The physical habitat requirements of cover, depth, and current speed for brown trout(Salmo trutta) are associated with high shear zones in stream flows, which in turn result in highturbulence. Observations were made on current speeds and turbulence intensity (TI) in a sandbed trout stream. Exemplary transects showed that current speeds ranged from 0 to 60 cm/s andthat TI ranged from 0 to 0.7. Turbulence intensity was inversely related to current speed. Browntrout were usually found in the lower 5 cm of the stream, where shear forces result in highturbulence. Locations occupied by brown trout had lower TI than similar locations without browntrout but higher TI than is typical of an average stream.