I have a man made pond stocked with rainbow trout. The pond is fed by
a natural stream and drains into a salt water river. Fish can have access
from the salt water to the pond. I would like to know what natural
food the trout will eat and in particular will they eat slugs? I would
love to have a use for those vile invaders of my garden. Thank you.

Dear brudenell-ga, 

I think the answer is perhaps. I?m not sure where in the world you are
located so the type of food which is available may differ, but this UK
web site lists the main food sources for the trout. Interestingly it
lists snails as part of its diet. I think this refers to water snails.
It seems that the trout will take most things that land on the surface
of the water or that live in it.

When you access the page, make sure you click ?next? at the bottom of
the page to go to the next page.
http://www.sexyloops.com/stillwater/thenaturals.shtml

The foods listed are: 
Buzzer, midge, or chironomid 
Sedge, caddis or trichoptera 
Upwing, dayfly, mayfly, ephemeroptera 
Damsel Fly, odonata 
Alder Fly, megaloptera 
Stonefly, plecoptera 
Lesser water boatman (corixa): 
Shrimp, great diving beetle and hoglouse 
Daphnia (water flea): 
Tadpoles and Frogs 
Fish 
Hawthorns 
Ants 
Greenfly 
Hoverflies 
Wasps 
Crane fly 
Beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers and moths 

?Migrating Snail: Becomes very important once or twice a year when it
decides to float just beneath the surface and move to new grounds. The
event is usually held sometime in late July and for the angler who is
smart enough to realise what is happening and remembers to carry a few
artificials, finds that good sport is there for the taking. Trout
feeding on these floating snails appear to rise in a similar fashion
to midge feeding. It often takes a little while to discover the
truth.?
 

This Tasmanian web site mentions slugs as a food.
?Renowned for its flood fishing mainly in the spring, the rains force
the flow over the banks and into the hollows, divots, ditches, swamps
and marshes. The result is tailing trout after worms, slugs, snails
and the like. Sometimes there is good terrestrial food available in
these floods and trout rise freely to the spiders, beetles and
hoppers.?
http://www.troutterritory.com.au/TroutWater.htm


This US web site also lists trout food but there is no reference to slugs.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/m/a/mab6/insects.htm


This is a very extensive site on trout fishing from the US and lists
the natural food for trout with images. There is no mention of slugs
on the site.
http://www.troutnut.com/


Although I cannot find a definitive answer to your question about
slugs, I hope that the above is of use to you as regards to the food
that a trout will eat.

I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder

Search strategy
trout food
trout slug(s)
trout food slug(s)

---

Request for Answer Clarification by brudenell-ga on 13 Oct 2005 15:59 PDT

Hello Answerfinder

Thank you for attempting to answer my querie. My apologies for not
getting back to this question sooner as I was away.

My location is Eastern Canada. Snail shells are often found in the
amongst the stomach contents of local trout. It has only been a guess
as to whether or not slugs are part of the trout diet. I searched the
Internet for confirmation that slugs were indeed part of their diet...
with no luck.

I can only guess that I will have to spend time by the pond with a
slug on my hook to get the ultimate confirmation. If slugs are part of
the trout diet the challenge is to find what time of year they are
preferred.

Brudenell

---

Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 14 Oct 2005 01:48 PDT

Dear brudenell-ga, 

I?ve searched again just concentrating on Canada, but still with no
success. Certainly ether is evidence of water snails being part of the
diet of trout but no mention of slugs.

Brook Trout in east coast Canada
?Brook trout eat a great variety of food including insects, snails,
clams, and fish. They usually mature at 2-4 years of age and seldom
live longer than 5 years.?
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~patrickr/TrailTales/

You may also be interested to read about the New Zealand Mud Snail
which is spreading through the continent. The trout eat them but they
are not nutritious for them.
http://www.stvrainangler.com/newzealmudsnailinfo.htm

Good luck with the slug fishing.

answerfinder-ga

Thanks for the searches.

Burdenell --

Don't know.  Hedgehogs, ducks, geese, chickens and the larva for
lightning bugs all eat slugs.

Google search strategy:
what eats slugs?

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

Oh -- frogs and toads eat slugs too.  You may have some of those near the water.

Throw them in the pond. even if the trout don't eat them they will die
if they are swept into the saltwater river

I appreciate your comments.

Thanks

Brudenell

Yes and No. If your unwanted vile slugs are on the vegetation at the
edges of your woman made pond, your rainbows will jump out to snatch
that slippery rubenism morsel!   Are slugs a regular part of a trout's
diet?   No, it would be a once in a while treat.  You being a gardener
would know best as to the season in which trout would find slugs on
the pond's edge.  Trout mainly feed on the insect Caddis of which
their are hundreds of forms.  Caddis is one of a number of aquatic
insects trout gorges them selves on.  They also eat what's called
terrestrials which consist of flying insects that fall into the waters
capillary tension and are helplessly trapped.  Trout also eat minnows
and other small fish.

Rainbows are know to be the finickiest of eaters and may just ignore
your slugs, or not, as appose to Brook Trout which eat anything, even
cigarette butts!

Horticulturist & Avid Fly-Fisher

I enjoyed your post!