Brown Trout Stocking

[stlfisher]

I agree with Brian, the trout compete with smallies on the 11 Point for food and have crowded them out. Same goes on the Spring River in Arkansas. They feed on the same minnows and crawfish for the most part. Trout numbers are artificially increased vs natural reproduction in smallies. Smallies lose. And so do other native species like the pickeral and walleye to some extent.

Most Ozarks streams were Prime Smallmouth streams originally before introduction of non native trout of any species. All trout in MO have been introduced, not just the Browns. Maybe before or near the last Ice Age, trout may have inhabited our streams naturally. But in the current time, all current trout strains have been brought in on a train from either the east or west coast and stocked, or some other man made form. The big dams changed the water temps below them and smallies moved out of those areas because the water was colder than what they thrive in. Spring fed rivers are close enough to optimal temps for smallies, they have existed in those long before trout were introduced.

That is not what Brian said though...

[Al Agnew]

An even better example of a heavily spring-influenced stretch of stream that does not have trout is the Jacks Fork below Alley Spring. The stretch from Alley to Eminence is nowhere near any water with trout, so is completely uninfluenced by trout, but the smallmouth population there is little better than it is from Akers to Pulltite on the Current. The apex predator in that stretch is probably the chain pickerel.

On the other hand, back in the days when there wasn't a lot of stocking going on in the stretch of the Current from Cedargrove to Akers, there was a pretty decent smallmouth population. Now, there seems to be fewer smallies.

On the other other hand, smallmouth actually seem to be doing pretty well in the trout section of the Meramec as well s the trout section of the Niangua, especially once you get three or four miles downstream.

So I suspect that it isn't a one size fits all type of thing. I also suspect that the fishing is better for trout in most of these stream sections than it ever was for smallmouth, so angling-wise it's probably a net gain.

Smallmouth spawn at water temps in the mid-60s. Much of the trout water doesn't get to that temperature until after smallmouth spawning season is over, so there probably isn't a lot of smallmouth spawning in the trout water. Oddly enough, I find that largemouth are often more common in the trout water than smallmouth, and I believe that's because the largemouth can go up into backwaters out of the current that warm up much quicker and spawn there, while smallies require at least some current to spawn, so they have to try to spawn in the main channel that stays cooler. However, some of the smallies that live there probably spawn elsewhere, either farther downstream, above the spring, or in tributaries coming into the area.

And then there's the whole winter thermal refuge thing. Did smallies actually move all the way up into the spring branches themselves before they were full of hatchery trout? Now, they are seldom found in the spring branches but congregate near the mouths of the branches. Are they outcompeted by trout for food in the winter in those areas? Good question.

Personally, I'm not too concerned about the trout/smallmouth dynamics. I think that trout are one of the more minor problems smallmouth face, if it's much of a problem at all. I can "sacrifice" a few miles of marginal smallmouth habitat to the trout, because they aren't ever going to encroach into the rest of the smallmouth habitat.

It's also interesting to note that brown trout ARE a European species, and rainbow trout were only native to streams on the west coast flowing into the Pacific. Some of the most famous trout waters of the West were populated only by cutthroats until stocking began, and the famous streams of the Midwest and East were strictly brook trout water.

[joeD]

1. Could we just lose this collective guilt and selective ethical and philosophical hand wringing over fish we love to pursue and whether it's "native" to any particular stream. Good grief, why do we have to apologize for being humans on this earth and living lives that we see fit? You would think stocking a popular and desired gamefish was the same as dumping fish killing chemicals in the water.

2. Again, stop buying into the "natural" and pre "human" order of the world as the model of "perfection" and the way our Earth is "supposed to be."

3. There is nothing wrong with brown trout and smallies occupying the same water area. Sounds like heaven to me.

4. I applaud efforts that try to improve our collective fishing quality of life. Agree or not, at least someone is trying and doing something. Which is the "natural" thing we do.

[jdmidwest]

1. Could we just lose this collective guilt and selective ethical and philosophical hand wringing over fish we love to pursue and whether it's "native" to any particular stream. Good grief, why do we have to apologize for being humans on this earth and living lives that we see fit? You would think stocking a popular and desired gamefish was the same as dumping fish killing chemicals in the water.

2. Again, stop buying into the "natural" and pre "human" order of the world as the model of "perfection" and the way our Earth is "supposed to be."

3. There is nothing wrong with brown trout and smallies occupying the same water area. Sounds like heaven to me.

4. I applaud efforts that try to improve our collective fishing quality of life. Agree or not, at least someone is trying and doing something. Which is the "natural" thing we do.

While fishing for a brown trout on a Current River, Norfork, or Meramec stream does gain my interest, I long for other things.

I dream about the time of Schoolcraft, but with all of my modern tech, roaming the Ozarks in them early days.

I dream about duck hunting the swamps that were drained in SE Mo around the time this country was founded.

I think it would be neat to fish the shallow sea that we currently call home in the early days of development of the earth.

But I am not a time traveller, I have to deal with the cards I have been dealt. I really enjoy what I have now, and I don't want to try something different. After all, we are the original "invasive species"

[rFisherk]

1. Could we just lose this collective guilt and selective ethical and philosophical hand wringing over fish we love to pursue and whether it's "native" to any particular stream. Good grief, why do we have to apologize for being humans on this earth and living lives that we see fit? You would think stocking a popular and desired gamefish was the same as dumping fish killing chemicals in the water.

2. Again, stop buying into the "natural" and pre "human" order of the world as the model of "perfection" and the way our Earth is "supposed to be."

3. There is nothing wrong with brown trout and smallies occupying the same water area. Sounds like heaven to me.

4. I applaud efforts that try to improve our collective fishing quality of life. Agree or not, at least someone is trying and doing something. Which is the "natural" thing we do.

Way to go, Joe. That post cuts through the emotional sentimentality that has "invaded" wildlife management these days.

All of the current trout waters were created decades ago by my old friend, Spence Turner, who is now retired from a long career as a wildlife biologist for the MDC. Even though he is most famous for his creation of quality trout fisheries, Spence's specialty and original title was as a smallmouth biologist. I doubt there is anyone in the state who knows more about smallmouth bass than Spence, and it was his idea to stock trout in areas that were marginal smallmouth habitat (for reasons Al Agnew eloquently mentioned) so that these areas could provide the maximum recreational value for the sportsmen of Missouri.