Letort colors

[Millsertime]

I finally fished the Letort on Monday of this week as I was driving through Carlisle on my way to Ft. Ritchie, MD for work. I managed one nice brown dead drifting a WB through one of the many slow moving channels. The colors on this brown are so much more vivid than the wild browns in the Pocono's I regularly catch. I've never caught a brown with that much red on its tail. Does the Letort contain a different strain of brown trout or is this a common occurence with limestone streams? I primarily only fish freestoners and tailwaters.

 

[Maurice]

The Letort certainly has a strong influence the Lock Leven strain of brown trout. The sparce black spot patterns reveal the strongest genetic lineage. The infusion of reds into the flanks and fins is both seasonal and environment driven. High protein forage (scuds and sowbugs) combined with the current post spawn condition pushes those reds into the tail and fins.

I find this especially true on limestoners but freestoners also see this coloration phenomenon. Especially with male brown trout. It is my observation that brown trout with fewer red spots see more reds and oranges infused into the flanks and fins during the spawn. Trout without strong lateral line spots (including stocked brown trout) even experience the color change in the black spots. I believe the carotenoid is pushed into the flesh with no target (red spots) and bleeds or is misdirected to black spots, flanks and fins. Just my hunch.

Make no mistake about it, the fall and this time of year are the most colorful for brown trout.

 

[Fishidiot]

Millsertime wrote:
Does the Letort contain a different strain of brown trout or is this a common occurence with limestone streams?

It's a common occurrence.

There's a widespread belief that Letort fish are genetically unique and thus have few but large spots. While some Letort browns do indeed seem to have fewer spots, esp in the upper reaches of the stream, I'm personally skeptical of the idea that these are truly unique fish. The trout in your pic could just have easily come from Penns Creek or Valley Creek (or wherever) as the red caudal edges and other colors are common in wild browns across PA.

Regardless of appearance.....Congrats on catching your first Letort trout - it's a milestone for any PA FFer.

 

[Chaz]

I agree that the Lock Leven Browns have influenced the Letort population, but Lock Leven Browns don't usually have anyred, they are very silvery with large black spots. However, I don't know how they change when they are in spawning colors.

http://www.flyfishing.co.uk/photo-gallery/45441-loch-leven-brown-trout-4lb-12-oz.html

 

[sarce]

I'm not really up on my history of brown trout strains in PA, but even if they originally were all the same strain in a given body of water, over time variations in color and spot pattern will develop. I can think of many streams where some browns are Letort-esque and some are heavily spotted. Spring Creek, Valley Cr, and Thompson Run come to mind as limestoners where I've noticed this, but there are a few freestone streams in Chester county (and elsewhere I'm sure) that have great variety of patterns too.

Awesome fish btw. I have to get to the Letort soon!

 

[geebee]

It's a loch leven brown OR a German brown. They can't be both.

 

[Maurice]

geebee wrote:
It's a loch leven brown OR a German brown. They can't be both.

Touche! Nice catch.

 

[JackM]

Do you mean these two strains are incapable of breeding with one another? That's a surprise.

 

[tomitrout]

I dunno, I don't think there is anything genetically 'unique' about the browns in the Letort. I've caught plenty that are sparsely spotted and others with dense spots...pretty much the same as any other stream that holds wild browns. I could show you pictures that you'd automatically think were 'Letort browns' when in fact they were caught out of Penns, the Little J, BFC....the red coloring schemes seem to me to be seasonally influenced along with diet affected.

Congrats tot he OP though, sure is a purty fish regardless.

 

[Maurice]

JackM wrote:
Do you mean these two strains are incapable of breeding with one another? That's a surprise.

No he means the way I phrased it it suggested the Lock Leven strain was from Germany. My intent was as you suggest that they do breed with one another and the results while mixed demonstrate a strong influence of loch leven browns.

 

[JackM]

I see a greater influence of the Scotch strain among Letort Browns, but my experience is limited.

 

[troutbert]

Many freestone streams have very colorful wild browns. The most colorful wild browns I have seen were from freestone streams, not limestoners.

It is very common for trout fishermen to catch these colorful freestone wild brown trout and not realize that they are brown trout, but mistake them for brook trout.

 

[wildtrout2]

troutbert wrote:
Many freestone streams have very colorful wild browns. The most colorful wild browns I have seen were from freestone streams, not limestoners.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[JackM]

Freestone browns seem to be darker overall, hence a more stark contrast with the "colors." I have caught very colorful brown trout in Spring, Spruce, and Penns, all considered limestoners.

 

[geebee]

JackM wrote:
I see a greater influence of the Scotch strain among Letort Browns, but my experience is limited.

you mean Scots - Scotch is a drink.... :-D

as we know, brownies change according to environment but i think a general rule of thumb is -

silvery, dark back, big tail, few red spots, larger dark spots = Loch Leven

bronzey (?), lighter back, smaller tail, more red spots = German

this is the best contrasting pics i cound find from Google UK :

loch leven :

German :

the above pic is from cornell, so they show the anal fin with a white edge, but that's not on German browns.

obviously as you pointed out before, these have been interbred over here for a hundred years or so, so its not an exact science in the US - for a start US browns have white edges to their fins and European browns don't, so somewhere somehow a bit of char got in there....

have a gander here for pics of actual Loch Leven Brown trout caught on Loch Leven :

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1519&bih=781&q=loch+leven+brown+trout&oq=loch+leven+&gs_l=img.1.9.0l10.1660.8005.0.10408.21.15.3.2.2.0.258.1356.13j1j1.15.0....0...1ac.1.32.img..2.19.1167.lXe7S7gmQkU

cheers

Mark.

 

[shortrod2]

geebee wrote:
... so somewhere somehow a bit of char got in there....

I don't think that is possible.

 

[Millsertime]

Good info. Makes sense although I've never caught a wild Pocono brown with as much red in the tail as the Letort brown from Monday (no matter what season). The attached picture didn't do justice since it had to be downsized for posting. Beautiful fishery and I love all of the access there is on the Letort and Big Spring. I scouted BS today but it was 10 degrees so I scouted strictly with my DSLR. Most of the trout were rainbows I saw in the FFO section. I saw a lot of brookies but the larger trout appeared to be all rainbows. Are there many browns in BS as well? What makes BS a good rainbow fishery and Letort a brown fishery? What differences do they have?

 

[Fishidiot]

Millsertime wrote:
Are there many browns in BS as well? What makes BS a good rainbow fishery and Letort a brown fishery? What differences do they have?

There are still a few, mostly very large, browns left in upper BS....however, they are disappearing.
Why BS allows brooks and bows to thrive whereas browns like Letort is a matter of debate. I have some theories but, ultimately, these streams... just are what they are. It's part of their mystique and capacity to provoke wonder and love in our hearts.

 

[troutbert]

What are your theories? I love theories.

 

[Chaz]

sarce wrote:
I'm not really up on my history of brown trout strains in PA, but even if they originally were all the same strain in a given body of water, over time variations in color and spot pattern will develop. I can think of many streams where some browns are Letort-esque and some are heavily spotted. Spring Creek, Valley Cr, and Thompson Run come to mind as limestoners where I've noticed this, but there are a few freestone streams in Chester county (and elsewhere I'm sure) that have great variety of patterns too.

Awesome fish btw. I have to get to the Letort soon!

Well there was a major effort to establish Loch Leven Trout in the Letort, because they were believed to be more willing to take dries, and they were'selective'. But generally it's a mistake to call any trout in PA a German Brown or a Loch Leven Trout, because the browns were brought in from all over Europe and mixed in a melting pot by fisheries biologists to get strains that grew fast in a hatchery environment. It's part of why there is so much variation in their appearance.