Trout

Like most of us who fish for them, brown trout are of European ancestry. Scientists believe they first appeared in the cold waters of the Arctic region seventy million years ago. They think brown trout swam ahead of the glaciers at the start of the ice age and populated waters in Europe, Asia and northern Africa.

As the ice retreated and the waters of their new homes warmed, some stayed and became acclimated to the gradually rising temperatures. Their descendants today can stand warmer waters than other trouts.

These are the fish with speckled skins Macedonian anglers used artificial flies to capture some two thousand years ago. In the centuries since, hundreds of angling writers have extolled their virtues and dedicated admirers have transplanted them around the globe. Today "Salmo trutta" are prized by fly fisherman in every part of the world except Antarctica.

In an effort to salvage degraded brook trout waters, the brown trout was introduced into the United States in 1883. Wisconsin hatched a thousand brown trout eggs, imported from Germany, at the Bayfield hatchery in 1887. Michigan introduced them to its waters in 1883 and Minnesota in 1888.

The newcomer proved suitable for Wisconsin waters, and although a cold water fish, it survived and grew in water too warm and turbid for native trout.

Because the brown trout has been sport fished for at least two thousand years, it is a classic example of "survival of the fittest". The ones that could be easily duped by a baited hook or artificial fly or that even opened their mouth if a human was about, have long since been eliminated. This stock didn't live to pass its gullibility along to future generations.

As a result the strain we fish for today surely must be the most secretive, selective, wary, wily, and challenging game fish in the world, and this should be a very real consideration for the angler who hopes to consistently take adult brown trout from our heavily pressured streams.

If you aspire to be such an angler, plan to be as inconspicuous as possible. Select fishing attire that blends with stream surroundings. Camouflage clothing is ideal but, in the absence of this, be sure your hat, shirt and vest or jacket are dull, somber colors. Greens, browns, and dark gray are fine. If you must wear light colored fishing club patches, sew them on the back of your jacket.

Do not wear or carry anything that can glisten in the sun. If you fish in short sleeves, carry your wrist watch in a pocket. Eyeglasses can be covered with clip-on polaroids or a mosquito head net.

Rod guides, reel seats, and other fittings should have a dull finish. Reels with shiny parts, aluminum net frames and bright creel hardware can be dulled with aerosol plant.

Approach the stream carefully. Move slowly and keep low. Try to avoid being silhouetted against the sky. Stalk each pool like a deer hunter closing in on a wary buck.

Stay out of the stream whenever possible. This is very important. The idea that you can wade upstream without spooking trout because they face the current and you are approaching from the rear is ridiculous and that wise old brown will be the first to agree.

Take a good look at the next trout you catch. Notice its eyes. They are placed high and well back on the sides of its head. They protrude slightly and the pupils are fixed so it sees upwards, backwards, and forward at the same time. Any movement above water to the rear will catch its attention immediately.

Western rainbow rivers and Eastern brook trout streams are different. They usually have steeper gradient than our brown trout streams, and consequently more broken water to help conceal a wading angler. Both brook and rainbow trout, indigenous to this continent, have been angled for only about two hundred years and so are less wary than browns with their two thousand years of angling pressure.

Whenever possible, fish from a kneeling position or crouch and try to keep from showing above the foliage or horizon in back of you. Move slowly and step very, very gently.

In the academic world, brown trout are said to be negatively phototropic. All this means is that they shun light and prefer dark places, or at least shade. As daylight fades they come out of their hiding places to seek food and so later afternoon and evening is most fly fishers' favorite time. After dark and early morning are also good. For the day time fisherman, sunken logs, boulders, undercut banks and overhanging grass or brush provide shade and often produce good fish.

Rainbow and brook trout often like a little color and flash in their flies but usually flies for browns should be of more somber hue. Colors and sizes of either flies or streamers should be similar to what trout are used to in the water you're fishing. As a general rule for Wisconsin streams, insect imitations should be some shade of gray or brown or gray brown. Streamers that are dark on top with white underneath and a silver tinsel body resemble minnows found in most creeks and are useful. In northern streams where darters are found, smalI streamers with Plymouth Rock feather wings often produce well.

If some of this advice seems overly fussy and even redundant, remember that Salmo trutta you're fishing for has had, through its ancestors, over two thousand years experience in outwitting determined anglers.

This is the fish an early English angling writer had in mind when he told his readers, "If you must wear silver buckles, wear them on your shoes, not your hat.