The Odd Couple
The bright golden orange trout in the foreground is a spawning male Brook trout, the other fish along side a Rainbow trout. Many trout species will "hybridize" including Brook trout and Bull Trout, Rainbow and Cutthroat, however it is unlikely that this Rainbow will spawn with this sexually mature Brook trout. Rainbow generally spawn in early spring and the Brook trout in late summer to early fall.
I was primarily focused on photographing spawning Chinook that day and these two were holding in the same pool. The Brook displayed numerous courtship and territorial behaviors throughout the day, such as holding his dorsal fin erect and quivering, in addition to driving away other fish as they passed by, including me.
Alas for these two the “magic” will never happen due to their different spawn timing, however this did not deter the Brook who courted her. He was quite smitten.
