Disapearing Trout
One of the pleasures of back country whether horse back or hiking is finding remote mountain lakes to fish, but that soon could become just a memory. I’m Susan Allen stay tuned for OpenRange to learn why trout numbers in high mountain lakes are dwindling. There’ve been reports of declining trout numbers in high mountain lakes so what’s happening to the fish? My grandfather who lived at the base of Mt.Hood told tales of taking fingerlings into Cascade lakes in the 1930’s. Back then they hauled the fish in waxed packs by pack horses and mules. That must have been something. For over a hundred year folks out west have dedicated themselves to stocking high mountain lakes with trout, but these fish weren’t native and we now know that non-native trout can destroy native organisms like frogs and salamanders. Despite the high public demand for lake fishing, in the past few years biologists with the National Parks system have discontinued stocking in areas like Washington’s North Cascades and recently the Sierra Nevada’s in California . In 2008 the National park Service issued a statement that basically said that unless congress would intervene (they haven’t) non-native fish would be banned in many high country lakes. Within a decade trout could be gone from alpine lakes, more reason to get into the high country and fish this summer. Always catch and release so we can keep those trout there as long as we can. I’m Susan Allen