Currently browsing… brook trout
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Spawning brookies in Moosehead Lake offer hope in the face of challenges
The headline was an attention grabber, and the story went viral almost instantly: “Monster Brook Trout Are Spawning on Moosehead Lake’s Shore.” Based on my Facebook feed about half of my angling acquaintances immediately made plans for winter ice fishing or shoreline trolling right after ice out next May. Maine’s Moosehead Lake is legendary. The largest…
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Beavers in heaven
By Bradley Thornton Riffee We crept up a beaver creek on a cool fall day filled with nothing but sunshine. The colorful leaves in all their glory brightened our world as we set out to find our native brook trout friends patrolling their mud-packed ponds. Dragonflies of October danced across an eastern breeze as we…
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New license plate means happy trout in South Carolina
Nov. 12, 2019, will go down as a historic day for coldwater conservation in South Carolina. After a monumental effort by the Mountain Bridge, Saluda River and Chattooga River Chapters, a brand-new South Carolina Trout Unlimited license plate was unveiled. Designed by homegrown artist, Jay Talbot of Columbia, S.C., the tag features a striking native…
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TU, partners aid brook trout with NY dam removal
Native brook trout have gained improved access to 3 miles of quality coldwater habitat in Sullivan County, N.Y., thanks to a multi-organization project that removed an old dam that was blocking the stream. Trout Unlimited teamed up with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local landowner, Bald Mountain Inc., on the project on Frog Hollow, a stream…
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New York chapter documenting heritage brook trout strain in Catskills
By Ed Ostapczuk Science of genetics and DNA continues to evolve, and a New York chapter of Trout Unlimited is using such science to study wild brook trout in a small stream in the Catskills. The Ashokan-Pepacton Watershed Chapter is conducting a Catskill heritage brook trout study, in partnership with the Ashokan Watershed Stream Management Program (AWSMP). Late this past…
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Restoring trout, protecting the future
Editor's note: this is part two of a series on recovering native brook trout. You can read part one here. “What is the name of that tree?” Brandon Keplinger, the district fisheries biologist for West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, asked the 20 or so fifth graders from Slanesville Elementary School in West Virginia. The…
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Recovering the natural wealth of our rivers
A healthy brook trout stream in West Virginia. Editor's note: This is part one of a two part series on brook trout restoration in West Virginia, and well, everywhere else. About six weeks ago, while helping the Department of Natural Resources to stock trout in a stream, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said, “We dump…