Brook trout

Identification and biology

Salvelinus fontinalis is a char rather than a true trout. Michigan DNR and Vermont Fish & Wildlife describe worm-like vermiculations on an olive to dark back, red spots with bluish halos on the sides, and lower fins edged in white, then black, then orange-red; spawning males turn bright orange-red on the lower sides and grow a slightly hooked jaw. The native range covers eastern Canada and runs south through the Great Lakes, upper Mississippi and the Appalachians to northern Georgia (USGS). Brook trout have been stocked far outside it, and in parts of the West USGS records them replacing native cutthroat and, through hybridization, threatening bull trout.

Small fish, short lives

Stream brook trout grow slowly. Vermont reports they rarely pass three or four years of age and that many headwater streams rarely produce fish over six or seven inches; Michigan gives 7 to 9 inches as a typical stream size and a lifespan that seldom passes six years. Lakes and ponds grow bigger fish: Maine IFW reports an average of 13.3 inches for three-year-olds in its lakes, Vermont records pond fish over 20 inches and five pounds, and Michigan's Great Lakes coasters can reach 25 inches and 10 pounds.

Cold water above all

Vermont Fish & Wildlife calls water temperature the most important factor in brook trout habitat: they thrive from near freezing to about 65°F, do best at 55 to 60°F, tolerate brief spells up to 72°F and die after a few hours at 75°F. Michigan notes that by summer they often move up into headwater tributaries in search of colder water. In ponds, Vermont says they seek cold spring upwellings in hot weather rather than going deep, while Maine IFW finds lake fish at 10 to 35 feet in summer, so where to look depends on the water.

Spawning

Brook trout spawn in fall, late September through November in Vermont and October and November in Michigan, when water cools to 40 to 50°F. They pick gravel over groundwater upwellings in streams and spring-fed spots in ponds, and Maine IFW has documented large Moosehead Lake fish spawning along the shoreline from mid-November into January. Eggs spend the winter in the gravel, about 45 days at 50°F and up to 165 days at 37°F by Vermont's figures, and Michigan stresses that they need silt-free, oxygen-rich water the whole time.

The mistakes that cost fish

Fishing a stream that is too warm: past the 72°F that Vermont gives as their brief limit, a released fish is at risk. A loud approach in small water, where brook trout hold under logs, boulders and undercut banks close to where you stand. And overlooking small water: Maine IFW notes that in northern Maine brook trout turn up in almost any stream with a source of cold water.

Temperature range

Tackle setups

Playbook by water temperature

The legal season is a separate question

Month by month

Best waters for brook trout

44 waters we report on where this species is one of the main fish, each with a daily report.

Common questions