The subject of native species often reveals rifts in the fly fishing community; some favor restoring native species (like cutthroat) wherever possible, while others are loathe to see wild populations of non-native fish (like rainbows or brown trout) removed.
That’s why the Yellowstone National Park Native Fish Restoration Plan promises a few fireworks.
This plan will guide fisheries policy for the next 20 years, and public comments are currently being accepted.
The Fly Fishing in Yellowstone blog offers up a heaping helping of information and opinion about the Native Trout plan, and it seems he’s not in support of those who feel the park should provide little more than a fishing opportunity.
David Knapp’s The Trout Zone blog also touches on the subject (he includes a copy of the comment he submitted), noting he’s generally in favor of restoring cutthroat populations, but questions the wisdom of “restoring” native populations where it’s possible there weren’t any to begin with.
I’m downloading a copy of the report and plan to read it this week.
Any insight from the Undergrounders is welcomed.
See you in Yellowstone, Tom Chandler.
This is a very tricky subject, how can you remove viable populations of “non native” trout and char, these fish are breeding and keeping the fishery alive and well. I believe that certain stream which have no “non native” trout, should be maintained as such. I love Slough Creek, it does not need brown, rainbow or brook trout. The last time I was in Yellowstone, didn’t fish Slough, but went instead to Beckler River, WOW, there I believe the regs allowed for the killing of only rainbow trout, I didn’t, but if I were camping probably would have had a dinner of trout. Caught many average 12″ rainbows, but the cutts I caught were very large, 16″- 20″, can’t wait to go there again.
Bartolo Tumolo(Quote)
People can really get carried away with this stuff, and start to sound like eugenics nutballs from the 19th century. Fish move around, populations respond to different environments, and we have a pretty limited idea about what the fish populations consisted of in 1850. Entire trout fisheries like those of New Zealand and South America are all invasive imports. I’m not losing a lot of sleep over it. A few obvious steps like killing all the “lake trout” in Yellowstone make sense, but we hardly have the kind of abundance that merits wholesale ethnic cleansing of wilderness rivers.
Philip(Quote)
I hear you Philip, there are alot of ideas about what and how to do things, but that’s how this whole mess got started. I have been fly fishing and tying for nearly 50 years now, and where nature is left alone it is at it’s best. But we have already changed nature, and now want to change it back, not so easy. I now live in Panama, and here they have created some real monsters too, peacock bass for one. Many endemic species have almost been wiped out by these introduced fish, and now there are tarpon in Pacific estuaries, that took the Canal, it took nearly 100 years, to get there but they did it.
I’m very interested in what the thinking will be in Yellowstone. I’m from NJ, and it’s one of most densely populated states, yet I still can catch “stream-bred” trout basically 30 minutes from downtown Manhattan, just have to find them.
Bartolo Tumolo(Quote)
I’ve got to point out that ‘it is not nice to fool with mother nature’. On the other hand, populating/perpetuating trout in some waters seems intelligent. Mark Latham Just finished hopping back and forth over the continental divide, from the Canada border south to the new mexico/Arizona/Mexico borders. Trying to get south of this blizzard now.
Mark(Quote)
Apropos of this issue, I really enjoyed this book: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520254589 (“Cutthroat” by Patrick Trotter), which manages to be authoritative without being too academic. I think anyone who fishes the Western Slope, and who is interested in the changes to the environment since 1850, would enjoy it too. Won’t make you a better angler, but a more thoughtful and reflective one.
Philip(Quote)
Thanks will ck that out, had bought a number of paperback books of Yellowstone trout studies, can’t remember the names, but like you said “It won”t make you a better fisherman…” but all the same more knowledge can’t ever hurt.
Bartolo Tumolo(Quote)