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Brook Trout Reproduction question

Discussion in 'Fish Taxidermy' started by Gameovertaxidermy, Feb 26, 2012.

  1. Feb 26, 2012 #1
    Gameovertaxidermy

    Gameovertaxidermy New Member

    1,233
    2
    Minnesota
    A few weeks ago a customer came in and showed me a pic of his 14" brook trout and he wants a reproduction. I don't really need the pic because the fish had lost pretty much all its color and the fish saw the frying pan last summer.

    Now I have never done a brook trout & I need to order a reproduction blank.

    My questions are, does the sex affect the outward appearance of a brook trout like it does with other species?

    And what is a good video, paint schedule, ext for doing a brook trout reproduction?
     
  3. Feb 26, 2012 #2
    BMW

    BMW New Member

    72
    0
    Spirit Lake, Iowa
    Gameover-
    I would start with checking out the awesome reference article in Breakthrough, Issue 98. There's also a very detailed paint schedule in the same issue by Jeff Mourning.
    Yes, the outward appearance of the fish is effected by the sex, most noticeably as the fish approaches maturity. Although there are others here that can provide better, more specific brook trout info, the most noticeable trait I would look for would be the longer hooked jaw in the male of the species. Hopefully Pescado will have some more info for ya.
    Good luck
    BMW
     

  5. Feb 27, 2012 #3
    Gameovertaxidermy

    Gameovertaxidermy New Member

    1,233
    2
    Minnesota
    I was thinking it was a female because the jaw looked just like a female rainbow but I wasn't sure if brook trout were the same.
     
  6. Feb 27, 2012 #4
    Cecil

    Cecil Well-Known Member

    13,832
    711
    Ligonier, Indiana
    I don't know if this helps any but here are a couple of commercial quality brooks I did for a trout hatchery years back. The top one is male and the bottom one is a female. Both are spawning phase but as you can see the female is a more subtle in coloration.

    If the trout farmer would have used a color enhancing diet the male would have been more intense and I would have painted him that way.

    [​IMG]

    Now that I look at them I'm kind of embarrassed as I do a much better job now on painting and anatomy.
     
  7. Feb 27, 2012 #5
    Gameovertaxidermy

    Gameovertaxidermy New Member

    1,233
    2
    Minnesota
    Thanks Cecil that clears up a lot. I'm pretty sure now it was a female. I was looking more at the jaw before and not the shape and length of the entire head. That would explain why his pic didn't look anything like most of the mounts and repro's I've seen, most of them were painted like the male. I thought it was way faded out, maybe it was a little faded but from your pic it looks like that's normal with the females.

    What time of year do they spawn and do the females change in coloration after? The one the customer caught was from mid summer.

    They look good to me, especially for skin mounts. Funny though I say the same thing about my work even from a few years ago.
     
  8. Feb 27, 2012 #6
    Cecil

    Cecil Well-Known Member

    13,832
    711
    Ligonier, Indiana
    What time of year do they spawn? Which hemisphere are we talking? Sorry just kidding.

    They spawn in the fall. A summer fish of both sexes (at least in my ponds) is very subtle in color with a silver sheen. Very similar to Great Lakes lake trout in the summer. However stream fish tend to have more pronounced colors even in summer.
     
  9. Feb 27, 2012 #7
    Gameovertaxidermy

    Gameovertaxidermy New Member

    1,233
    2
    Minnesota
    Ok, it was a stream fish from the Straight River.

    Which hemisphere are we talking? I suppose they do vary quite a bit. How far north and south is their home range?
     
  10. Feb 28, 2012 #8
    Cecil

    Cecil Well-Known Member

    13,832
    711
    Ligonier, Indiana
    They have been naturalized to parts of the southern Hemisphere like Argentina and Chile. I think they may be in the mountains of South Africa too, but I'm not sure. Anyway, they spawn in the spring down there because obviously their seasons are the opposite of ours. Before photoperiod and temp manipulation and access to different strains, the way to get rainbows that spawned in the fall was to get eggs shipped up from the southern hemisphere. We're now spawning fish like Yellow Perch in the summer and winter vs. just the spring, not just trout. Photoperiod and temp manipulation is becoming more common place to produce different cohorts for a continuous supply of fish for the food market.

    I see Canada is now stocking triploid brook trout in some waters so they don't contaminate the native strains.
     
  11. Feb 29, 2012 #9
    duckhunter308

    duckhunter308 Guest

    nice brookie