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The brook trout, or brookie, fills the trout niche in the cooler streams of the northeastern United States, east of the Allegheny Mountains. (They have been introduced elsewhere.) The brook trout is actually a char, which makes it a relative of the lake trout, the Dolly Varden, and the Arctic char.

This fish is a sign of pure water and a healthy ecology. Brook trout like cooler water and cannot stand the higher temperatures that the brown and the rainbow can tolerate. Before Europeans cleared the great hardwood forests of the northeastern United States, most streams had the shade and pure water that brook trout need.

The brook trout has many red spots that are surrounded by a blue halo. The fins have a telltale black and white tip. The belly and fins have an orange cast that can be quite brilliant and almost crimson in spawning season. The tail of the brook trout is more squared off than that of the brown and rainbow (see Figure 4-13), hence the nickname squaretail.

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FIGURE 4-13: The brook trout is universally admired for its gorgeous coloring.