What is the difference between fingerlings and juvenile fish?

Answer 1

Fry are fish just after they are hatched. They are very small and often actually look like dirt in the water. Fingerlings vary in size, but generally are older. Fry are stocked in the early spring as soon as the eggs hatch, fingerlings are stocked in the summer and fall after their chances of survival are greater. Walleye fingerlings are generally finger-sized if stocked in the early summer but may be 5-8 inches if stocked in the fall. Muskie fingerlings can be a foot long when stocked in the fall. Sometimes they wait until the fish actually switch from eating plankton to minnows before they stock them and then their chance of survival is much greater although it is a lot more costly and many hatcheries do not have the facitilites to keep them for an entire season.