Trout Fishing Tips

Splake trout are produced when a female Lake trout mate with a male Brook trout. These hybrid trout are mostly man-made and were originally developed to enhance trout fishing opportunities in Canada.

Like most hybrid trout, splake trout tend to grow faster and survive longer. Splake feed heavily on crustaceans and insects during early life, and other fish later in life. Because these trout tend to school, if you find one, you're likely to find others.

Since splake trout are a hybrid between brook and lake trout, they tend to have characteristics of both species. Their tails are slightly forked (but not as much as lake trout), and their spots tend to be whitish or slightly pinkish.

Unlike many hybrids, splake trout are able to reproduce and while they prefer the gravel beds usually used by brook trout for lake spawning, in the absence of these it will use the boulder shoals favored by lake trout.

Splake are usually mature in their third year of life and their spawning period falls closer to that of the brook trout in late October or early November.

In addition to Canada and the Great Lakes, you'll also find splake trout in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

By the way, in case you were wondering, the largest splake trout, currently on record weighs 20 pounds 11 ounces (9.38 kg) . It was caught in Georgian Bay Ontario Canada in 1987 by Paul Thompson.

Labels: Hybrid Trout, splake, splake trout

Even though you may never seen one, I thought I would share some information on brake trout since many anglers have never heard of them.

Brake trout are a hybrid trout - a cross between a female brown trout and a male lake trout.

Utah fish hatcheries started producing brake trout in 1993 as part of a hybrid experimentation program. Since brake trout are more resistant to whirling disease, it was hoped these trout could be released into infected waters and survive better (and thereby increase trout fishing opportunities for anglers).

Like many hybrid trout, most brake trout were sterile due to the fact of how they were produced (i.e, eggs were heat shocked). Some non-sterile brake trout were produced successfully, but they tended to have lower hatch and survival rates.

In addition to these difficulties, there was a problem with cannibalism - where larger fish were eating the smaller fry.

Due to all these difficulties, the program was discontinued in 1997. It wasn't cost effective to continue to the program. The last stocking of brake trout took place at Mill Meadow Res and Porcupine Res.

Labels: brake trout, Hybrid Trout

Tiger trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are a hybrid species that occur when a brown and brook trout mate. These trout get their name because of their tiger-like markings. You can see a really good photo of a Tiger trout by clicking here.

Tiger aggressive predators who like to eat smaller fish. And since they're known for putting up a good fight, anglers enjoy catching them.

Many fish hatcheries have started breeding Tiger trout in an effort to help control some of the competition (like chubs) faced by some game fish. Due to their aggressive nature and willingness to hunt prey in shallow waters, it's thought that Tiger trout might survive better than other species.

However, Tiger trout are sterile and unable to reproduce. Thus it's up to hatcheries to keep reproducing them.


Tiger trout can be found in many states and other countries including:

• Pennsylvania
• Nevada
• Utah
• Colorado
  
• New Jersey
• Ohio
• Montana
• Wyoming
  
• Washington
• Connecticut
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• West Virginia
• South Dakota
• Saskatchewan
• England
• Australia
• New Zealand

When fishing for tiger trout, follow the same trout fishing tips used for other species. Lure, artificial flies, worms and PowerBait are all effective bait sources. Remember that tiger trout like to eat smaller fish, so using jigging techniques with flashy lures often work well.

When ice fishing for tiger trout, try using an ice fly tipped with a piece of mealworm or nightcrawler. Many anglers like to fish using two hooks (each with different bait) until they figure out what works best.

Labels: Hybrid Trout, Tiger Trout

As mentioned yesterday, hybridization is the interbreeding of trout species. Many fish (especially trout) interbreed with other species. Over time, this can lead to a species' survival being threatened.

Arizona is home to the Apache and Gila trout. With the exception of the Gila trout (which can also be found in New Mexico), these twp species don’t exist anywhere else in the world. Due to hybridization, their survival has been threatened and they’ve been on the Endangered list since 1967.

But thanks to the Arizona Fish and Game Department teaming up with other organizations, these two species not only survive today, but are making a comeback!

These agencies have been sterilizing certain rivers and lakes to kill off unwanted fish and plant Apache and Gila trout into these waters. In doing so, these trout species have an opportunity to survive and repopulate the waters.

In 2006 the Arizona Fish and Game Department sterilized the West Fork of the Little Colorado River to remove Rainbow and Brook trout which were threatening Apache trout. Once it's been confirmed that Rainbow and Brook trout have been successfully removed, the river will be restocked with Apache trout.

The process of sterilization is very safe and interesting. A very small concentration of an EPA approved chemical (Antimycin) is introduced into the river. Antimycin is actually an antibiotic developed for human use. In this case, it interferes with the fish's ability to exchange oxygen within its cells; thereby removing unwanted fish from the stream. At specific doses, it can remove some fish without affecting others.

Antimycin is neutralized by applying potassium permanganate, which oxidizes the Antimycin. After a couple days, fish can be restocked.

One of the biologists involved in the project told me that they hope to take Apache trout off the Engendered list by next January.

If you'd like to read more about the Apache trout recovery project, click here.

Labels: Hybrid Trout, hybridization

Most people are familiar with Rainbow, Brown and Brook trout. You may even have heard of Steelhead, Golden, and Lake trout. But have you ever heard of Splake or Brake trout?

These are hybrid trout. When more than one species of trout exists in the same body of water, they sometimes interbreed. The offspring are hybrids.

Some common hybrid trout include:

1. Brownbow - which is cross between a male Brown trout and and female Rainbow trout


2. Splake - which is cross between a male Speckled (Brook) trout and a female Lake trout


3. Brookinaw - which is cross between a female Brook trout and a male Lake trout (Lake trout are also called Mackinaw trout)


4. Brake- which is cross between a female Brown trout and a male Lake trout


5. Tiger - which is cross between a Brown and Brook trout

Many of these hybrids are produced in fish hatcheries. Splake trout, for example, have only been successfully produced in hatcheries. They've been around since the 1870's.

Splake trout are primarily stocked in Canada and northern U.S. states. These trout are very similar in appearance to Brook trout. The primary difference is that the tail in Splake trout is more forked than in Brook trout.

Brake trout have been produced in Utah hatcheries since 1993. But due to difficulties in the program and low success rates this hybrid program was terminated.

Brownbow trout are also very prevalent in Utah. It's been rumored that these trout may be blind due to cataracts on their eyes.

While it does happen, hybridization is not always a good thing. You can read more about this in my next post.

Labels: brake trout, brookinaw, brownbow, Hybrid Trout, splake, Tiger Trout