Quite a few species of fish are given the common name of trout and are fresh water fish from the salmon family, salmonidae. All fish that you can properly call trout are from the subfamily salmoninae. Salmoninae is used for all three species of the sub family. Salmo, which is the Atlantic species, Oncorhynchus, which is the Pacific species and Salvelinus which can be called Char which includes the brook trout. To be successful in brook trout fishing you should have some knowledge of trout nature and the environment it lives in.
Probably the best tasting trout is the brook trout and can usually found in the colder moving waters in Rocky Mountains. A few years ago I caught them in Michigan's lower peninsula but now it's mostly in the upper peninsular. They like fairly fast moving water in the 57 to 60 degree Fahrenheit temperature with a great amount of oxygen such as creeks and pools that is spring fed and have a gravel bottom for spawning spawning. They can be found in the cover of undercut banks and under logs and rocks. The bigger and older brook trout will be in the bigger and deeper pools and go to shallower water to feed.
Brookies , the nick name for brook trout, can live to be about eight years old. They have a long body and a large mouth that goes back past their eyes. Their body color is usually blue grew, olive or black but their belly is normally silvery white. To me they are one of the most beautiful trout of them all with their brilliant red dots with blue halos and their lower fins with the striking white edge. They also have a spotted dorsal fin and worm like markings on the back called vermiculations. The male brook trout can have very bright orange red along their sides during their breeding time in the fall. I don't think you have a hard time identifying these beautiful fish once you see one.
You have to be very careful when fishing for brook trout. Walk softly along the bank and don't make splashing noise while wading. Cast towards the bank where there is cover for the trout and if it seems shallow you would be surprised where brook trout can hide. Brook trout will eat a large assortment of bugs, flies, worms, terrestrials and zoo plankton. You can use spinners, spoons, wet and dry flies or any thing that will imitate grasshoppers, crickets or any terrestrial insect that live along side the water you are fishing.
Eugene Killian
