The photographer seems to be associated with Stonycreekanglers in PA. They have a trout nursery for stocking their creek, so I am assuming it is a variety they bought to stock.
Kind of cool coloration. There is getting to be a lot of variations around!
These are heavily stocked in WV and they originated in a hatchery here from a naturally occuring genetic mutation of rainbow, which was then selectively bred. I don’t care for them. I don’t think they fight even as well as typical stockers.
The records in WV for the golden rainbow are considerably below the record for rainbow:
[left]Golden Rainbow
[left]1998 26.4 9.31 Brushy Fork Lake Danny Crider
[left]1993 31.7 11.74 Stonecoal Lake John P. Arnett
[left]I’m not a scientist but I’d guess the genetics are such they can’t quite grow as big as non-deformed ones. Of course, bows get a lot larger some places than they do in WV, so I assume the goldens could get bigger in more fertile waters but probably not as big as the rainbows in those waters. Of course, there is a reason they are exceedingly rare naturally. Being bright and visible is not a good thing in terms of natural selection for prey