Salomone: Painted up for fall

Recent time in the high country led me along a small trickle of a stream. Brook trout preparing for spawning season burst through the shallow water, spooked by my surprise presence. I returned later with a fly rod in hand to tempt some eager brook trout with dry flies. The painted up brookies were looking ready for fall.

Both brookies and browns will be attending to their annual ritual courtship soon, clearing shallow depressions, turning gravel with tails and tending prime spawning area in pairs. September through December are the active months when brook trout reproduce. As a result, the brook trout fry will have a distinct advantage over the spring spawn that native cutthroats perform.

Brook trout are an introduced, non-native species that have some conflicting characteristics with native cutthroat behaviors. As autumn spawners, brook trout get a head start before the cutthroats hatch in the springtime. The brook trout juveniles will outcompete the cutthroat fry for sustenance. Eggs and newly hatched cutthroat trout are fair game for adult brook trout as well as brown trout.

Brookies are more territorial. They will taunt and torment cutthroats that try to intervene in prime feeding areas. Brook trout will school together, increasing the intimidation of cutthroat trout. Overpopulated brookies that congregate command prime areas in a pool, displacing the less aggressive native fish.

A lot of these characteristics make brook trout the species for anglers to target for harvest. Where brook trout do exist, their numbers will quickly overpopulate an area to the point of stunting. This occurs when too many fish live in an area and food sources are depleted. In areas such as this selective harvest is the best management. Colorado Parks and Wildlife encourages brook trout harvest. Anglers who know where to find brook trout will do little to alter the population by catching and keeping a few fish at a time.

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My friend and immensely popular outdoor writer, Chris Hunt, maintained a blog (back when blogs were a necessity) named “Eat More Brook Trout,” that encouraged brook trout harvest. More recently, he penned a Hatch Magazine piece titled “October Brook Trout” where he professes his affection for “the most beautiful salmonid on the planet.” Here in the western states, brook trout are sometimes not viewed with admirable eyes. Their propensity for overpopulating an area and displacing native species place brook trout on a hit list for many anglers. And that’s not a bad thing.

For anglers who know, the brook trout is one of the finest fish for the plate. A fresh harvest of brook trout is the foundation for a DIY Rocky Mountain feast. Colorado Parks and Wildlife set the harvest limit for brook trout at ten fish per day for each angler. That is a very liberal limit. As a result, anglers should hold little reservation when it comes to keeping a few guilt-free fish for the frying pan.

For some anglers, the ease of catching brook trout quickly diminishes their attraction. Brook trout are eager to eat a dry fly. Terrestrial flies cast upon a deep water beaver pond will produce smashing strikes from brookies as fall closes. Size down your gear to appropriate levels. A 3-weight fly rod comes to life when matched up with a dry fly and good brook trout water.

This is not to say, however, that brook trout are always little. The current state record brook trout was harvested in 2022. The fish from Waterdog Lake tipped the scales at 26.25 pounds. The old idea of equating brook trout with small fish needs readjustment.

Overpopulated in waters where they thrive, brook trout reproduce to the point of excess. Brook trout represent a hazard when they outcompete native species for food and habitat. Abrams Creek, a local cutthroat stronghold, is a prime example of a fragile population that could feel the invasive pressure from brook trout.

Fall is a beautiful season in Colorado. Elk are bugling across timbered valleys. Moose wander through marshes with stiff legs. Black bears forage for anything in preparation for their big sleep. And brook trout develop orange bellies, sport black and white-tipped fins — and their trademark red spots ringed in blue gain intensity with the falling leaves. The last jaunts into the high country with a fly rod in hand could arrive any day. Now is the time before winter’s grasp blows over the small streams. Brook trout are all painted up for the special occasion.

Michael Salomone moved to the Eagle River valley in 1992. He began guiding fly-fishing professionally in 2002. His freelance writing has been published in magazines and websites including, Southwest Fly Fishing, Fly Rod & Reel, Eastern Fly Fishing, On the Fly, FlyLords, the Pointing Dog Journal, Upland Almanac, the Echo website, Vail Valley Anglers and more. He lives on the bank of the Eagle River with his wife, Lori; two daughters, Emily and Ella; and a brace of yellow Labrador retrievers.