The Slickest Trout is a Char

Here is a little something that is hard for some hacks to understand. Is the fish you just landed a trout or a char? I am not a fish biologist, so this info might not be 100% correct, but I have studied as many fish as those who only study text books. There are few places left in the world where truly native trout or char rein supreme in their natural habitats. Trout and char have been distributed so widely throughout the world that at times you never know what might be on the end of the line. So how do you tell the difference between so called true trout, and char. The easiest way to tell the difference is the due to the dark spots on true trout opposed to the light spots on char. But the differences go beyond that. Most native chars need cooler water than trout and therefore become increasingly abundant in Arctic regions. Char also spawn in the fall, unlike most trout (Brown trout spawn in the fall). Scientists distinguish between the two groups not only by the color of the fish but by the arrangement of the bones, teeth, and the finer scales of the char. Scales? I am sure most anglers would argue that an eastern Brook trout has no scales, but the number and arrangement of scales differ between the chars and trout. Trout and Char have an equal number of scales as fingerling's as they do as an adult. As the fish grows, so do the scales. You can tell the age of a trout or char by counting the rings on a scale not too much unlike counting the rings of a tree. Brook trout have the the finest scales, and also the most scales. These fine scales give the eastern Brook trout the slickest feel of any trout.