Know Your Trout  

In Pennsylvania we can expect to catch three kinds of trout. (I'm not, of course, counting Palomino trout, which are now called Golden Trout by the PFBC, as gross a misnomer as I've ever heard.) The three are Brook Trout, Brown Trout, and Rainbow Trout.

Our native salmonid is the Brook Trout, which taxonomists will be quick to tell you is not a true trout, but a char. This may sound like hair-splitting, but actually provides an easy means of identification: Like its cousin the Arctic Char, the Brookie has ivory spots on a darker background. Every other trout you may catch has dark spots on a lighter background. QED! Fewer brookies are stocked than browns or rainbows. They are less pollution- and temperature-tolerant than the introduced species. In the cleaner streams of Pennsylvania, there are still good populations of wild brook trout. These run small, but fight hard, strike readily, and are a sight to see. A wild brookie has shimmering blue rings around its spots, and translucent orange fins edged with white and black. The Brook Trout, incidentally, is Pennsylvania's State Fish.

Brook trout like attractors, such as the Royal Wulff, San Juan Worm, or the Humpy in fast water. Wild or stocked, they will rise readily, especially to their favorite X-Caddis. Look for them in deep pockets in riffles, or gouged out by deadfalls or rocks. Even the smallest creek may hold a brookie or two in its deepest holes. Deep cover near fast water is the key. Brookies are my favorite trout, both because of their wildness, and because they have mostly retreated from human influence into the remote areas of the State, where they live in surroundings of beauty and solitude. If you catch one in these pristine waters, gently release it to reproduce more of its increasingly-rare kind.

The Brown Trout was introduced from Europe, where it is the native species. Brown Trout pisciculture is centuries old, the first Browns being brought to America in wooden barrels on sailing ships from Scotland and Germany. They are, as the name implies, light brown, with black spots on the upper body. Stocked Browns are often 'washed-out' in color, sometimes with scarred scales and always with ragged fins from contact with concrete raceways. Browns are the most temperature-tolerant trout, surviving in waters that go over 70° F in the summer. They have therefore filled the ecological hole left by the retreat of the Brook Trout, as development and human use have raised the temperatures of America's streams and rivers. In clean streams that seldom reach 75° in summer, Browns hold over to grow even bigger and stronger the following season.

Most places that are free of siltation the Brown reproduces. On stream-bred trout of any species fins are smooth-edged and translucent. The color contrast on naturally-fed (as opposed to pellet-raised) trout is higher, and wild Browns may exhibit a sprinkling of orange or red spots along with their black ones. In short, wild fish just plain look healthier. The wild Brown is a beautiful and game fish, and a real survivor. Release any wild or hold-over Browns. By doing so you hasten the selective breeding of wild Browns adapted to the particular stream you are fishing.

Browns are the most stay-at-home of trout. They pick a territory ('lie') and stay there. They normally prefer quiet water for this. Look for them in the deep areas of pools, hiding under deadfalls, and along undercut banks. Browns are the quarry of hatch-matchers, and become selective readily during hatches. When they are in the mood to rise, though, I find they will often take an Adams or, in summer and fall, a terrestrial. Day in and day out, though, they can be caught most readily on nymphs. Larger Browns have a well-deserved reputation as minnow eaters. The Woolly Bugger's fame was won by its success on these fish.

The Rainbow Trout is native to the western slopes of the Rockies. In its natural environment, it is a spectacularly beautiful fish, a game fighter that spends as much time in the air after being hooked as in the water. But, the vast majority of Rainbow strains are genetically programmed to be anadramous; In other words, Steelheads. They have adapted so well to hatchery rearing, though, that they are the main trout species raised for stocking. However, their heredity defeats the purpose of stocking catchables, for they 'follow their tails', dropping downstream within days of being stocked, instinctively drifting towards the ocean. The PFBC has recently discovered this behavior, which has been known to observant anglers for decades. This resulted in the "Early Opener" for south-eastern Pennsylvania.

Because they do not stay and reproduce in the stream, Rainbows are the best trout for keeping and cooking. Almost every Rainbow you catch will be stocked. Note: One strain of Rainbows does not migrate. This "Shasta River Rainbow" has been stocked in one or two places in Pennsylvania. Look for undersized Rainbows with the clean-edged fins and bright colors of a wild fish. These are EXTREMELY rare, and should be released, as they do reproduce here.

Not all Rainbows raised in hatcheries exhibit the pink stripe from gills to tail that the Rainbow was named for. To tell a Rainbow from a Brown Trout, you may look at the dorsal (back) and tail fins. If there are spots on these fins, you have caught a Rainbow. Keep it with a clean conscience and eat it with pleasure. Rainbows prefer fast water, holding along the rocky bottoms of fast runs and chutes, and in pocket water. Despite their bottom-hugging ways, they can be drawn to the surface during a hatch or by attractors, just like the Brookie. However, like the Brown, I do very well on Rainbows using nymphs. The tiniest of Pheasant Tails attracts their attention even in heavy currents. Especially in Fall, and often right through winter, egg flies work well. Of course, the reliable Buggers and wet attractors like the Green Weenie and San Juan Worm take their share of 'Bows. Just look for those heavy currents, put on a split shot or two, and be confident: The Rainbow Trout are there.

Those are the Big Three Pennsylvania trout. Now that you can identify them and find them, get on out there and catch some!

--Rabbit Jensen--
Spring 2008 Issue