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Monday, March 1. 2010Fishes of the Week: The Eastern Trout SpeciesA re-post. We'll do the Western species later in the week - It's getting near Opening Day around here, so here's an update on the Salmonidae. For our other pieces on fishing, enter "fishing" in our search space - you will catch some good stuff - along with some random entries. Taxonomy: The family Salmonidae includes a number of cool-water fish subfamilies: trout, salmon, char, grayling, Lake Whitefish, and other less well-known fish. The Brook Trout and Lake Trout are technically members of the Char subfamily of the Salmonidae. Heritage: The aggressive, young-trout-killing Brown Trout is a transplant from Eurasia. The fast-water Rainbow Trout is a transplant from the Pacific watershed. The splendid Brook Trout and the big Lake Trout are the common native game species of the Eastern US, and both are technically Char, not trout per se. At this point, the wonderful game "trout" have been transplanted world-wide, and some have established viable wild populations, as with the trout in Patagonia, where you can even catch New England's Brook Trout today. Anadromy: Most Salmonidae have the capacity, or the preference, to be anadromous - to migrate to salt water until maturity - when they have the opportunity. The Arctic Char, of culinary and cold water fame (anti-freeze in the blood), is anadromous. So is the Steelhead - actually a migratory Rainbow. Salmon are, of course. Sea-going fish grow larger on the rich variety of big-water foods. Interestingly, many land-locked Salmonidae imitate anadromy by entering streams to spawn, and then return to their home fresh-water lakes or just stay put in the streams, if there is enough to eat. The Great Lakes and other large lakes have their own Salmonidae species, such as Lake Whitefish, and Lake Trout which are not found in trout streams. Hatchery fish: When you fish for trout in the East, you are, in all likelihood, catching hatchery fish, not wild, born-in-nature fish. Too many anglers, and not enough habitat, so we pretend we are catching wild fish. Catch-and-release gives your fellow angler a chance, and saves your state government, or your fishing club, money on their hatchery budgets. Still, some wild breeding populations do exist, and fly-fishing with barbless hooks gives every fish a sporting chance to avoid the crushing humiliation of the sportman's net. But I still wonder what would happen if we banned all fresh-water stream fishing for five years. What would we find in our streams? Nothing? Or big, mature breeding trout hunkering under stream banks and fallen logs? We will never know, but I suspect that many of our streams would not support wild trout populations. Other details: - Superb taxonomy website: ITIS Image: Brook Trout, by Denton Comments
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Any blog that uses the word "anadromous" is OK by me.
We have to do a Western fishes entry next... Big and mature are two different things. A mature brook trout can be 4 inches. Big is a function of food and genetics.
Brook trout are an ice age fish-- and as the ice receded in the last 10,000 years so did its range. The east does not have year round mountain snow pack- further diminishing the range of brookies. Brook trout are just as pisciverous as brown trout--but can't withstand the temperatures available to browns. Fire suppression has as much to do in some of the more "pristine" brook trout reserves with the size of brook trout as any other cause. The range of brook trout is dominated by granite bedrock--- which means very little help with alkalinity. Pine Forests make the condition worse and the low pH water where most brook trout are found means very low food production. The natural fire cycle used to allow the soils to be enriched with alkalinity from ash. We stop the fires and have robbed many watersheds of this alkalinity enrichment.. (Please don't say acid rain- all rain is acid and so are most soils -check the pH of peat moss) The giant brook trout of the Adirondack were the result of the early 1900s Adirondack fires. Following the fires we planted a monoculture of pine, the trees grew larger, fire cycle was stopped, pH dropped and brook trout shrank. (Plus pine needles are about the worst food source for aquatic insects needed by the brook trout) Big and mature are two different things. A mature brook trout can be 4 inches. Big is a function of food and genetics.
Brook trout are an ice age fish-- and as the ice receded in the last 10,000 years so did its range. The east does not have year round mountain snow pack- further diminishing the range of brookies. Brook trout are just as pisciverous as brown trout--but can't withstand the temperatures available to browns. Fire suppression has as much to do in some of the more "pristine" brook trout reserves with the size of brook trout as any other cause. The range of brook trout is dominated by granite bedrock--- which means very little help with alkalinity. Pine Forests make the condition worse and the low pH water where most brook trout are found means very low food production. The natural fire cycle used to allow the soils to be enriched with alkalinity from ash. We stop the fires and have robbed many watersheds of this alkalinity enrichment.. (Please don't say acid rain- all rain is acid and so are most soils -check the pH of peat moss) The giant brook trout of the Adirondack were the result of the early 1900s Adirondack fires. Trees grew larger, fire cycle was stopped, pH dropped and brook trout shrank. (Plus pine needles are about the worst food source for aquatic insects needed by the brook trout) Fresh out of the stream into the pan immediately (Trout Blue). High on top of mountains so tall you can see the world. The best.
Yes, love those mountains. So it is the Skykomish, Snoqualmie, Stillaguamish, Skagit, and the Nooksack for this guy. All reasonably close to home. And halibut off the coast, don't forget.
Oh dear--how could I ever forget beautiful, fresh Alaskan Halibut. It seems that everyone who comes to Seattle is enchanted with the Salmon which is availalbe here. Of course, the Copper River is a wonderful treat however, I for one prefer the halibut.
Hey, BD - can I still slip in a Northwestern halibut posting this coming season?
I am fortunate to have locally a number of sustainable wild trout supporting streams, and lots of native brookies. We do tend to attract a cadre of rather dogmatic fly fishing fanatics, as well as the more casual posers and celebrities. The challenges to keeping the waters sufficiently pristine are enormous and growing, however, so we enjoy it while we can.
Bird Dog ... Thanks for explaining the Salmonidae to me. My husband loved the post. He's the fisherman, not me, but your picture of the lovely trout stream in early spring was a pleasure.
How can you be so smart, and handsome too? Marianne I very much enjoyed my days fishing for trout in New Hampshire - mouth of the Cold river, Souhegan, Ashuelot, and Contoocook (Abenaki for river of Shiners).
Sook - are going to do a Western trout or just Northwestern trout. I'd be disappointed if you didn't include Golden trout. |
Fishes of the Week: Th...
Tracked: Nov 03, 02:06
Our guest author (don't know if he wants us to use his name) offers this summary as a companion piece to our summary of the Eastern Trout.Glaciers and mountain-building have created many distinct species of trout throughout the Pacific drainage. To find
Tracked: Jun 09, 06:05
That's your hard-working Editor in the background, fishing in April a couple of years ago. It's time to review some of our good trout posts from the past.For new readers, here's our first post on Fishing Bamboo.And here's a post about Hoagy Carmichael Jr.
Tracked: Mar 28, 19:01