I understand that brook trout are not in many rivers or lakes in texas, but was wondering what were the best lakes and rivers to find them.

Thanks,
Simon

The only Brook trout in Texas are in aquariums.

Need to go high in new Mexico or colorado to find these, and yes they're not native there either.

Les

Theres quite a few in NW Nebraska,like around Ft Robinson state park,soldier creek,dry sheep creek and other streams around there.

I had read that Texas Parks and Wildlife Department had introduced them in to the Guadalupe River back in 2001. Did that venture then fail or am I just getting false information. I thought it was odd that they would be in Texas...

Not sure if those are still around or being stocked. A few years back there was a mega flood that sent most of the trout into the gulf of Mexico .

Les

Thanks. So, from your post, I can infer that there are now trout in the gulf of Mexico... just kidding... its getting late and I am getting punchy.

If you head up to the canyon dam tailrace, you'll find some nice stockers as well as holdovers. Rumor has it that there are some wild spawn in the Guad, but I couldn't attest to it.

Les

i know that there are quite a few in the white river drainage in arkansas. that would be the closest i could think of except for maybe the guad like keebranch talked about.

There are rainbows and a few browns stocked in the Guadalupe river almost every year by both the TPWD and GRTU some trout make it through the hot summer but the vast majority die or are caught the further from the dam they get. The Guadalupe is about the only place this far south that can claim to have carry-overs but about every 5 to 7 years something happens that wipes the trout out completely like drought or flood. It's only through re-stocking trout that the fishing is maintained. If they stopped stocking the trout would be gone within a few years if not sooner. It is high priced fun IMHO but I still partake in it as often as possible.. September through December before they re-stock is the time for me because the trout have acclimated to the river, look and act more like wild fish.


My nephew with a "carry-over" rainbow from earlier in January.


Here's a good look at the Guadalupe river.

I have been actively involved on the Guadalupe since the late 1990s and no brookies have been stocked during that time, to my knowledge. We did stock browns as recently as 2004, but they disappeared within a few weeks. Only rainbows since then. We get some natural reproduction of the rainbows just about every year, and especially so when we get the minimum flows in the summertime.

Closest brookies are stocked fish in New Mexico, Colorado and Arkansas. Closest wild and native brookies that I know of are in the Great Smoky Mountains of Eastern Tennessee. Caught a couple there myself last June.

Thanks for the info. At least my info was not completely off.

mickfly is exactly correct about the Smokies. Lived in Kentucky for a long time, and we would run to Eastern TN. to fish the tailwaters, and the streams in the GSMNP. Brookies can be found in the higher elevation streams above Tremont at the Middle Prong. I always released "brookies" back to the stream. Their numbers are lower than "bows" or browns.

Bill

Yeah, Brook Trout like cold, crisp water below 68F. Start adding silt and construction projects by their habitat and it affects their numbers.

The best place to find them in numbers in north, way north in northern Ontario and Quebec. Much of northern US and southern Canada, which used to have large populations have seen numbers drop significantly over the past 200 hundred years.

I used to go to school in kentucky years ago...

Brookies used to have an wide area from E. Canada down the Appalacian Mtns. down to the Southern Appalacians, according to a magazine article I read about 1 1/2 years ago. Sorry I don't remember the magazine, could have been FFF's journal or American Angler or ?. Anyway, as the NE US was being settled and developed the range of the brookies was reduced due to power dams, pollution, developement, etc.

Also, the state F&W depts. started to import and stock rainbows, and brown trout in various rivers, and streams as anglers expressed their desire for these fish. The brookies couldn't compete, and their numbers declined. Now, some of the states are starting to re-introduce brookies into areas which origionally were part of their habitat.

Ironically, brookies are now the "bad guys" out west. Many western state fisheries departments thought they'd add a new species to their alpine lakes and streams, only to find out that they would compete with the native cutthroats for the scarce resources. A lot of the work we are now doing in Trout Unlimited is to create barriers in some of the headwaters to protect the native fish and keep the stocked brookies, browns or rainbows out of the cutthroat spawning areas.

Too many times we do stuff just because we have the resources, the consequences of which are not well considered beforehand..

I grew up in the relatively undeveloped area of western Massachusettes. Even with abundant crystal clear brooks that we could still drink straight out of, brookies were a rare catch due to stocked rainbows and browns. You really had to seek out an almost forgotten brook to find brookies in their native waters.

i have a few in my freezer waiting to be put on the smoker. love them brookies!!

(native)Brook trout.. My favorite trout. That's what I learned to flyfish on living in WV. I miss the days of being on brookie streams in 20 minutess from my house and catching them one after another on dry caddis.

Really? I think brook, brown,rainbow,salmon etc. are all in the Salmonidae(family) with separate genus. So they are all considered salmonids.

I stand corrected, they are genus salvilinus.

tpwd records show state record for brook trout in the guad so had to be some at one point the record is only like a quarter pound and it was a long time ago i think.