Good morning, Ric. I know less every year, but I know one thing for certain. Never say "never" about fish, and never says "always." I constantly amazed by the variability and variety that fishes can exhibit. I've sampled spawning brook trout populations only in the fall in Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota (Black Hills), but I've never looked extensively in the spring, either. As you indicated, those are all introduced populations (not native).
Having said that, your comment piqued my interest. So, I grabbed a couple of fish books for a little reading.
First, I checked The Fishes of Tennessee (Etnier and Starnes), because I knew the brookies were native there. They say that "brook trout spawn in fall in Tennessee."
Next, I grabbed "Freshwater Fishes of Virginia (Jenkins and Burkhead). They said the brook trout "is an autmnal spawner; the onset of spawning is tuned to decreasing day-length and temperature. In Virginia, egg-laying spans late October and November; in cool northern areas spawning occurs in August and September."
Fish sometimes hold eggs if they don't spawn, and then resorb them (I think they actually take back the "energy" from the eggs into the body). So, sometimes that causes fish to have eggs at what appear to be odd times. Also, fish sometimes begin to develop the eggs for their next spawn months and months before spawning time. Again, there is so much diversity within speices, among species, and among places that I'm almost afraid to generalize any more! :-)
Finally, check out the following website. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission says that "brook trout spawning begins in September and ends in November."
http://www.ncwildlife.com/pg07_wildlifespeciescon/Profiles/troutbrook.pdf I won't be the least bit surprised if someone comes back to the Forum and knows of a different spawning time for a particular strain of brook trout.
Dave
