The Bull Trout
(Salvelinus confluentus)

Ah yes, the Bull Trout, so misunderstood. Often confused with the Dolly Varden. In 1978 Cavender claimed the findings that the two trout were proven to be a two distinctly different trout. Then in 1991 Hass and McPhail backed up these findings with evidence to Cavender’s previous claim.

APPEARANCE

To me the bull trout is the freshwater barracuda. The reason being is that it looks like it has a head and jaw that is to big for its body, giving it a torpedo shaped body. This also gives it a bigger gills is one of the ways to tell its different from a Dolly Varden Trout.

For the most part it is a long, and slender trout. Starting from the back, it is dark olive green fading to a silver sheen on the sides, with the belly being white. Through out the body there are pale orange, red, and yellow spots.

Most of the fins on the bottom half of the body are pale orange with a white front edge, except for the dorsal and tail fins. The dorsal fin has on black spots at all. And where I am from these trout are protected, and our saying goes; NO BLACK, PUT IT BACK! Which is of course referring to the lack of spots on the dorsal and tail fin. The fork in the tail fin is deeper than the Brook or Brown Trout.

PREY

The younger trout eat aquatic insects that are near the bottom of a lake or river. The adults feed on some insects, but mainly on other fish! Which can be up to 90% of its diet!

PREDATORS

Despite how aggressively they feed on other fish their predators include the following; bears. Birds like loons, eagles, osprey. Also there are mink, wolves. Then there is us, over fishing is the biggest threat to this trout. (More on this below.) HABITAT

Bullies can be found in lakes, rivers and streams. They are similar to the brook trout in that they like cold, fast flowing fresh water that is well oxygenated. They like their habitat to be unaltered which means little or no sediment at all.

SPAWNING

Adult trout will reach sexual maturity around five years of age, and depending on conditions, maturity maybe as late as the age of eight years. In light of continuous research they spawn every second year. Though the bull trout tend to live in lakes, rivers, and streams they will travel great distances to spawn.

They will leave the lakes, where possible to go to the head waters of the rivers and streams in late fall, usually late September or October. Once there the female digs the redd in the gravel bed, the male of course does his job too. After they will thinly cover the eggs with a fine layer of silt so as not suffocate the eggs. The young stay in the rivers and streams up to three years, then come down into lakes. When trout fishing for Bullies, you may try trolling Bull Trout in deep lakes. With the finicky spawning of the bull trout it becomes fragile fishery. They join up every other year for spawn, the young staying on the upper rivers for three years. Getting the just right conditions and the encroachment of man have made it a endangered species in most places. So please, catch and release when possible.

If you would like to learn more about the different trout, take a look below.

Arctic Grayling | Brook Trout | Brown Trout | Cutthroat Trout |
Dolly Varden Trout | Golden Trout Lake Trout | Rainbow Trout |

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