Brook Trout Stocking Report from Len Harris   2 comments

Len Harris (you know Len Harris, right?) has a nice report on club-reared Brook Trout stocked in Driftless area streams. Give it a read. And tell Len “Hello”.

http://lenharris.blogspot.com/2012/04/locals-making-difference.html

Len’s report says the DNR gives these clubs fingerlings and the clubs raise them for one year before releasing them. One question I have, that I’ve asked Len about, is where the DNR gets the fingerlings? Do they collect eggs and roe from wild Brook Trout? I would hope so, in order to keep the genetics of these fish strong. The Pacific Northwest is having a raging debate right now about hatchery-raised fish competing with wild salmon and steelhead. Is something similar happening in Wisconsin?

2 responses to “Brook Trout Stocking Report from Len Harris

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  1. either native trout or roe collected from natives

  2. Most hatcheries have “brood stock” that supply fertilized eggs. I doubt your DNR would collect eggs from wild fish very often — that’d get way expensive. The genetic composition of brood stock is supposed to be a known quantity. You’re in the Mississippi River basin, where brook trout are natives, so at least your DNR is stocking the right species (that’s not the case everywhere). Ideally, the fish descend from genetically pure fish taken from the wild — hopefully from a remote conservation population of some sort — but if you want to know the pedigree of the stockies you’re hooking, you could probably just ask.

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