Coal Creek Wildlife-Trout

The Trout by Trevor S., age 10

ZOOM! You just saw a trout glide across the stream chasing a poor, helpless minnow.

Just then it grabbed it and chowed down. There are lots of different kinds of trout. Some are the brown trout, brook trout and, of course, the rainbow trout. Trout live all around Colorado. Most trout, like the brook trout, also like to live in cold waters. The brook trout is usually 6 to 10 inches long. The brook's favorite meal is the may fly or the caddis fly. The brown trout has a BIG appetite. It likes, minnows, cray fish, frogs and even other trout! After all it is the biggest trout. Its size is usually 3 feet or even 3 and a half feet! The rainbow trout doesn't have a very big appetite. It usually only eats minnows and cray fish.

Most trout go up stream in late fall and lay their eggs. When the eggs hatch the babies are called fry. Then the fry go downstream and look for food. On the way down the fry have to watch out for fishing birds, raccoons and larger fish and even you.

I got my information from FRESHWATER FISH AND FISHING by Jim Arnosky.

Trout by Lindsey, age 9

Like a flash of light through the sky the trout leaps up only to plummet down with it's prey in the clasp of it's powerful jaws. They eat mostly bugs, but sometimes they eat each other too.

Most breeds of trout aren't native to Colorado. The only native is the greenback cutthroat trout. They need to be in waters under 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They weigh up to 17 pounds and grow up to two feet long. They are very hard to tell apart.

I got my information from WILDLIFE IN DANGER published by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Rainbow Trout by Chelsee, age 9

The cold breeze goes by in the mountains and as you look at the stream you see the rocks at the bottom. The water is fresh and cold. If you see a fish with a straight red line through it, it may be a rainbow trout. Does it eat young birds and lizards that fall in the water? If so, it is a rainbow trout. Rainbow trout eat many foods like crayfish and insects because they have such sharp teeth.

The rainbow trout has a stream-lined body with small scales and dark spots. It is a sport fish and a food fish. It has very good fighting ability and makes spectacular leaps like an acrobat when hooked. The rainbow trout is one of the best known fish. Did you know that females spawn up to one hundred eggs? Males fertilize them, then the female covers the eggs with gravel. Two months later the eggs hatch. Rainbow trout live for eleven years.

I got my information from the book, WILDLIFE IN DANGER, published by the Wildlife Foundation.

Illustrated by Aylia and Chelsee

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