Brown trout

Identification and history

Salmo trutta is native to Europe, North Africa and western Asia. The US Fish Commission imported it from Germany in 1883 and stocked Michigan's Pere Marquette River (USGS), and most states followed in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Michigan DNR describes a square tail, light pectoral fins and a broad tongue with large teeth; lake-run fish turn mostly silver, their spots fainter than on stream fish. Brown trout have since been stocked in nearly every state, but USGS notes that natural reproduction is low or absent in many of them, which keep populations going by stocking.

Temperature and spawning

Vermont Fish & Wildlife puts the optimum at 53 to 66°F and says browns can stand water near 80°F for short periods, more than other trout, and they typically hold the lower reaches of cold streams, in deep, slow pools and runs; Michigan DNR gives 50 to 65°F and says browns are the main target in many marginal rivers there. They spawn in fall over gravel at the tail of pools: September and October in Michigan, late October through December in Vermont at 44 to 48°F. Lake fish need tributaries to spawn, and Michigan's lake-run browns gather near stream mouths from late summer.

Feeding and habits

Small browns eat mostly insects; Vermont notes that above about ten inches they shift toward fish and crustaceans, and that mature stream browns feed mainly at night while lake fish feed more in daylight. Michigan lists insects, crustaceans, mollusks, amphibians, small rodents and other fish in the adult diet. Hence the methods Michigan DNR describes: fly fishing after dark during big hatches such as the Hexagenia mayfly, large streamers and mouse patterns, and an expectation that stream browns bite better on rainy or overcast days.

Great Lakes and lake fisheries

Browns in the Great Lakes give some of the earliest open-water fishing of the year: Michigan DNR describes spring fishing from piers, by wading and by trolling inshore with minnow-imitating plugs, often before other species start to bite, and says lake-run adults average about eight pounds. Inland, Vermont stocks browns only in carefully chosen lakes, because they grow large there and eat other fish, including stocked trout.

The mistakes that cost fish

Fishing only the bright middle of the day, when mature stream browns feed least. Walking through spawning gravel in fall and winter: browns dig redds at the tails of pools, and Vermont records incubation of about 148 days at 35°F, so eggs sit in that gravel all winter. And bringing trout tackle sized for small stream fish to the Great Lakes, where Michigan says lake-run browns average eight pounds.

Temperature range

Tackle setups

Playbook by water temperature

The legal season is a separate question

Month by month

Best waters for brown trout

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

Common questions