Recently one of the readers of this blog asked me about a species of trout that was only native to a couple of water bodies in New Hampshire, and after doing some research on this fish, thought it would make a nice post. I guess I figured that if I had never heard of this fish then it’s quite possible that not many of you have either. As you have probably already guessed, the fish is the “Silver Trout”.
I had never heard of this trout and before responding to my reader, had to do some research. What is this trout? How come I haven’t seen it? I could find some blurbs on the internet, but how could I verify the information?
I reached out, and Scott Decker of the NH Fish & Game Department was kind enough to respond to my query. Scott is a Certified Fisheries Professional and Program Supervisor of the Inland Fisheries Division and what he told me is that “the silver trout was likely a species of char that were present in Dublin Lake and Christine Lake.
The silver trout of Dublin Lake was actually named and recognized as a distinct species from either brook trout or the Sunapee trout and (the silver trout of Dublin Lake was) given the name Salvelinus agassizzi. However, the native trout of Christine Lake was never recognized as being a separate species from brook trout.
Here is a blurb about the silver trout taken from an article written by Scott for The Wildlife Journal in May/June 2015.
In the article, Scott also talks about the Sunapee Golden Trout. I found his article to be quite interesting and I was happy to learn about two species of fish that until now I had never heard of. If you would like to read Scott’s full article, click the link, http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/pubs/documents/samples/sunapee-gold-may-june-2015.pdf
I would like to say thank you to Joe E. for asking me about the Silver Trout because without his question, I most assuredly would still be ignorant that the Silver Trout ever existed, and a big thank you to Scott Decker for taking time to answer questions about the fish.
Tight lines, the Amateur Angler
The Amateur Angler 
Nice post! Very educational.
So sad to have lost a native fish unique to New Hampshire.
I’ve heard that Brook Trout were greatly pressured by the introduction of Rainbow Trout from California. Brook Trout are solitary, while Rainbows are more school oriented. So when the Rainbows showed up, they buddied up to the Brookies, who left in a huff. Consequently, the Rainbows got the best feeding spots, and Brookies declined in population.
But like you, I’d never heard of either Silver Trout OR Sunapee Golden Trout. Can’t help wonder how much fun they would have been to catch!
Thanks for the education!
Tight lines!
Roger, The Smiling BassHole
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Thanks Roger
I agree, now that I know about them, I think they would have been fun to catch. Especially the Sunapee Gold which I understand grew at a faster rate, which meant bigger fish. Sadly, even if these two fish were still around, it doesn’t mean we would have the luck to catch them as quite often I don’t seem to be able to catch the fish I originally went out looking for. I go out for bass and catch pickerel, I go out for pickerel and catch perch. It makes me laugh almost every fishing trip. But I always have fun no matter what cause at least I’m not at work.
tight lines. the Amateur Angler
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