Soda Butte Brook Trout Removal

[MACFLY]

I was surprised to read about this today. soda Butte is one of my favorite Yellowstone streams. Very small in most places but absolutely gorgeous and the cutthroat fishing was awesome. I fished this creek the first time back in 97 with my brother right after Labor Day when the crowds cleared out. Lots of willing fish on Chernobyl ants and caddis. Sad to see they had to poison this creek but at least they salvaged. Bunch of fish to be reintroduced

Soda Butte cutthroats swim on - Jackson Hole News&Guide: Environmental

 

[sunsignarcher]

Got to see the brook v. cutt drama played out in various lakes and streams in the winds this year. It was so very obvious how detrimental the brook trout could be on some of those lakes.

One lake in particular we caught maybe close to 100 fish between the three of us over a day and a half. 3 to 1 brooks to cutts at least. The cutthroat were long but skinny, they came in like wet socks and no matter how fast you got them back in the water they struggled or went belly up and needed reviving.

The brooks on the other hand were the opposite. Not necessarily fat but healthier than the cutts on average (overpopulated lake), they were super aggressive, fought like hell and shot outta your hand upon release like they were wearin jet packs.

It was easy to see that anywhere these two species coexist the cutts were gonna be in a bad way. The next lake we fished was cutts only, we had to work a little to get to them but maaaan they were like a totally different species. Size, color... everything.

 

[moosekid]

All that to remove 6 brook trout?? Seems to me -- if they're gonna poison the whole creek, why not do it when the problem has advanced a bit more...

i thought the problem with brookies out west is that they fertilize the bull trout eggs and create sterile hybrids -- leading to diminishing populations of native bulls...

 

[lightenup]

Hay MAC, next time you find a creek that has a trout problem, just tell them to contact me, fly me out, put me up in a four star hotel and allow me to have access to the whole stream. With my un-matched skill, I will catch and kill all the unwanted fish.....

 

[Rusty Spinner]

The National Park Service, working closely with US Fish & Wildlife Service and others, plan to kick out invasives and restore wild, fully intact populations. Hence the reintroduction of the wolf some years back that remains controversial. But this is all part of the plan to have one fully intact, all native ecosystem in the lower 48. Look at their massive efforts to eradicate illegally introduced lake trout from Yellowstone Lake for another example. NPS actually reached out to TU several years back asking for TU anglers to come to Yellowstone and fish specific sections of specific rivers and streams and record their catches and kill non-native trout. I know a then recently retired couple that drove out in their motor home and did just that for the program.

 

[MACFLY]

Hay MAC, next time you find a creek that has a trout problem, just tell them to contact me, fly me out, put me up in a four star hotel and allow me to have access to the whole stream. With my un-matched skill, I will catch and kill all the unwanted fish.....

I don't think chubs are considered non native fish but I'll let you know