The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife made much of the information on this page possible.

Fishing:

Bait, lures, and flies will produce fish throughout the season.

The majority of waters containing wild or native fish are protected with gear restrictions. Although we do fish some waters with bait, the bulk of the waters are fished with artificial lures and flies.

There are many waters that are restricted to fly-fishing only. These waters tend to be the most productive waters not only in quantity, (numbers) but in quality (size) as well.

Our specialty is fly-fishing for Brook trout. Most of our season, from mid-May through September, is dedicated to the pursuit of this magnificent fish with fly rods. Many of the waters that we fish contain Brook trout weighing two to three pounds.

Maine, without a doubt, has the best native Brook trout fishery in the United States, today.

Habitat:

Basic requirements are cool, well-oxygenated water and suitable spawning areas. Brook trout are truly a coldwater fish. In Maine they are never abundant in habitats that do not provide some water where temperatures are less than sixty to sixty-five degrees F. As long as temperatures do not exceed sixty-eight degrees F. for long periods and oxygen levels are adequate, Brook trout can survive and grow.

Brook trout may spend part or all of its life in the smallest of brooks to the largest of lakes.

Reproduction:

Brook trout spawn in the fall, normally in flowing water. Brooks, streams, and springs or ground water inflows typically provide suitable spawning habitat.

The fish is a very prolific, and given good habitat can quickly rebound in abundance when numbers decline.

Eggs hatch in approximately ninety days when water temperatures reach forty degrees F. (Length of incubation depends on water temperature.)

Feeding Habits:

Trout fry feed primarily on immature stages of aquatic insects.

Brook trout are opportunistic feeders. Once they attain a length of ten inches or more they are capable of feeding heavily on small fish and minnows if they are available. When forage fish are not available to adult trout, they still grow well on a diet of invertebrates alone, as long as other environmental factors are suitable.

Growth:

Brook trout show extreme diversity in age and growth characteristics. Poor growing conditions can produce five-year-old fish weighing less than two ounces, on the other hand, optimum growing conditions can produce fish weighing four or five pounds at that same age.

The species is very susceptible to the effects of predation and competition from other fishes, particularly in the first year or two of life.

Brook trout are a relatively short-lived fish. In Maine a six-year old brook trout is an old fish. Rarely will this fish live longer than six years and the majority of Brook trout in Maine average between two and four years of age.

The current state record is eight pounds, eight ounces, taken in 1979. 

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