“But, in recent years, with the social media promotion of our stocking efforts, White Gull has received an intense amount of fishing pressure, leaving us with very poor milt harvesting results. “We have traditionally harvested milt from male brook trout in White Gull Creek, which is only a few kilometres away from our donor lake trout lake, White Swan Lake,” he says. Moving into the realm of splake, the beautiful brook trout/lake trout hybrid, Matity says success sometimes comes at a cost. And individual female rainbows will ripen all the way into January.” But the rainbows will just be starting when the brooks are done.

“The brookies will be ready within the next week or so,” says Matity, “overlapping with the browns. “You’d think it would be complicated, but we can effortlessly convert them to fall spawners by mixing them in with the browns and brooks. “Rainbow trout are genetically spring spawners,” he says. And get this: He has now enticed rainbow trout, which spawn in the spring, to lay their eggs in the fall as well. But our fish also have two other egg laying triggers-photoperiod and chemical communication.” Photo credit: Saskatchewan Fish HatcheryĪs most anglers know, brown, brook and lake trout spawn in the fall, and while the eggs and milt in individual fish mature at different times, Matity says he is always shocked by how remarkably close to one specific day it happens each autumn.

It could be another concern for climate change affecting cold-water species, as a later egg drop gives the eggs fewer developmental days before their correctly projected hatching date. “The lakers in our donor lake are triggered most significantly by a sudden drop in temperature, from 12☌ to 8° C and we have documented them holding their eggs and delaying spawning for weeks beyond our typical harvest date, if it is a year with extended warm water temperatures. “I think it’s because of the constant 10° C temperature of the groundwater flowing through our facility,” Jeff said.

Interesting facts about the brook trout