Common Name: BROWN TROUT
Other Names: GERMAN BROWN TROUT, BROWNIE, LOCH LEVEN TROUT, SAIBLING
Scientific Name: Salmo trutta
Origin: Introduced
Adult Size: Normal size is 14-20 inches and 1-2 pounds. Browns occasionally reach 10 pounds.
Identification: Usually coloration is light brown or tawny with pronounced black spots on the back, sides and head. Spots are often surrounded with reddish halo, along with reddish spots on the sides. Color is highly variable and browns are occasionally confused with landlocked salmon.
- Often referred to as Scotch sea-trout, sea-run brown trout, Loch Leven trout, and Swiss lake trout.
- The typical brown trout is yellowish brown with large brown or black spots on its sides, back, and dorsal fin.
- Brown trout are taken in Maine waters each year and commonly identified by fishermen as landlocked salmon because of silvery coloration and their close physical resemblance to the salmon.
- One of the first introductions of brown trout in the United States was in Branch Lake, Ellsworth, Maine, in 1885.
- Brown trout are able to withstand higher water temperatures that brook trout.
- Brown trout spawn in Maine from October through February.
- Males defend their chosen territories against the intrusion of rival males prior to the actual spawning act.
- Young hatch out the following spring and normally spend the first two to three years of life in the parent stream feeding on insects and other minute animal life.
