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

Utah is one of those Southwestern states that provides anglers with many trout fishing opportunities and species of trout. And Utah trout fishing is excellent in some spots right now - especially in Weber River, Long Park Reservoir, and Fish Lake!

In Utah, anglers can catch rainbow trout, brown trout, brook trout, cutthroat trout, lake trout, tiger trout, and splake trout.

Utah also has an extensive urban fishing program (referred to as community fishing). These lakes and ponds give families a place to spend the day together without a lot of planning and effort. For many kids, these lakes are withing walking or riding a bike distance. Some of these lakes and ponds are designated kids and handicap fishing only.

Want to know where the current hot fishing spots are in Utah? Now you can find out on Utah's Division of Wildlife web site. They have a cool interactive map that pinpoints hot fishing spots in Utah!

On January 1st, 2007 some of the fishing regulations changed in Utah - so be sure to check them out before you go fishing.

Labels: hot fishing spots in Utah, splake trout, Tiger Trout, trout fishing in Utah, Utah, Utah trout fishing