Whether or not this conservation method is effective will only be told through time, but don’t expect to catch them hand over fist. And after you catch your one aurora trout, you’re done for the day. One last thing to note about this fish – if you go fishing for one, you get to catch one per day. Luckily, the efforts of some fisheries managers in Ontario brought aurora trout into hatcheries, where they were reared and released back into the wild. These fish nearly went extinct due to acid rain, which upset the pH levels in the lakes and prevented aurora trout from spawning. While brook trout are bright red and black, aurora trout tend to be orange and magenta. The two trout look passably similar, save for the fact that aurora trout lack any spots on their body, or vermiculation (the wormy lines on the back of most char species). Which means you’ll absolutely love the aurora.Īurora trout are a distinct subspecies of brook trout - their more popular cousins. Now they exist in two lakes.Īs my buddy Hyrum is so fond of saying, “I’ve never met a fish I didn’t like,” and I’ve never met an angler who doesn’t like brook trout. Native to a tiny section of Ontario, Canada, these trout are thought to have occurred in maybe a dozen lakes upon their discovery in 1923. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the rare trout you can find in North America. A few were thought to have gone completely extinct. Most of the trout on this list have either been protected or actively managed for conservation for years. It’s the fly fishing equivalent of having walked on the moon. When you’re sitting around the campfire, throwing back a cold one and swapping fish stories, you can wait until someone spins the biggest yarn of them all before casually saying you’ve caught an aurora trout. For a lot of anglers, the promise of catching a fish almost no one else ever has is too tempting an offer to pass on.
What constitutes a rare trout? Is a fish rare if it’s few in numbers, or so damned difficult to get to and find (I’m looking at you, golden trout) that only the truly dedicated – or deranged – chase them? Photo courtesy of Jeff Weaver, Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife.