The picture of the salamander brings up a question…
Do trout eat salamanders…or is it sort of like the tadpole thing?
How about bass?
Bass ‘kill’ them.
Something genetic. Maybe the salamanders raid nests, or something, but bass, especially the big female Floridas, will SAVAGELY attack and kill one if they see it. Waterdogs the same thing. One reason they are such good bait for bass (ohmygodIsaidbaitonFAOL!!!).
Seen it a couple of times. Actually saw a pair of bass tear a big one in HALF once.
Good Luck!
Buddy
Yes, trout eat salamanders. Except for the toxic ones, and I am reasonably sure that the one in the photo is an eastern newt, which IS toxic.
“Predators of N. viridescens include birds, mammals, fish, and other amphibians, however many of them are deterred by the newt’s toxic skin secretions.”
Stay away from the rough-skinned newt, Taricha granulosa, of the pacific northwest. One of those is toxic enough to kill YOU.
Newts are only toxic if you eat them. So don’t do that. The most toxic form of a newt is its red eft stage. The newts contain the same toxin as puffer fish, it slows everything in you down, resulting in coma and most often death. Alegedlly it is what is used to create zombies.
Anyway, I don’t know for sure if fish eat salamanders and newts, but they sure as poo strike them. The strike is the important part for for us so lets go with YES you can use imitaions of them to fish with. A wolly bugger or slimmed down sculpin imitation will work well. Most of the amphibions crawl slowly on the bottom when searching for food, freeze when they sense danger, or dart extremely fast for cover when disturbed too much. Some will borrow in soft sand or silt, but you can’t copy that movement with a fly. Good Luck.