>>1802942>>experts say study bugs feeding patterns etc>>never catch shit not even bitesThat advice only really applies when trout are feeding selectively, either because of a hatch going on or because of only a couple types of insect being a major food source in a stretch of water; most of the time trout will eat whatever comes their way and looks edible. Many of the most reliable producers that have been around for decades don't really look like any one species in particular (or they don't really look like anything - what the fuck is a wooly bugger supposed to imitate?) but they get the job done pretty much everywhere and all year round - if you can get a GRHE or a pheasant-tail nymph of the right size in front of a trout, it WILL eat it. Don't let anyone whining about "trash flies" tell you different.
>>1802948>But where do you go for wild trout? Ask around.
>I always thought they required a delicate ecosystem to thrive,It varies considerably. Some trout are delicate and/or highly adapted to specific conditions while other trout simply dgaf. Brown trout, for example, have a native range from Iceland to fucking Pakistan and survived habitat degradation and pollution levels that virtually extirpated salmon from most of Europe.
as evidenced by all the hatcheries that spawn them.
Hatcheries spawn them because as game fish they're incredibly popular and because the vast majority of hatched trout don't survive the year. It has less to do with trout being delicate as it does with hatchery trout being retarded - they can survive well enough in the spring and summer when everything is growing and food is everywhere but come winter they croak en masse.
>How can you tell if a wild stream or creek can hold them?Basically any cool (note: this disqualifies most of the deep south, especially Florida) and reasonably clean body of still or running water in North America is a fair candidate. Ask around at local fly shops if you can and bait shops if you can't.
