Species Profile: Brown Trout

As most of you hopefully already know, I am a life-list angler. I target, document, and count the number of species, hybrids, and subspecies I catch, specifically on fly tackle. Because of that I spend a lot of time learning about and fishing for many different species of fish. This means I'm more adept at identifying and fishing for an extremely broad range of species than the average fly angler. This series will attempt to outline species identification, some life history, and methods for targeting with fly tackle. Maybe I'll get to every fish on my life list, but considering it is ever growing... it would take a while. Mostly, I hope this will get a few of you interested in going out and learning about or catching something new. 

It may seem strange that I'd cover such an iconic, classic, well known, broadly written about species in my species profile series, especially given the ones I've covered so far (rock bass, bluefish, sea lamprey, hickory shad), but if you think you know everything there is to know about brown trout, you probably don't. I know I don't. But my quest to learn as much about every species I fish for as possible has lead me down some very interesting paths when it comes to Salmo trutta. There are a lot of misconceptions about, well, almost every fish people like to fish for, but definitely for brown trout. This won't follow the same format as my other species profile posts, but it seeks to do the same thing: teach.

So, let's dive on in.

Fish of Many Flavors

Brown trout come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and behaviors. Throughout their native range in Europe and North Africa, different brown trout populations had a lot of time in a variety of very different habitats to evolve into different strains, sometimes even in the same bodies of water. The amount of genetic variation in the brown trout species is staggering, and so obvious there were times when different strains or groups of strains were considered species onto themselves. In Carl Linnaeus' Systema Naturea in 1758,  three different species were described that today all fall under the singular species, Salmo trutta. Salmo trutta described sea run brown trout, Salmo fario described fluvial brown trout, and Salmo lacustris described lake dwelling brown trout. Other biologists deemed the differences in strains between bodies of water or even the same lakes different enough to be worthy of species or subspecies ranking. Now, the field is a lot less crowded, and we are left with different named strains, like Loch Leven, Seeforellen, Iijoki, and Ferox, to name just some. Each have their own characteristics and even their own behaviors. Which brings me to our first two common misconception: that coloration can in any way be used to determine if a brown trout is wild or stocked, and that all U.S. trout came from "German browns". 

I've been told before that all wild trout will have numerous red spots, buttery yellow color, blue cheeks, and other different permutations and color related nonsense, none of it true. Throw it all out the window. Not all trout we have here in the U.S. are from the same strain, and interbreeding between strains has even further added to the variety of patterns. Not all wild trout have red spots. Loch Leven strain fish rarely if ever do. They are also very often almost silver in coloration outside of spawning time, looking the furthest thing from "buttery yellow". Most sea run brown trout carry the same features, but not all do. My only sea run brown trout wasn't in spawning dress, I caught it in May, but it did have red spots. Or rather, what would have been red spots on a fish that hadn't up until recently spent all of its time in salt water. This fish's spots were a starling purple, and had no halos around them.  Germanic brown trout usually do have red spots, but not all of them do either, wild or stocked. Basically, we've got trout here from Scotland, Germany, England, and Finland, and maybe even more places; they all look different, they all interbreed, and there's no such thing as a rule when it comes to identifying whether a fish is wild or not based on color alone. All of the photos that follow are of wild fish. Look at the variety of different colors and physical features. 

Going Rogue

Giant wild brown trout aren't common, but they are more widespread than some anglers think, and they are often living right under our noses in the places we'd least expect them. Brown trout are restless creatures. As much time as they spend sitting on a lie they also just move around. Be it to look for food, cooler water, better spawning territory or just feed their urge to spread to new waters, brown trout can cover a lot of distance and often end up in places that don't fit what those who don't know any better think of as trout habitat. If a watershed has cold, oxygenated water in one or two places, good spawning conditions, and was historically stocked with brown trout, somewhere there are a few huge wild or holdover browns that just don't get caught, because nobody thought outside the box enough to find and fool them. Almost every year someone catches a large brown somewhere "unusual" in CT and it briefly gets some people talking, but it never goes far. And I'm a little glad it doesn't because there can only be so many people out there hunting rogue browns without making things more difficult, but there's a reason people don't. It's really, really, really hard. These fish are rare. They are big. They are smart. And they don't follow the rules. They often occupy urban water, places where shopping carts and used needles are just as common as the trout themselves, and much more easy to come in contact with. The fish are often piscivorous, often absurdly so, feeding on adult herring, large fallfish, even stocked trout. And they are also almost exclusively nocturnal. If you don't have the wherewithal to play the game, don't even bother trying. But if you are crazy like me, and want to catch a truly big wild or holdover trout, 24-30 inches and possibly touching 10lbs or even more, follow these simple rules and put in the time. It will probably take years to get the monster, but it is worth it. 

1: Select overlooked water.

On rivers with well known stretches, TMA's, or WTMA's, go downstream. You may even have to leave that river for the one it empties into. Go the furthest down you can and still have water that isn't just conducive to holding trout but catching trout, and those do not always go hand in hand. There may be some really big trout in places you just won't be able to fly fish effectively. Focus on the places you can. The water doesn't have to be within a trout's ideal range all year, in fact, all the better if it isn't. There just needs to be somewhere nearby for the trout to go to find cold water when it s needed. Think creek mouths on big rivers, dams, pinch points in coves, bridges in frog water stretches, and riffles or runs in otherwise deep, slow, big water. 

2: Find baitfish. 

If there isn't a ton of small or small-ish fish for your trophy rogue trout to eat, he's not going to be there. In CT, I look at seven fish species as the best indicators when looking for giant browns. American shad, river herring, menhaden, fallfish, white suckers, common shiners, and sculpins. American shad and menhaded are important in late summer or early fall, river herring are important in spring, late summer and early fall, and the rest are important year round. Find where the biggest concentrations of protein are and you'll likely find large browns.

3: Fish at night.

Spring, summer, winter, fall, fishing at night will put you at far better odds at catching big rogue browns. 

4: Just don't stop.

These fish will wear you down if you let them. Don't stop hunting, put your time in and you will get that one fish. I've not gotten mine yet but I've come really damn close a couple of times. It will happen. Persistence is key.

Where Obsession Leads to Destruction

Our love of brown trout as anglers has lead to some serious ecological problems. Throughout the places they've been introduced, brown trout have been responsible for decimating a variety of native populations, from the galaxiids of New Zealand and Australia to different trout species in the Western U.S. Though there is no escaping the fact that brown trout are here to stay, they shouldn't actually be here. We are responsible for preventing them from being spread further and, wherever feasible, extirpating them to restore endangered or threatened native species. Brown trout are spectacular animals, but so is every species we destroyed by introducing them. The ease with which sportsman slip into a one track mind is dangerous and disturbing. Brown trout are great, but don't ignore everything else. 

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