Vermont Fish and Wildlife experimenting with new strain of rainbow trout stock in 2022
It's trout fishing season in Vermont, and soon rivers, streams and lakes will be stocked with new supplies of fish from Vermont's hatcheries. This year, there will be a new fish in town: the Eagle Lake strain of rainbow trout.
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is stocking Vermont bodies of water with the new strain of rainbow trout starting this spring through fall 2024 in order to evaluate their performance. Biologists will evaluate the trout based on catchability, survivability and growth, to see if the Eagle Lake strain performs better than the current Erwin-Arlee strain which hatcheries grow and release.
Every year Vermont Fish & Wildlife releases thousands of fish from their five hatcheries into the state's bodies of water to improve recreational fishing.
Between 8,000 and 10,000 Eagle Lake rainbow trout will be introduced to 11 bodies of water across the state: Echo Lake, Bald Hill Pond, Crystal Lake, Sunset Lake, Knapp Pond 1, South Pond, Lake Raponda, the Passumpsic River, the Huntington River, the Ottauquechee River and the Deerfield River.
"Data collected during this evaluation will provide important information we will use to ensure we are providing the highest quality recreational fishery possible," said fisheries biologist Lee Simard, in a video explaining the study.
Because of the near identical appearance of the Eagle Lake strain to the Erwin-Arlee strain, clipped ventral fins will help anglers tell them apart. A rainbow trout missing a left ventral fin will be an Eagle Lake strain, and ones missing a right ventral fin will be an Erwin-Arlee.
Both strains are the same species but each have distinct genetic traits that affect performance aspects like survivability in the wild and in hatcheries.
Trout enjoy cooler water, which can be found in Vermont's deep ponds and lakes, but the Erwin-Arlee strain still does not survive summers well, making it difficult to have rainbow trout that survive more than a year and therefore grow large in size. The Eagle Lake strain has done well in other states including Maine, Michigan and Montana, according to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife website.
Anglers can report their catch through an online form on the department's website or the Vermont Outdoors app.
Contact Urban Change Reporter Lilly St. Angelo at lstangelo@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @lilly_st_ang
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont rainbow trout: A new strain to be introduced and evaluated
