A Dish on Fish: Bull Trout "Bracketology

Bull Trout “Bracketology”

As winter begins to lose its grip on the Pacific Northwest and the rain clouds occasionally give way to ever so brief sun breaks, the month of March marks an exciting time for “wildlife” regionally and across the country.  A veritable diversity of “animals” from across the landscape gather together in various regions of the country and engage in interspecific competition.  Grizzlies will battle badgers, owls may take on golden bears, and bearcats will tussle with longhorns.  While wildcats, jayhawks and even wolverines will be included, sadly the beavers, cougars, ducks and huskies will all be left out of this year’s “March Madness”. 

The NCAA tournament is generally reserved for teams sporting mammalian, avian or even reptilian mascots.  Very rarely are fish invited to the “Big Dance”.   After being ESA listed in 1998, bull trout have been in a tournament of their own.  Much like how a scrappy, physically overmatched regional college feeds off of emotion and frantically launches threes to hang with perennial ACC or Big East powerhouses, weakened bull trout populations throughout the Columbia Basin are faced with seemingly insurmountable opponents as they attempt to advance toward recovery.   In the NCAA tournament, any given basketball team must face and defeat numerous opponents as they progress through the tournament.  Similarly, bull trout survival and eventual recovery does not depend upon prevailing over only one major threat, but instead a combination of multiple factors must be overcome.  Factors such as habitat degradation, hybridization and a changing climate (among others) are the Kentucky, Syracuse and Duke of the bull trout world.  To continue the analogy, on the other side of the bracket, resource managers are working to address many factors that influence bull trout recovery.  Management actions that facilitate genetically diverse, interconnected populations and provide for habitat protection and enhancement are essential to bull trout recovery.    

Seemingly every year, a small school defies the odds and rises from obscurity to topple dominant programs as they advance through the NCAA tournament.  They are often referred to as a “Cinderella Team”.  Through persistence, cooperation, adaptive management and maybe even a little luck, it’s possible that the recovery and eventual delisting of bull trout could be a “Cinderella Story” of its own.

Submitted by Marshall Barrows

Trout Royal Slam Quest Begins!!!

I can't sleep.  I tried to no avail.  I'm closing on a house tomorrow, and while the thought of having room for rods, reels, waders, flies, tying materials, etc. ad nauseum, sounds great, the thought of the place falling down around me won't bugger off.  So, I thought I'd check my email.  There I found something to get my mind off mold, leaky pipes, backed up septic systems, and hail.

A while back I sent an email to Jack Vitek, the World Records Coordinator for the International Game Fish Association.  I was inquiring about the "Trout Royal Slam" that I had read about in an issue of International Angler.  Apparently, the IGFA recognizes several "slams" or "clubs" including the "10 lb Bass Club", several Grand Slams, and a few Royal Slams.  The Trout Royal Slam consists of catching and documenting a brook, brown, bull, cutthroat, golden, lake and rainbow trout in one's lifetime and currently the IGFA recognizes 28 members of this club.  The first thing that came to my mind was the fact that all of these species can be found in this great State of Montana.  I inquired whether or not anyone had done it in one calendar year, wanting to be the first.  Alas, four people already had, and Jack presumed that at least one of those four did it exclusively on the fly.

So, after getting my hopes up for being the first to accomplish this feat in one year, and in true Rube Goldberg fashion, I decided to make things a little harder than they really had to be.  Now, don't get me wrong, catching all seven of these species in one year is a daunting task, but not nearly as difficult as it would be if I lived in Amarillo.

For 2013:

• Obtain the IGFA Trout Royal Slam;
• Fully document each catch by video or photo;
• Catch each fish on the fly;
• Catch each fish in the State of Montana;
• Catch all fish within one calendar year; and 
• Catch all the fish for the Slam on flies that I tied myself.

I started this little blog to document my journey to catch a fish for each calendar day of the year, and I've done a horrible job of keeping up with things.  While my journal is still getting some use, I have yet to put any of the entries into a form that would be interesting to you the reader.  I have decided that the lofty, long term goal of a fish for each day of the year, while I'm still pursuing it, is a little broad for consistent content.  So, I'm breaking things up a bit.  Let's say the 366 idea is a "10 Year Goal".  I should also think of a 5 year goal, 3 year, and so on and so forth.  I'll start with a one year goal for 2013, and that is the IGFA Trout Royal Slam.  While I don't have to catch all of the fish within one year, I'm sure going to try to overcome the hardest obstacle for somebody like me...remembering to document the fish properly as per IGFA specifications....with a few "rules" of my own.  If anyone would care to join me, feel free.  The race starts in January.  Until then, tight lines, sharp hooks, tough flies and tougher fish.

To learn more visit www.IGFA.org.

www.IGFA.org