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The earliest documented brown trout in Colorado came via England in 1885, shipped as eggs to a Denver hatchery.
In 1890, U.S. Senator Henry M. Teller received a gift of eggs from Loch Leven and donated them to the state. During this same time,
von Behr brown trout were being raised at a Leadville hatchery. A century later, the brown trout tugging on angler’s lines are a mixture
of those strains from Germany, Scotland, and England.
Brown trout are identified by the overall brown or dark golden hue of their body. The belly is usually white or cream colored except during spawning, when it turns a deep yellow. Large black spots cover the upper half of the body, from head to tail. Haloed red spots are present on the lower half of the body. Brown trout have square tails, not forked as with brook trout.
Despite the notion that they are difficult to catch, brown trout have won the hearts of many Colorado anglers. When whirling-disease swept through the state in the 1990s, wiping out populations of rainbow trout and forcing the closure of fish hatcheries, brown trout came to the rescue. Having evolved with the parasite in Europe, brown trout can carry whirling disease but are less affected than rainbow trout. In the absence of the rainbow trout, brown trout populations flourished.
Are wild brown trout difficult to catch? No.
Are they more difficult to catch than rainbow trout? Maybe.
Brown trout are identified by the overall brown or dark golden hue of their body. The belly is usually white or cream colored except during spawning, when it turns a deep yellow. Large black spots cover the upper half of the body, from head to tail. Haloed red spots are present on the lower half of the body. Brown trout have square tails, not forked as with brook trout.
Despite the notion that they are difficult to catch, brown trout have won the hearts of many Colorado anglers. When whirling-disease swept through the state in the 1990s, wiping out populations of rainbow trout and forcing the closure of fish hatcheries, brown trout came to the rescue. Having evolved with the parasite in Europe, brown trout can carry whirling disease but are less affected than rainbow trout. In the absence of the rainbow trout, brown trout populations flourished.
Are wild brown trout difficult to catch? No.
Are they more difficult to catch than rainbow trout? Maybe.
Fishing Articles
To catch brown trout consistently, anglers must take the wary nature of the species into consideration. Brown trout could be the poster
fish for skittish trout, bolting for cover at the slightest hint of danger. Heavy footsteps on the bank, a fly line slapping the water,
or an angler’s shadow cast across the water will send them darting for cover into the dark recesses of an undercut bank or the bottom
of a pool. Consequently, stealth is a major factor when stalking brown trout, especially large ones. Keeping a low profile,
careful wading, and walking softly beside the stream are essential.
Stealth is important, but presentation and choice of flies and lures is a close second. After growing to a length of 12-inches or
so, browns often develop different eating habits. In addition to their regular rations of aquatic insects, they begin to take larger
prey such as minnows, small trout, crustaceans, and even mice that fall into the water. Although larger browns will rise to the surface
for hatching insects or grasshoppers, the majority of their forage is taken beneath the surface.
In larger rivers such as the
Arkansas, Gunnison, Colorado, and Rio Grande, brown trout typically hold within a few feet of the bank. Streamer flies such as Bead-head
Woolly Buggers, Zonkers, and Clouser Deep Minnows cast to the bank and stripped back quickly will usually draw a strike if a brown
is nearby.