A School of Juvenile Brook Trout


Baby Trout
At the risk of everyone going doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, I was intrigued by a finding at our Trout Management area on the Tusket River this week. Walking in to check on the area, a small tributary that I know well has a pool that in this low water was crystal clear. I looked down, peering through the bushes so as not to scare any fish that might be there – and the sight I saw was stunning! Perhaps four dozen 6 to 8 inch trout in the one pool, taking turns swimming up into the very small rivulet of water that was flowing into the pool!
The project on the Tusket is supposed to help rejuvenate the stream and allow for larger trout to grow, as we got the Government to agree to catch and release only fishing. It is working, as I’ve seen some larger fish in there, but this little school of small trout says something else is going on. The stream is thriving as it produces young trout, and so far anyway, the invasive pickerel and bass haven’t made it into the stream – at least not up into this pool, anyway!
And that was the point of the project in the first place – to show people that there are still trout around here and the remaining cold water fish should be protected, not subjected to the “bucket heads” who unthinkingly illegally spread smallmouth bass and chain pickerel into more and more watersheds.
Nova Scotia’s Provincial fish, the brook trout, is worth saving – and done properly, we have proof they’ll not only survive, they’ll prosper!