The New Zealand trout's diet
While trout will feed on whatever is available
to them at the time, there are certain food sources that played
a much larger role in their diet. What they are feeding on will
vary from location to location, over the year and even over the
course of a day. Some of the made food sources are listed below.
Insects
In most rivers and lesser extent and still waters,
insects at various stages of their maturity form the staple of the
trout 's diet. The two major insect groups throughout the country
are mayflies and sedges. Other important insects include stoneflies,
creepers (also known as dobsonflies), beetles, midges, lacewings,
cicadas, crane flies (also known as daddy long legs) and snails.
At times opportunistic trout will also feed on such as insects as
blow Flies, wasps, dragonflies, bees and moths. By far the largest
proportion of the trout's diet is taken when insects are in their
larval a pupa stages. Much of the time they will be feeding on the
stream bed.
Small fish
In lakes and on the larger rivers particularly
around the river mouths, small fish also make up a substantial part
of the trout 's diet. These fish include smelt, bullies and whitebait
though trout will also eat juveniles from their own species. When
the whitebait move into the rivers during autumn and early summer,
the trout will often move downstream to take advantage of this food
source. In the lakes where there are large smelt populations, trout
will migrate in search of these small fish as they form the principal
part of their diet.
Other food
Trout can be very selective in what they eat
but will also take advantage of any food source that is offered
to them. At times trout have been caught with tadpoles, frogs and
even small mice within their stomachs showing that they are partial
to variety in their diet. One particular food source that has been
recognized by many anglers is of course fish roe or the fish eggs
laid by spawning trout. Trout do not seem to be able to resist eating
these when they are washed down stream in the current and these
have been imitated successfully by Glo-bugs and Muppets.
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