Tiger Trout (Salmo trutta X Salvelinus fontinalis)
Current record: 11lb 8oz
Water: Alderneuk Trout Fishery, Waterside Farm, Terregles
The tiger trout is a hybrid, brown trout (Salmo trutta) crossed with brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), and it's a genuinely unusual one. The two parents sit in different genera entirely and carry different chromosome counts (84 in brown trout, 80 in brook trout), which is exactly why this cross essentially never happens in the wild. Almost every tiger trout you'll come across has been deliberately produced in a hatchery, fertilising brown trout eggs with brook trout milt, the reverse cross doesn't work reliably.
The name comes from bold, wavy, tiger-stripe markings over an olive-to-gold background, a genuine visual mash-up of the brook trout's intricate patterning and the brown trout's more streamlined shape. No two fish look quite identical either, since the exact traits inherited vary between individuals, part of what makes them such a popular stocked fish for anglers after something a bit different.
They're stocked into lakes, ponds, and streams specifically for that novelty appeal, and they don't disappoint once hooked, aggressive feeders known for hard, sustained fights. Diet and water requirements track their parent species closely: opportunistic feeding on insects, small fish, and crustaceans, and a need for clean, well-oxygenated water like any trout.
Since every tiger trout is hatchery-produced rather than self-sustaining, you'll only find them in waters that specifically stock them, worth checking ahead if you're chasing one in particular.