The Stream Doctor

April 26th, 2004

Email YOUR Questions directly to the Stream Doctor. This is your opportunity to get an experts professional opinion on anything stream related.


Q. Will stocked landlocked salmon co-exist with trout? Or will the salmon eat all the trout... keeping the numbers of second generation stocked rainbow and browns from ever getting started?

A. I talked with Dr. Dave Courtemanch, a biologist in Maine, to get answers for your questions; I have had no experience with landlocked salmon. He said that brook trout and landlocked salmon co-exist well because the salmon inhabit the d eepwater regions feeding on smelt, whereas the brook trout are found in the littoral regions feeding on insects. However, brown trout and landlocked salmon do not co-exist; the brown trout outcompete the salmon for food resources. He didn't have any information about how rainbows and salmon get along. He also said that the Maine fisheries people introduced salmon into some lakes having populations of blueback trout (actually a char), and that the salmon introduction resulted in the extinction of the bluebacks.


If you have a question, please feel free to contact me.
~ C. E. (Bert) Cushing, aka Streamdoctor
105 W. Cherokee Dr.
Estes Park, CO 80517
Phone: 970-577-1584
Email: streamdoctor@aol.com

The 'Stream Doctor' is a retired professional stream ecologist and author, now living in the West and spending way too much time fly-fishing. You are invited to submit questions relating to anything stream related directly to him for use in this Q & A Feature at streamdoctor@aol.com.


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