What is a redd, and why must I never wade through one?
A redd is a trout's nest: a patch of streambed gravel the female excavates with her tail, deposits eggs into, and covers — visible as a distinctly clean, bright oval of turned-over gravel, typically 30 cm to 2 m (1–6.5 ft) across, standing out against the darker, algae-coated bed around it. The eggs incubate buried in that gravel for weeks to months, invisible underfoot. One wading boot compresses the gravel and can crush hundreds of eggs or entomb the fry — a single careless crossing can erase a female's entire year of reproduction. Learn to spot the clean-gravel signature, give redds a wide berth from October through spring (fall spawners' eggs overwinter in the gravel), and cross on bedrock or sand instead.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about Spawning
Same topic, other species
- What temperature do crappie spawn at — and is it one event? — Crappie
- At what water temperature do largemouth spawn? — Largemouth Bass
- When and where do muskie spawn? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- When and where do perch spawn? — Yellow Perch
- Why do pike spawn in flooded marshes at ice-out? — Northern Pike
- Do smallmouth and largemouth hybridize in the wild? — Smallmouth Bass
- When and where do walleye spawn? — Walleye