Transferring Sport Round – Flathead Beacon

A couple of years again, I wrote a couple of float journey on the Stillwater River, a float that included catching a brown trout close to the place the Stillwater joined the Yellowstone River. It was a pleasant solution to cap an amazing float with an outdated pal; somebody I used to work with on the Kalispell Target earlier than we each moved away.

Shortly after, I acquired a well mannered e mail from somebody at Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), double-checking to verify I meant the jap Montana Stillwater River and never the Stillwater that flows by Kalispell.

Brown trout are superb fish, cherished by many anglers. They develop bigger than most trout, and are aggressive, predatory fish, which makes them a main goal for fly fishers who wish to throw massive streamers in rivers and catch 20-inch (or higher) wild trout.

That doesn’t imply any of us ought to be comfortable to be taught FWP has since confirmed there are brown trout within the Flathead River drainage. There are already loads of non-natives swimming across the Flathead.

I notice this may very well be categorized underneath the “That Ship Has Sailed” label. The Flathead is already a large number in the case of launched fish. Lake trout run rampant within the watershed regardless of heroic efforts to cut back their numbers; thousands and thousands of Lake Superior whitefish swim in Flathead Lake, and even smallmouth bass now fin away within the Big Lake. Of course, rainbow trout are in every single place within the system, hybridizing with cutthroats, which places the native trout on a trajectory to get replaced by cuttbow mutt-fish.

And don’t get me began on northern pike. I do know these fish have a big fan membership, however they’re a menace to native fish anyplace outdoors their historic vary.

Stopping the unfold of non-natives might sound a hopeless process, however that doesn’t imply we should always quit. There stay protected locations the place we should always do what we will to maintain natives alive and flourishing. This additionally signifies that anglers have an obligation to cease spreading across the fish they like. 

Sure, who doesn’t wish to pull a tank of a brown trout off a financial institution of the Madison or the Yellowstone, however these waters will not be too lengthy a drive and the browns there are basically naturalized. But we don’t want them in Church Slough or the primary stem of the Flathead River.

I’m not terribly thrilled with FWP’s doubtful proposal to increase its pheasant-stocking program past the customary and fully acceptable youth-day hunts. Those birds are launched earlier than the final season opens, and the few that survive every week till the final season opens are quickly faraway from the gene pool. After the youth hunt, wild birds ought to rule in states comparable to Montana. 

I haven’t hunted pheasant in Montana in a very long time, however I hear they’re down. Guess what — pheasant numbers are down throughout pheasant vary within the U.S., as a result of that is what occurs when drought occurs. We’ve had much more abnormally dry years than moist ones the final decade or so.

I’ve hunted pen-raised pheasants earlier than and assume there’s a spot for them. My first pointing canine spent a number of time on these birds, as a result of each that canine and his handler (me) have been simply studying learn how to hunt upland sport birds. I’ve hunted nothing however wild birds since that canine was 2 years outdated, nonetheless, and that was 20 years in the past.

Pen-raised pheasants don’t pose the risk to native birds the way in which launched fish can, as a result of pheasants — like brown trout — will not be native to Montana or the North American continent. They’re right here as a result of we introduced them right here, and since we like them. I don’t assume we have to eradicate both species, however Montana is losing cash elevating and releasing sport birds to switch declining wild populations.

Wild at all times, and native every time doable, is Montana’s legacy to the remainder of the nation.