# Brook or Brown?



## water_of_light (Aug 13, 2014)

I'm new to trout fishing, and while I have a pretty good idea USUALLY about what species is what, I caught this pretty fish this evening and am about 50/50 on it being a brown or a brook. Any experts that can help? It was 8", so I could have kept it either way. But I'm curious. It has some characteristics of both, at least to my eye (fins don't look like brookie fins, but the tail is forked like a brookie, etc.).


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## hommer23 (Nov 20, 2012)

Brook, is my guess with the white on the front edge of the anal fin also the shape of it. A brown will have a tapered with it attached almost all the way up to the tail with the upper section shorter. The mouth also stops at the eye or to the back side of the eye and the browns mouth extends past the eye. It is just a guess though.


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## chuckinduck (May 28, 2003)

That's a brown. Brookies in the fall are very vibrant


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

There is no doubt that is brown trout.


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## cosborn (Oct 25, 2014)

Brown


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## water_of_light (Aug 13, 2014)

Okay, I think I get why it's a brown. The top spots are dark on browns, whereas, the top spots on a brookie are light. Here's a brookie from the same creek. Notice though, they both have the same red spots surrounded by a blueish/puruple outline. So neat.


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## hitechman (Feb 25, 2002)

Brown trout...................brookies have dorsal vermiculations (lines) rather that spots (dots). I believe your second picture is also a brown, but the picture doesn't clearly show if there are any dorsal vermiculations present.

Chuckinduck was correct in that brookies get extremely vibrant in the fall. Brown trout exhibit many more color variations than do brookies.

Brook/brown hybrids do not exist (according to the experts) in nature as they do not interbreed for numerous reasons. These barriers include spawning times, location of nests (called redds) within the stream, and different physical characteristics.

In my 55 years of trout fishing, I have only found one river (unmentionable according to forum rules, but it's east of Manistee) where I've caught brookies, browns and resident rainbow trout (not lake run steelhead).










Steve


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## neazor91 (Aug 4, 2008)

First is a brown and the second is a brook.

Mike


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## hitechman (Feb 25, 2002)

neazor91 said:


> First is a brown and the second is a brook.
> 
> Mike


I'm gonna have to agree with you after seeing the absence of darker (black) spots, and upon a closer look at the picture, there is some dorsal vermiculation visible. My bad!

Steve


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Very good now you know the difference, I think that it would be better to know before you go fishing. That way you don't learn the hard way.


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## skipper34 (Oct 13, 2005)

An easy way to distinguish the two is to remember that a Brook trout is not a trout, it is a char. As a rule, char are dark with light spots and trout are light with dark spots. The first photo is a light colored fish with dark spots. Brown trout.


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## Boardman Brookies (Dec 20, 2007)

hitechman said:


> Brown trout...................brookies have dorsal vermiculations (lines) rather that spots (dots). I believe your second picture is also a brown, but the picture doesn't clearly show if there are any dorsal vermiculations present.
> 
> Chuckinduck was correct in that brookies get extremely vibrant in the fall. Brown trout exhibit many more color variations than do brookies.
> 
> ...


Browns and brookies do interbreed. The result is a sterile fish known as a Tiger trout. I was fortunate to catch on this year. First ever. 

Many of the Manistee tribs contain all three species. I fished one yesterday and got them all. Nothing big but pretty cool.


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## hitechman (Feb 25, 2002)

Boardman Brookies said:


> Browns and brookies do interbreed. The result is a sterile fish known as a Tiger trout. I was fortunate to catch on this year. First ever.
> 
> Many of the Manistee tribs contain all three species. I fished one yesterday and got them all. Nothing big but pretty cool.


Never to old to learn (and I'm old). Did a ton of trout fishing on one particular trib of the Manistee, and never caught a tiger, in fact, I have never heard of them before your post.

Did some googleing and checked up on them--beautiful fish. Article stated that in other states (not Michigan) they were hatchery bred (brown eggs, brookie milt), and the brown's eggs were heat shocked to induce an extra pair of chromosomes which increased survival from 5% to 85%.

Weird that 2 species of different genus, and with a different number of chromosomes, could create viable offspring. Article said they occur naturally more-so in Michigan because of our high population of brookies, but that they are still rare. Interesting since the 2 species usually breed at different time, in different parts of the streams, and that brookies eggs are fertilized and mature under a layer of sand/gravel.

Thanks BB for setting me straight (the second time in this thread that I had to eat crow)!








Steve


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## Robert Holmes (Oct 13, 2008)

Browns will also inter breed with atlantic salmon


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

Brooks will interbreed with Bull trout as well.


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## toto (Feb 16, 2000)

And Chinook have bred with Pinks, therefore the pinook I believe they call them.


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## DrSpeck (Nov 12, 2015)

My favorite way to positively identify a brookie is with the yellow spots. They are so distinctive and pretty. Brookies also tend to have square tails, hence the name "squaretails" that some apply. Another way to tell the difference between brook and brown is the scales. They're finer on a brook trout, and they feel softer when you hold them. The brown trout will feel rougher in your hand. Always wet your hands, though, if you're going to let it go, in order to avoid removing slime and causing a lethal fungal infection.


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## slowpaya (Oct 23, 2011)

[ Bull trout ,being lakers ???at least in montanas flathead lake


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## michiganmaniac (Dec 9, 2008)

bull trout and lakers are two different fish. Out west they love the bull trout and absolutely hate the lakers


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## MIfishslayer91 (Dec 24, 2013)

Boardman Brookies said:


> Browns and brookies do interbreed. The result is a sterile fish known as a Tiger trout. I was fortunate to catch on this year. First ever.
> 
> Many of the Manistee tribs contain all three species. I fished one yesterday and got them all. Nothing big but pretty cool.


Tiger trout are definately in the manistee tribs! With what you said about catching brooks, Browns, and bows in the same stretch I can definately relate, other people on this site say it doesn't work like that and think I'm a liar. I fish a trib to the manistee more than any river in mi and where another feeder creek flows in there is a deep hole and it's a guessing game knowing what kind of trout you will catch. When it's in the heat of the summer it's more bows and Browns than brooks but still catch brooks every time. In spring and fall you can catch just as many brooks as anything. I figure they just go upstream in the smaller water due to heat and the big Browns invading the holes on this stream mid year.


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