Brook Trout
Trout and charSalvelinus fontinalis · also called brookie, speckled trout, squaretail
The brook trout is a char rather than a true trout, which is why its markings run the opposite way — light on dark instead of dark on light. The white-edged fins are visible from several feet away and settle it.
Quick facts
- Appearance
- Dark olive-green with pale worm-like squiggles across the back, red spots ringed with blue halos on the flank, and white leading edges on orange lower fins.
- Typical size
- 0.2–3 lb
- Waters
- stream cold, lake
- Regulations
- Native brook trout populations are declining and many streams have protective limits, gear restrictions or full catch-and-release rules.
How to confirm it
- Pale worm-like vermiculations across a dark back — light markings on dark, the reverse of trout.
- White leading edge on the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins, backed by a black line.
- Red spots surrounded by blue halos.
- Square tail, giving it the name squaretail.
What it is confused with
One check settles each of these.
Brown trout has dark spots on a light body. Brook trout has light squiggles on a dark body and white-edged fins.
Rainbow has a fully spotted tail and no white fin edges.
Why this matters beyond curiosity
- Look-alike species often carry different limits. Walleye and sauger, black and white crappie, pike and muskie, blue and channel catfish — each pair can have different sizes, seasons and daily limits in the same water.
- Check it before the fish goes in the livewell. Most of the tests on this site take seconds and are far easier on a fish you are still holding.
- If you cannot tell, release it. That is the answer that is never wrong, and it is the one a warden will not argue with.
- Regulations are set by your state or province and change annually. This site identifies fish; it does not tell you the rules. Check the current regulations for the water you are on.