For two decades Trout Unlimited has worked to protect and restore one of the most unique trout sub-species in North America — the Rio Grande cutthroat — by engaging numerous partners in protecting, reconnecting and restoring coldwater habitats in the Rio Grande basin.
“She had crawled half-way over a log that much larger than she was when she spotted a Bonnie in a small pool on the other side of the log,” he recalled. “Not wanting to scare it away, she laid down on the log and pushed her rod slowly in front of her. Before she could get the fly where she really wanted it, another trout rose and took it.”
“Oh my god, oh my god,” the woman screamed. Our walk became a run.
With her partner out of earshot, I noticed she did not have a net. By the looks of the bend in her rod, I decided she might need one.
“You want a net?,” I asked.
“PLEASE!,” the woman yelled, eyes never breaking from the water.
Westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi) Species Summary & Status: Officially designated as Montana’s state fish, the westslope cutthroat’s historical range included all of Montana west of the Continental Divide, as well as the upper Missouri River drainage. The average size of these fish is 6 to 16 inches, depending on habitat. It is often…
As I brought the fish to the net, I was overwhelmed with its weight, length and textbook coloring.
As I resuscitated this fish in the slow but moving waters along the side of the Lochsa, I thought of Mark, and I wished that he could have seen this.
Summiting Lolo Pass, I stopped along the side of the road, taking in the wilderness below me, now to the east and south, and thought about all that I was leaving behind.
“The elders told us there is no point in building a visitors center if we don’t restore the land,” said Brad Parry, a tribal member leading up conservation work on the neglected landscape. “They told us they want this land back to the way it was when the massacre happened. For those who died to have a peace we need to restore the land to as natural as possible.”
by Mark Konishi Growing up in the San Luis Valley, I would hear rumors of cutthroat trout with vivid colors caught in secret waters. Cutthroat trout with orange slab-sides as brilliant as any goldfish. Many of these stories often came from my classmate Jim, relayed down through his extended family. It was difficult to pinpoint…
