Lopatcong Creek 8-14

i have not done this but james prosek says he has put two brookies from the same creek in a seperate white and black buckets and reports that they drasticly change colors within minutes

Lopat,

I would be shocked if there were wild bows in there. They require the best spawning habitat of all the trout. I will contact someone to see if there are wild rainbows in there. I have noticed that hatchery fish will most often color up like that. They stick out like a sore thumb. What's funny is that the wild bows that are dark in color do not stand out like that. They find a way to hide. What's the coloration on the browns? They must blend in very well. Are there many brook trout in there? Judging by your success in that stream it leads me to think that there might be all three trout species reproducing in there.

Nick,

Yes that's a phone posting moment!

The reason trout get darker is because of melanin in their skin, the same compound found in our skin but used for different reasons. We use it for UV protection, while trout use it for protection from predation, allowing them to blend into their environment.
Also, during spawning melanin is increased this cause the trout to darken-up during this period.

Just to continue on this theme. The reds, oranges, and yellows (for the most part) in trout are caused by a natural pigment carotenoids. Which are found naturally in plants and used by them during photosynthesis. The carotenoids are passed on to invertebrates, when the plant material is eaten by them, and in turn, the invertebrates are eaten by the trout, which is expressed as color on the trout.
Hatchery trout have such poor coloration because of the lack of carotenoids in their diet. You are what you eat.

So those rainbows are getting ready to spawn? That makes sense since the hatchery rainbows are spawned in the fall.

See now I was told by several people who's word I trust that brown trout run up the Lopat from the Delaware in the fall in order to spawn. As far as the Brookies, there seemed to be more last year, this year they are few and far between. Every rainbow that I caught in the creek this year was a hatchery fish.
I know they used to stock brook trout in there but NJ hasn't for the past several years, it just been strictly rainbows with a few old breeders (browns) in the fall. I know of several spots where small fry take cover until they get bigger. I have observed they on many occasions this past spring. The spring pool is one of these area, large fish cannot access it. When I say large, I am talking 8 inches or bigger. The spring is just too shallow and it goes through an old duct that dates back to the Morris Canal. There is simply no clearance, a larger fish would get stuck. I believe the fish I caught has been living in there since he swam up the spring and into the pool when he was a fry.

another thing that relates to fish color is stress. Sometimes when electrofishing, the browns would be hit by the current a bit too heavily and the side that was closest to the electrode would be a real dark color. Maybe it was the current, or perhaps it was an over stress to the fish.

ps. all fish were released safely during these studies.

sounds like ya burned the little bastards haha.

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