The Imperiled Cutthroat By Greg French

If there is a fish that represents the west, it's the Cutthroat.

It's the fish that really hooked me into fly fishing, and I am sure the story is the same for countless other anglers.  They seduce you with fairly easy success and are never hard on the eye

New from Patagonia and acclaimed fly fishing writer Greg French is the new book The Imperiled Cutthroat, Tracing the Fate of Yellowstone's Native Trout

A decade ago I was fortunate to read French's book Frog Call back in 2002 and was excited to read the book through the lens of a author who aside of being a wonderful fly fishing writer, but a person who hasn't lived in the west and constantly entrenched preconceived notions and opinions.

He and his wife Francis, with diligent planning and research, spent weeks in and around the park and it's river tributaries getting inside the issues that the fish and the fish managers are dealing with.

It's a hell of a book.

It's not an easy time to be a cutty in the west, especially in the Yellowstone region which is famed for it's different varieties of native cutthroat.

The Yellowstone Basin and outlying streams, rivers and creeks are at a bit of a crossroads with concerns to the fish that represent the region.  The issues are long and numerable......

Yellowstone Lake's explosion of illegally introduced Mackinaw.  Pressure from sporting favorable, but non native rainbows, browns and brookies. Climate Change.  Hybridization.

It's extremely interesting to learn about the reasons why one species of cutthroat exists in one basin or the other, or why some spawning tributaries are crashing and others are maintaining.  To say the issue of their recovery is complex is too simple of a word

Aside of these items, what our role in deciding what the future holds for these emblematic fish? Choosing one over the other, making decisions to return ecosystems to as close to pre-human involvement are just some of the questions French poses to the reader.

As he and his wife fish through the park, the historical context and stories woven into this book are a must read.   There's never just a linear answer to why, but a serendipitous route of historical perspective that makes this book a page turner.    Are we going to make the mistakes of the past in fish science and recovery, or is there a new way to go?  Boiling it down, can we learn from our mistakes and get it right?

I learned a lot, and I hope to continue to learn more about what's going on with the Imperiled Cutthroat

Get more information on this book via Patagonia HERE.  I highly suggest adding this book to your library.

TU Blogger Tour Entry--A Symbol of Yellowstone

This is my submission for the Trout Unlimited, Simms, the Yellowstone Park Foundation and the Outdoor Blogger Network – Blogger Tour 2012 contest.”
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They’re a miracle of evolution, god’s intent  and a little bit a primordial luck thrown in there.

In short, they’re the ultimate gift to a fly fisherman or woman.

Eking out and existence in the mountainous west, they rise with uninterrupted abandon to whatever food source is readily available.  Time has taught the species that if they don’t go hunt down their food, they go hungry

A fly fisherman doesn’t have to be told this; he experiences it on a slashing rise to his Chubby Chernobyl as it rides down the soft seam of current beyond the big boulders.

Some say they’re dumb.  A challenge only worthy of beginners…

The smiling angler who knows better calls that baloney.

An indicator of ecological balance and ecosystem health, they serve as our canary in the coal mine.  Pushed out, over competed or turned away by pollution, we need to take heed to where they have disappeared from.

A western stream without Cutthroat Trout is a travesty, and we need to fight to protect them.

Yellowstone National Park is a symbol of our country.  Wild, rugged and impossibly beautiful.

I submit to that beyond the buffalo and the elk that roam it’s wild land; the Yellowstone Cutthroat is the ultimate symbol of the park’s spirit. 

Through our hands we have outcompeted these native fish park-wide.   Non native lake trout have put a massive dent in their population and through evolving without brown or rainbow trout, the cutties of Yellowstone face an uncertain future.   Plain and simple,  they can’t compete on their relatively new playing field

While my experiences inside the park are limited to a few trips as a child,  I speak out now because I want to know that this key cog in the collective Yellowstone ecosystem remains in play, forever.

But, there’s hope.   The winds of policy change in the park and in our governmental agencies are pushing for protection of the Yellowstone Cutthroat.  Netting of Yellowstone Lake for Lake Trout has begun to curb their populations but beyond that, it’s up to the angling community to stand tall as advocates.

Become involved, become very involved.  A voice and it’s opinion are never heard unless you find a forum to speak it in.

Think about joining Trout Unlimited, or other groups out there committed to wild fish conservation. 

Because without our collective voices, the plight of the Yellowstone Cutthroat stands the chance of being tossed aside.

We can’t let that happen.