Brown Trout Salmo trutta
Brown Trout salmon family Salmonidae.
The Browns originally came from Germany but they sure have thrived in the U.P. The U.P. has many waters designated by the State of Michigan as Blue Ribbon Trout Streams for brook and brown trout .
In 1884 they were introduced to the Pere Marquette River a tributary to Lake Michigan. As brown trout were later introduced all over the Great Lakes and the rest of the Northeast, they eventually displaced the more fragile native brook trout in many rivers.
Brown trout are good to eat, but they have a very strong fishy flavor which may not be to everyone’s taste.
Brown trout can be caught by using various baits and lures including earth worms, crickets, grasshoppers, flies, spoons, jigs and spinners.
Brown Trout prefer cold, clear water with plenty of cover, such as rocks and logs, and they often hide in the shadows of overhanging vegetation.
Brown trout spawning season begins in October and goes into December. If possible brown trout will swim up into headwater areas to spawn.
Unlike Pacific salmon, brown trout and brook trout do not die after spawning. Most will spawn multiple years and often near the same place.
Hybrid Trout and variants come from mixing Brown, Book, and Lake trout making Tiger and Splake Trout. Rainbows can split to steelhead trout in the great lakes or live in local rivers as rainbows.
Tiger Trout are the result of the mixing of female brown trout and male brook trout while Splake occur when a female lake trout and a male brown trout pair.
