at the hatchery to mark a fish's origin or program, most often the adipose fin. Regulations sometimes differ for clipped and unclipped fish, so it pays to look.

Delayed harvest

A regulation used by several states: a stretch of water is stocked and fished catch-and-release for a set period, then opens to harvest. It concentrates good fishing while it lasts.

Plant

Agency and angler shorthand for a single stocking event, as in 'the truck made a plant at the lower ramp'. Used interchangeably with stocking on this site.

Brood stock

Retired hatchery breeding fish, stocked out at the end of their hatchery life. They are the outsized trout that show up in stocking reports a few times a year and in photos all season.