The tiny trout menace…

I first learned about Gila trout almost 50 years ago when I was Santa Fe Bureau Chief and state capitol reporter for United Press International.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Department, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies, had recognized that the colorful native trout of southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona had almost become extinct. The Gila trout population was declining because of loss of original habitat, overfishing, overgrazing, climate change and interbreeding with non-native rainbow trout years ago.

Through the efforts of these government agencies and with the help of such non-profit groups as Trout Unlimited, pure strains of the dwindling Gila trout population were finally identified and captured in the headwaters of the Gila river and in watersheds in southeastern Arizona. The species was identified as “endangered” in 1967. Efforts began to preserve the remaining pure strains with the ultimate goal of reintroducing them in certain protected waters of the Gila so they would not continue to interbreed with rainbow trout in those areas.

New Mexico and Arizona game and fish agencies began a program of raising Gila Trout in isolated hatcheries and in the 1970s began reintroducing them in certain streams where they would not be impacted by other fish populations. It’s about that time that I began writing about the Gila trout recovery efforts and when the species was eventually downlisted to “threatened,” I wrote an article about that for UPI that was published nationally.

In the last few years, the fish was finally delisted and you can fish for them in both New Mexico and Arizona. You can only keep two, but I suspect most fishermen like me who have gained a great respect for tiny creature’s tenacious character, practice catch and release.

I continued to write periodic updates about recovery of the species, including the time when several populations had to be rescued in dramatic fashion from small streams in the Black Range of the Gila because of the growth of a devastating forest fire.

I also helped as a volunteer to reintroduce the fish to Whitewater creek in Gila after another devastating forest fire destroyed the watershed in the early 2000s.

But despite my long-time interest in this fish, I had never actually caught one until last week. On one of the most spectacular canyons on the west side of the Gila, I managed to catch and release at least a dozen and lost at least that many more when the fiesty tiny trout managed to flip off my hook. My wife, Margo, managed to catch a few herself.

My impression after catching several of these trout is that they are very feisty, more so than the rainbow trout I used to catch on Whitewater Creek. They seemed to be smarter in some ways — spitting out or refusing my fly on numerous occasions — but not as bright in other ways — not spooking as easily as the rainbows did when you’d catch one in a pool. Maybe that’s just because they haven’t seen many fisherman as did the rainbows in Whitewater creek.

I’ve always told my kids that when I fished for tiny trout in the Gila, I was protecting them from the “tiny trout menace” to the human population. But the truth is, we’re much more of a menace to them.

I was pleased to see that the fish had moved further downstream than the last couple of times I fished for them on Mineral creek. I was also pleased that they are so plentiful and that most of them are very small, indicating that they are young and the population is rapidly reproducing naturally.

What draws me to fish for this tiny species is the spectacular natural scenery of the Gila country, especially the rugged canyons in which they have thrived for thousands and thousands of years. I’ve added some photos below of our trip last week up Mineral creek and hope you enjoy them.