Mobility of brown trout in south-central Wyoming streams

Stream-resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) have often been considered to have small home ranges. To test this hypothesis, positions of adult brown trout in two streams were monitored from mid-June to early December 1991 and from late September 1992 to early June 1993 by using radiotelemetry. Thirty-seven of the 54 brown trout that were relocated at least once had home ranges greater than 50 m, trout larger than 340 mm moved more than did smaller brown trout, and movement of all fish tended to be greater in autumn. Different movement patterns of large and small fish imply the existence of two life-history strategies.