The Best Brook Trout Books

Why Brook Trout Matter: America’s Native Char

The brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is revered among cold-water conservationists and fly anglers in Eastern North America, registering as a powerful symbol due to its stunning beauty and deep cultural significance. Often affectionately called “brookies,” this species is technically a char, making it a close relative of the Arctic char and lake trout, rather than brown or rainbow trout.

Catching a brook trout instills confidence that the water is close to pristine, cementing its role as an important indicator species regarding the health of the larger environment. The fish itself is considered one of the most beautiful freshwater fish in North America, with gold and reddish markings contrasted against a camouflaged green and black back. These magnificent fish thrive in cool, clear, highly oxygenated waters.

These three books represent the pinnacle of literature dedicated to the brook trout, blending angling advice, deep biological insights, and urgent conservation appeals.

Review: Squaretail: The Definitive Guide to Brook Trout and Where to Find Them by Bob Mallard

Squaretail is a splendid showcase book considered by critics to be a “certifiable classic” and the most complete book about brook trout in a generation. The title itself is an old-school term for brook trout, especially in Maine.

Author Expertise and Conservation Focus

The author, Bob Mallard, is a celebrated writer, former fly shop owner, Registered Maine Fishing Guide, and the Executive Director of the Native Fish Coalition. His profound dedication to the species is evident; he has stated that “the preservation of wild native trout is more important to me than fishing”. Mallard is a lifelong New Englander focusing much of his advocacy on wild native fish, particularly brook trout.

Squaretail is explicitly designed to reach a broad audience by blending fishing with fish, functioning essentially as a brook trout conservation book sandwiched around a brook trout where-to book. It gives exposure and permanence to Mallard’s laudable trout-preservation message.

Comprehensive Content and Visual Appeal

This definitive guide leaves “no stone unturned”. It is packed with rich information detailing the brook trout’s:

• Biology, Natural History, and History.
• Lore and Pop Culture.
• Angling Records, Tackle, and Technique.
• Status, Threats, and Conservation efforts.
• Where-To information, covering named native waters, nonnative waters, and public lands.

The book features extensive details on specific regions and waters, such as the Kennebec River in Maine and the Nipigon River in Ontario. Importantly, Mallard’s descriptions intrigue but intentionally avoid giving away “honey holes,” focusing on the what and why more than the where and how to prevent exploitation of small, fragile fisheries.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Squaretail is a large-format hardcover (8.5″ x 11″ with over 225 pages) and is lavishly illustrated with over 200 color photographs and artwork, many contributed by his wife, Diana Mallard.

Review: Searching for Home Waters: A Brook Trout Pilgrimage by Michael K. Steinberg

Published in June 2023, Michael K. Steinberg’s Searching for Home Waters is a nuanced and elegantly produced volume that offers a literary and ecological exploration of the brook trout.

A Journey of Ecology, History, and Heart

The book is characterized as part science, part environmental history, and part personal journey or “pilgrimage”. Steinberg, a professor of geography, documents his travels across the eastern range of the brook trout, spanning from the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia all the way to Labrador in eastern Canada, in pursuit of native brookies.

The narrative arc follows the “natural geography of the Appalachian Mountains”, documenting the author’s deeply personal relationship with the species and the feeling of “topophilia” (love of place) for the waters they inhabit. The book is described as a meditative work that encourages the reader to “slow down and to be mindful”.

Landscape Approach and Environmental Threats

Steinberg adopts a “landscape approach,” meaning the book examines the status of the brook trout through the lens of the larger eastern environment. He explores how the species is impacted by modern human activities, including:

• Logging and agriculture.
• Suburban development and mining.
• Air pollution and climate change.
• Fishing policies and nonnative stocking.

The presence of brook trout often indicates waters that have not been polluted by stocking nonnative brown and rainbow trout. Steinberg argues that if wild native brook trout still thrive, then “wilderness and clean, pure water abide”. The volume is enhanced by original watercolors by Karen Talbot and original drawings by Frederick Steinberg.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The Definitive Classic: Brook Trout by Nick Karas

While Squaretail and Searching for Home Waters are lauded modern contributions, Nick Karas’s Brook Trout (1997) is the widely acknowledged “best book on brook trout”. Mallard’s Squaretail is specifically hailed as the best book on the subject since Karas’s epochal work.

Karas’s volume functions as a fly fishing textbook for the species, covering their history, adaptation to local habitats, the differences between strains and subspecies, historic range, and current environmental challenges posed by human intervention and introduced species. For any angler seeking a comprehensive, foundational text on the species, Karas’s work remains the definitive starting point.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Choosing Your Essential Brook Trout Reading

For readers looking to expand their knowledge of the brook trout, these three books offer complementary perspectives: