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Brown Trout | Fish Species Guide | Angling Direct
Brown Trout
aka Salmo trutta
The brown trout is related to the Atlantic salmon but it is much smaller in size and can be distinguished from the very similar rainbow trout by its plain, dark tail fin and by the lack of a purple stripe along the side of its body. Brown trout are widespread in freshwater rivers across most of Europe as prefer to live in fast-flowing, stony and gravelly rivers. It is has a golden-brown body, a yellow belly and many black and red spots all over the back. Also, the brown trout’s jaw extends beyond the eye.
Brown trout living in freshwater can rapidly change the shade of its colour when responding to behaviour or to fit into its background better. For example, a trout will get darker when showing aggressive behaviour and lighter when submissive.
Stats
Status
Habitat
Eddies, stumps, vegetation patches, islands, and merging currents.
Bait
Live worms, maggots & artificial flies.
Native or Invasive
Native
Where
Barents Sea in the north, to the Atlas Mountains of North Africa in the south, stretching eastward to the Caspian Sea.
Catch Experience
One of the easiest of the coarse fish to target, for brown trout you just need to pick an attractive fly that suits your water conditions and season! Be wary of its teeth.
If you are fly fishing for trout, you may find that wild brown trout, especially the smaller ones, typically throw themselves repeatedly out of the water when hooked.
Hook damage is the most significant cause of fish dying after being released so when fishing for brown trout be sure to avoid deep hooking them. Browns are able to tolerate slightly warmer temperatures than rainbows but be sure to fish for them in shade and when water conditions do not exceed 21 degrees celsius.
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