Many of you know that the latest conversation within the FATC is about the unusual brown trout that we have been catching in the Meramec river. With most of the parks closed or stocking shut down many of us have been fishing the Meramec river. Using the right flies and the correct techniques, the fishing has been very good for brown trout. But the brown trout that we are catching are not your usual looking brown trout with the “butter belly” and brown trout spots. So we went to our “Go to” fisheries biologist, Jennifer Girondo, for answers. Jennifer was kind enough to provide us with some insight on the “Meramec” stocked brown trout.

“Hi FATC – this year’s batch of fish have had some variations in colors and markings.  This isn’t the first one that folks have sent pictures asking about; some have looked more like past years’ and some have these linear markings.  The browns we stocked this year (and have in other years as well) are a Crawford strain; we got them from a hatchery in Paint Bank, Virginia.  With the rotation of brood stock, this year’s may have a parent with unusual markings and they’ve showed up in the progeny.   (For reference, the other strain of browns we’ve used are called Sheep Creek. I can’t recall off the top of my head, but they are usually from a northern state hatchery.  They have been used since the inception of the brown trout program in MO, and are currently used in the other brown trout streams in MO.)  We use different hatcheries depending on availability and our hatchery’s needs – this next year’s browns I believe are scheduled to be the Sheep Creek strain. (see below).  

Hope you’re doing well in these interesting times!

Jennifer Girondo

Fisheries Management Biologist”

I looked up the Sheep Creek strain brown trout and they come from Utah. If these will be used in the coming years we will probably see more “butter belly” brown trout. Always interesting!! The Sheep Creek brown trout strain originated from a wild migratory stock spawning in Sheep Creek, a tributary of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Northern Utah.” The Sheep Creek strain soon won out over the Plymouth Rock strain because it adapted better to Missouri streams and hatchery settings.