My wife has a cousin who, like many anglers, lives for opening day — of trout season. He loves native brook trout (he pronounces trout with a long “o”).
Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) inhabit spring-fed streams, beaver ponds, lakes, and rivers. They thrive in cold, oxygen-rich waters. And it is the only trout native to the eastern U.S.
When brook trout disappear from streams, it’s often because the water temperature has increased due to poor forestry practices, overgrazing near streams or suburbanization. Consider brook trout the “canary in the coal mine” of water quality.
Unlike many life histories, the brook trout story begins in the fall, typically in October when days shorten and water temperatures dip to 39 to 49 degrees Fahrenheit.
Hormonal changes in male brook trout cause their bellies and lower fins turn crimson. The blue-haloed red spots that dot the brookie’s sides sparkle. Bright white bands line the edges of the fins. And their lower jaws grow and turn upward, though not as obviously as other members of the trout family.
The female’s outward appearance changes little. Internally, however, females turn into egg-making machines. Along the shores of beaver ponds, small rivers and even the tiniest spring-fed mountain streams, females choose the spawning site. The gravel and stones that will hold the eggs range from pea to walnut size. And most importantly, there must be an upwelling of ground water directly beneath the nest or at least a current to carry away silt and sediments.
When a female finds a site that meets her needs, she builds the nest, or “redd,” as ichthyologists call it. She nestles herself tightly against the stream bed and anchors herself with her caudal fin. Then she violently swims in place, writhing her body back and forth. The hydraulics of her movements creates a saucer in the gravel and stirs up a cloud of debris — tiny particles of sediment, organic matter and insects that get swept away by the current. A clean nest enables oxygenated water to bathe the eggs after spawning.
The female’s nest-building activity attracts a dominant male to the redd. When the female is ready to spawn, she drags her anal fin through the nest. The male swims by her side. In an act that lasts just a few seconds, the female opens her mouth widely and arches her back. Likewise, the male gapes, and a shiver-like action wracks his body. Simultaneously, the female releases 15 to 60 eggs, and the male discharges a dose of milt (sperm). The milky cloud settles into the redd, and the spawn is complete. Typically 80 to 90 percent of the eggs are fertilized.
The male leaves immediately, perhaps to search for another mate. The eggs absorb water, swell, sink to the bottom of the redd, and become slightly sticky. The female completes the nest by using her fins to shovel a load of clean gravel atop the fertilized eggs. Then she moves on to build another redd. Over the entire spawning season, females lay a total of 400 to 600 eggs.
The eggs overwinter in the redd and hatch in early March. In 35-degree water, eggs hatch in about 144 days. At 40 degrees, incubation takes just 103 days. After hatching fry remain in the redd until their yolk is absorbed. This can take 23 to 80 days, depending on temperature.
Small fry less than an inch long feed on macroscopic crustaceans. At an inch in size, they switch to a diet of larval insects. At four inches they feed on adult insects, and finally switch to small fish when eight inches long. Adult brook trout eat anything they can swallow. Their diet includes mostly fish, but also includes frogs, salamanders, snakes and even mice and shrews. Brook trout are sight feeders and feed most actively early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
The growth rate of young brook trout varies with latitude and habitat. In lakes and beaver ponds, brook trout can reach three to four pounds in three years. But in a cold mountain streams, a seven-inch brook trout is considered a trophy.
— Send questions and comments to
Dr. Scott Shalaway, 2222 Fish Ridge Road, Cameron, WV 26033,
or by e-mail via my website, http://scottshalaway.googlepages.com
Outdoors
Anglers all over live for opening day
- Outdoors
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Hunting has become more mainstream
As sportsmen, we live by an ethical code of conduct. We are taught by our mentors not to take our way of life for granted and to be aware of our actions as not to cause offense to others. In short, we are taught to behave in a manner as to not make a non-hunter into an anti-hunter.
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Birding among outdoor passions
If you love the outdoors, there are probably some activities you like better than others. Maybe it’s trout fishing or deer hunting. My passion is birds. I love the spring migration when new species return almost daily.
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Setting the record straight on rabbits
Thanks to cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, the rabbits we see in our backyards, eastern cottontails, are familiar to almost everyone. And yet I suspect that most people think they are rodents. They are not. Rabbits and hares are lagomorphs, members of the mammalian order Lagomorpha.
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Fickle weather can wreck plans
Well, it’s officially spring. We have “sprung forward” into daylight saving time in hopes of long, sunny evenings to play and work outdoors in the glorious, warm rays of the sun. In return for our daily routines being altered by the time change, we are awarded with unpredictable weather and mud season — gee, thanks!
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Black deer among nature’s rarities
A few weeks ago, Joan Robinson contacted me after she noticed something out of the usual while driving along a Hampshire County backroad in the Eastern Panhandle. It was so unusual she even questioned herself at what her eyes were actually seeing.
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Male half of nesting eagle pair feared dead
One of southern West Virginia’s much-loved and only confirmed pair of nesting American Bald Eagles is suspected dead and the pair’s eggs located at the tip of Brooks Island off W.Va. 20 are in jeopardy.
Wendy Perrone, executive director of Three River Avian Center, said National Park Service Law Enforcement was notified that an Amtrak train hit the eagle Sunday around 10:30 a.m.
Since Sunday, the Park Service, Three Rivers and dedicated volunteers have scouted the track and surrounding area from Brooks Island to Sandstone Falls, but no one has recovered the bird. The male bird, affectionately called Whitey, has also not returned to the nest, leading experts to believe he was killed. -
There is help for anglers getting started
According to statistics from the National Surveys of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, which are published every five years, the number of anglers in the U.S. is in a steady decline. Over the last 20 years the number of anglers has dropped from 35.6 million in 1991 to 33.1 million in 2011.
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Beckley among places to ‘talk turkey’
This past week brought us snow and rain. Like my kids are fond of saying in a very sarcastic tone, “Really?” For the sportsmen in our area, the last couple of days of winter can be a downtime in the action. For those needing to scratch the hunting and fishing itch, I have a little news that might just do the trick.
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‘How do robins survive winter conditions?’
Winter must be winding down because I’m getting letters and e-mails about winter robins.
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Sequester impacting hunting, fishing industries
A news release from Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.) Communications came across my desk this week, and I felt the information was worth sharing.
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