I finally finally caught a greenback cutthroat trout! Well, that is what today's foremost researchers and experts in the field of trout taxonomy call the species of fish that I caught on Sunday, April 28th 2013. After many hours researching the fish itself, many more hours spent looking into where, if anywhere, these fish might be found, and surprisingly few hours spent actually getting to the specific location, I finally was able to catch, photograph and safely release one of these nearly mythical fish. I have to give much of the credit for this personal achievement to this series of assignments; thank you.
The way that I was finally able to nail down the location of this last remaining population of greenbacks was actually by way of reading forums used by the local dirt bike community. I ran across some brief discussion on some of the conservation websites about some proposed trail closures in order to protect the section of Bear Creek that is thought to be home to the last greenbacks. I was able to find more specific info on where these closures were happening by reading the complaints on the local dirt bike forums. Once I had a reasonable Idea of where this stream was and what specific section the fish were reputed to inhabit it was time to actually attempt to go there and catch one.
I set out on sunday morning with a friend of mine and just started driving toward the general area with little more than a few street names and a general vicinity in mind, and a gazetteer in hand. We decided that it would be a good idea to call a few different sources in the area and just inquire about the stream, the fish, and any other information that might be helpful in our quest. I spoke with two different employees of fly fishing shops in the area, one had a vague idea of where the stream was located that ended up being inaccurate, and the other claimed to have absolutely no idea what we were talking about.
After driving around the general area for some time attempting to follow the vague suggestions given to us by the fly shop employee, we finally reached the suggested destination only to discover that we were in an entirely different drainage than the one we were looking to be in. We resorted to the trusty gazetteer, the old faithful source that we should have stuck with the entire time, within another twenty or thirty minutes of driving we were in the drainage that contained the minute trickle of water that was apparently known as Bear Creek. My dismay at seeing that the long sought after Bear Creek was hardly more than the type of trickle that would grace a curb after a mild spring rain was palpable.
The way that I was finally able to nail down the location of this last remaining population of greenbacks was actually by way of reading forums used by the local dirt bike community. I ran across some brief discussion on some of the conservation websites about some proposed trail closures in order to protect the section of Bear Creek that is thought to be home to the last greenbacks. I was able to find more specific info on where these closures were happening by reading the complaints on the local dirt bike forums. Once I had a reasonable Idea of where this stream was and what specific section the fish were reputed to inhabit it was time to actually attempt to go there and catch one.
I set out on sunday morning with a friend of mine and just started driving toward the general area with little more than a few street names and a general vicinity in mind, and a gazetteer in hand. We decided that it would be a good idea to call a few different sources in the area and just inquire about the stream, the fish, and any other information that might be helpful in our quest. I spoke with two different employees of fly fishing shops in the area, one had a vague idea of where the stream was located that ended up being inaccurate, and the other claimed to have absolutely no idea what we were talking about.
After driving around the general area for some time attempting to follow the vague suggestions given to us by the fly shop employee, we finally reached the suggested destination only to discover that we were in an entirely different drainage than the one we were looking to be in. We resorted to the trusty gazetteer, the old faithful source that we should have stuck with the entire time, within another twenty or thirty minutes of driving we were in the drainage that contained the minute trickle of water that was apparently known as Bear Creek. My dismay at seeing that the long sought after Bear Creek was hardly more than the type of trickle that would grace a curb after a mild spring rain was palpable.
Hopefully I have piqued some level of interest, because the remainder of this story will be told in the paper that i will be submitting soon. (and if I'm not mistaken, you have some obligation to read that paper)
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