Brown Trout Facts

News & Tips: Brown Trout Facts

Brown trout tend to grow bigger, live longer, and tolerate a wider range of habitat types than their cousins the brook trout or rainbow trout.

brown trout
Brown trout are not native to North American.

According to Maryland Department of Natural Resources, they vary greatly in appearance, but are generally olive green to brown on top shading to a creamy, golden yellow on the sides and an off- white along the belly. Most brown trout are covered with black spots along their sides, back, and dorsal fin with each spot surrounded by a light halo. Frequently, the spots near the lateral line are red. Unlike other trout species, brown trout tails have few if any spots.

Brown trout will eat almost any prey item that it can swallow, including a variety of aquatic insects and invertebrates, small fish, crayfish, and a wide variety of land insects like ants, beetles, gnats, caterpillars, and inchworms. They are also known to eat frogs and the occasional mouse.

Larry Whiteley is the Host of the award-winning
Outdoor World Radio Show