Wild trout: a Western success story - trout fishing

Sunset, May, 1986

Wild trout: a Western success story

To the delight of anglers and the surprise of biologists, wild trout are making a remarkable comeback in much of the West.

This good news comes after years of bad news for one of the West's great wildlife resources. By the mid-1960s, trout habitat was disappearing: dams had dried some streams, others were unlivable. Many waters were overfished. A generation of anglers was growing up catching only hatcher-raised trout.

Today though, even as salmon and other seagoing fish continue dangerous declines, a small but increasing number of inland lakes and streams surge with growing populations of trout. Fishing for trout--wild trout--is better now than it has been in 20 years.

The turnaround started with a change in attitude. Anglers were concerned that wild strains of trout (see next page) were disappearing. They also realized that antiquated regulations were not protecting trout as fishing pressures increased. Working with state biologists, small groups of anglers helped develop management programs that protected remaining wild trout populations.

"We aren't talking about hatchery fish,' emphasizes California fisheries biologist John Deinstadt. "In fact, we've determined that hatchery stocking, along with poor land management and overfishing, has been part of the problem. But the biggest surprise is how dramatically wild trout--fish that are born and live in a stream--have responded to minimal improvements in habitat. We're rediscovering that the best way to improve fhsing is to protect trout environment.'

Today eight states have developed wild trout programs: putting an end to stocking on designated waters and setting restrictions on tackle and limits, including catch-and-release. The aim is in part to protect trout habitat and preserve endangered varieties, but primarily to improve fishing on some of the West's most productive streams.

And yet, as trout season opens this spring, the future of this valuable recreational resource is far from certain. Even as the number of wild trout waters expands, the quality of Western lakes and streams continues to decline.

On the following pages, we'll show you what's at stake and give you a state-by-state update. We'll describe some of the world's finest angling and detail what you'll need to get started.

Not just "factory' fish

Why are wild trout so important? "Primarily for their genetic diversity,' explains Deinstadt. "Preserving pure strains of trout with differing traits--especially in their native habitats--is essential if we are to have vigorous fisheries in the future. Wild trout are money in the bank.'

Trout are also a great barometer of environmental quality. To provide food, shelter, and spawning areas for a trout population requires relatively undisturbed habitat. Logging, mining, dam building, and agriculture take a severe toll; fewer and fewer streams are capable of supporting wild trout in abundance.

Hatchery-raised trout (which often have clipped or frayed fins) are neither as finicky nor as hardy; they are bred mostly for their ability to grow fast on a diet of fish kibble in crowded cement tanks. Recent studies show that when catchables (8-plus inches) are stocked in a stream, 80 percent are either caught or die by the end of the season. Growls one purist, "Those factory fish are so stupid they wouldn't know a bug if it bit them.'

In the early '60s, stocking streams seemed the answer to growing fishing pressure and deteriorating habitats. But as public concern about declining water quality grew, so did angler concern about the effects of stocking. Not only were genetically pure wild trout interbreeding with stocked trout, but fishermen were becoming hatchery truck groupies.

A tale of two studies

The idea of wild trout management appeared in the '60s, but it took a handful of concerned anglers to prove it could work.

In 1968, a group of fishermen from San Francisco persuaded state biologists to let them test ideas for revitalizing the wild trout population in a once-classic northern California stream called Hat Creek.

Their proposal was simple: to poison resident fish, clean up the stream and restock it once with wild trout fingerlings, and then make the daily limit 2 fish instead of 10. Results were phenomenal. The number and size (minimum keeper today is 18 inches) of trout increased dramatically even as the number of anglers went from about 2,000 in 1968 to 10,000 in 1973. Today Hat Creek is one of the most popular streams in the state, and the group continues as California Trout.

About the same time, Montana biologist Richard Vincent was studying the effects of planting hatchery fish among wild trout in the Madison River. His finding: hatchery trout displace wild fish from feeding and cover stations, causing wild trout numbers to fall substantially.

Catch . . . then release

One of the most compelling arguments for maintaining wild trout populations is cost. States flush hundreds of dollars out the back of a truck each time they stock a stream. Prompted by budget-cutting as well as environmental concerns, five states had wild trout programs by 1975.