# Question: Trout Colors



## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

*Question: *What causes the colors of Trout to be brillant in some waters and dull in other waters? Qualifer on the question is the color outside of the spawn. I'm really curious if the water environment (clarity, cooler, moving current) has anything to do with the differences in color :| .

We don't necessarily target Trout when fish'n and I'm just a tad bit curious. Tried a couple last year for dinner and well too fishy tasting for our liking...so any we do catch back in they go... :wink:

They're sure some 'pretty' fish though and fun to C&R when we do hook into one...but I'm really curious if the water conditions have anything to do with the color...thanks in advance for any SME (subject-matter-expert) info on Trout coloring... :wink: :wink:


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

That's a good question.

Ah...I think God does that; he's in charge (no, not Pro, God). 

He does the same to Zebras, Leopards, Pronghorns, robins, those yellow spots on a Tundra Swan beaks, frogs, crappies, on and on....They all have subtle differences.


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## Pez Gallo (Dec 27, 2007)

trout will match the brightness/darkness of their surroundings. Often in a clear lake, the trout will have washed out colors and in a river darker colors. This isnt always the case, but how they are on average. Also, when they are staging for a spawn, they will color up pretty good


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

I think it's mostly genetic and environmental; the food they eat, whether it's a lake or a river, what the mineral/chemical makeup of the water is...etc. Maybe altitude plays a role. There are surely a lot of variables involved.


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## proutdoors (Sep 24, 2007)

wyogoob said:


> Ah...I think God does that; he's in charge (no, not Pro, God).


 -BaHa!- *(u)*


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## Lakecitypirate (Mar 4, 2008)

wyogoob said:


> That's a good question.
> 
> Ah...I think God does that; he's in charge (no, not Pro, God).
> 
> He does the same to Zebras, Leopards, Pronghorns, robins, those yellow spots on a Tundra Swan beaks, frogs, crappies, on and on....They all have subtle differences.


Ah, thats why im brown....


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## troutscout (Feb 12, 2009)

Genetics plays a huge role. Diet is another biggie. I've found fish in clear lakes to be more brilliant, think Uintah lakes. Those brookies up there are pretty! Native fish are always more brilliant, going back to genetics. - ^^ike


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## handsomefish (Nov 14, 2007)

I think water environment has as much to do with it as genitics
Thats why the bear lake cutts they put in strawberry do not look like the ones in bear lake


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## troutscout (Feb 12, 2009)

Water temp too. When a fish lives in it's ideal temp it will be more healthy and in turn more colorful. Like I said above, diet is a biggie. - ^^ike


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## FLYFSHR (Apr 16, 2008)

k2- 
other than the spawn, and what has already been mentioned, I'd key in on food.
I've specifically been targeting tiger trout and brookies for many years and have noticed that a lake with more scuds will result in a more brilliant colored fish.
I'm guessing it's kinda like how a flamingo gets it's color (fresh water shrimp)


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

FLYFSHR said:


> k2-
> other than the spawn, and what has already been mentioned, I'd key in on food.
> I've specifically been targeting tiger trout and brookies for many years and have noticed that a lake with more scuds will result in a more brilliant colored fish.
> I'm guessing it's kinda like how a flamingo gets it's color (fresh water shrimp)


Beat me to it!!! Any lake with scuds= beautiful trout.


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## Pez Gallo (Dec 27, 2007)

I dont know if the food will make their skin different colors in a major way, although it can radically change the color of the meat in the fish.. The scuds could just be an environmental sign of the type of water the fish live in.

I asked this question of a biologist at the Y a few years back. I had a picture of a rainbow with really dark skin I had caught in the provo river. I asked him about it and he said that the fish's skin adapts to their surroundings. Compare a rainbow that you catch in a shallow river and compare it with the ones you catch in a reservoir. The same with browns or cutts. Or look at the walleyes you catch in utah lake vs. the ones in deer creek. There is a huge difference in the color of the water in both cases and the fish's skin show their adaptations.


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

FLYFSHR said:


> k2-
> other than the spawn, and what has already been mentioned, I'd key in on food.
> I've specifically been targeting tiger trout and brookies for many years and have noticed that a lake with more *scuds* will result in a more brilliant colored fish.
> I'm guessing it's kinda like how a flamingo gets it's color (fresh water shrimp)


Cuz I'm not schooled in Trout fishing and I knew you probably weren't meaning Scuds as the missiles Iraq used had to look that one up...

http://www.troutnut.com/common-name/53/Scuds

Thanks for the comments as I'm just really curious as to the difference in colors...I can see water environment being key to the colors. :wink: :wink:


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## FLYFSHR (Apr 16, 2008)

yea sorry for not providing a link earlier k2 as I didn't have time.
here's another link for you to check out. 
Mainly the first two paragraphs regarding scuds and an additional link for tying a pattern that I like to fish.
http://www.taneycomotrout.com/flytying/entomology.html


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## rukus (Apr 11, 2008)

handsomefish said:


> I think water environment has as much to do with it as genitics
> Thats why the bear lake cutts they put in strawberry do not look like the ones in bear lake


+1 As a side note, I hear Bear Lake is fishing pretty well right now out on the rock piles. I haven't been personally, but have tallked to several guys who have caught some of those beautiful cutts that were lucky enough to stay in the lake and not get shipped off to some other lake.


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## Riverrat77 (Sep 7, 2007)

Lakecitypirate said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> > That's a good question.
> ...


He's got a sense of humor too.... I have white folks and while my brother could pass for a white guy, I constantly get asked if I speak Spanish. Go figure... nice one God. Seriously though, I think LOAH is right... there are a ton of things that go into it.


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

Anywhere trout sustain on a hgh diet of crustaceans, you will find brilliantly colored specimens. Look up some images of fish on the Taylor river and the Fryingpan river in Colorado where a majority of their diet consists of Mysis shrimp. Beautiful fish. Crusaceans also have a much higher caloric value than other aquatic invertebrae such as mayfly nymphs, caddis, etc... and therefore fish that feed on them have a much higher growth rate.


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## FLYFSHR (Apr 16, 2008)

flyguy7 said:


> Anywhere trout sustain on a hgh diet of crustaceans, you will find brilliantly colored specimens. Look up some images of fish on the Taylor river and the Fryingpan river in Colorado where a majority of their diet consists of Mysis shrimp. Beautiful fish. Crusaceans also have a much higher caloric value than other aquatic invertebrae such as mayfly nymphs, caddis, etc... and therefore fish that feed on them have a much higher growth rate.


+1


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## campfire (Sep 9, 2007)

Another argument for environmental factors is the color of whitefish on the north slope of the Uintas. They have a distinctively yellow or gold tint to them compared to the darker gray of the whitefish in the Great Basin or the Pacific drainage whitefish in Idaho.


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## Jitterbug (Sep 10, 2007)

flyguy7 said:


> Anywhere trout sustain on a hgh diet of crustaceans, you will find brilliantly colored specimens. Look up some images of fish on the Taylor river and the Fryingpan river in Colorado where a majority of their diet consists of Mysis shrimp. Beautiful fish. Crusaceans also have a much higher caloric value than other aquatic invertebrae such as mayfly nymphs, caddis, etc... and therefore fish that feed on them have a much higher growth rate.


Good info. I heard the same thing on a fishing show a while back.


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## flyguy7 (Sep 16, 2007)

http://www.flyfisherman.com/rmwest/dwmysis/index.html


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