Trout Are Made From Trees

Hi friends!

Trout Are Made From Trees

Did you know that your trout are made from maples and other trees and vegetation? This might sound a little crazy, but trees are actually an important part of the food web for trout and micro-invertebrates in streams. 

This time of year, we're just coming to the close of maple sap and syrup season. The temperature warming to many days together above freezing is encouraging the buds and flowers on our trees, telling us the time for boiling maple sap in the cold is coming to an end. I want you to watch the leaves come in on these trees, especially if you live near a stream or creek or if you visit one frequently. These same leaves could become an energy source for your fish. 

This warming spring time is also when we start to explore our streams and look for macro-invertebrates. These insect larvae that live in streams are incredibly important to our trout's survival. When we release our trout, sometime in May or June, we will look for macro-invertebrates to make sure we are releasing our trout into a healthy ecosystem with lots of food for them to find and hunt. 

The leaves that we watch grow on the trees near streams will become integral in the autumn, as they fall into the streams and begin to be decomposed. The decomposing leaves will be the perfect food for the macro-invertebrates that will grow to be the food for your trout. This food web links our trees and trout, keeping the energy put from the trees into the leaves in the stream ecosystem as it becomes energy for the trout.