Saving Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout 

Dave Sweet is the one that said that. He is a volunteer with Trout Unlimited and has so far raised over $1,000,000 to suppress the lake trout. A wonderful person!

Thank you!

Fly_Fishing_Cali Videos Thank you so much!!

I agree with you. Did you know that when fisheries biologists looked to increase the Great Lake lake trout population they came to Yellowstone? Of course that is where the Yellowstone lake trout came from.

Thanks! Did you know fisheries people came to Yellowstone to get some live lake trout to restock the Great Lakes a few years ago? Since the Yellowstone lake trout came from the Great Lakes they are obviously genetically right for the Great Lakes. I guess that is a silver lining to the Yellowstone lake trout problem.

Thank you Horatio! I don't know why people think they can improve on nature by introducing fish everywhere. Even though rainbow trout are native to the U.S. they are still a big problem in some places, like Yellowstone. They are only native to a small area of California but have been introduced all over the U.S. and the world. Have you read 'An Entirely Synthetic Fish?' It is about rainbows. The title is exaggerated but it is a good read. Yellowstone hired a professional group of commercial fishermen a few years ago to catch lake trout. They will never get all of them but they have made a big dent in their numbers. Now researchers are looking at ways to kill lake trout eggs and fry on their spawning beds.

@@JudyLehmbergEpicNature Well a small area in California and every other pacific drainage in the US and BC

Because the Park Service has done such a great job of suppressing the lake trout population they are coming back. Not back to what you remember in 1996 but certainly better than a few years ago.

Hello Judy, have you been there before? It's flipping beautiful!

Yes I have. I've been there every summer since 1974 except in 1981 when we were building our house and 2007 when we were in South Africa. We will be leaving for Yellowstone this weekend and be there through October. I love Yellowstone!!

I'm jelous! Why not drink a beer at Yellowstone for some strange guy on RU-vid. You know as a sign of respect for God's beautiful creation lol!

Liam Ireland you tried bud a for effort

Hi Henry, Those are cased caddis in their larval stage. Trout love them.

Nope. Yellowstone cutthroat trout are native to Yellowstone. Yellowstone Lake and the upper Yellowstone River contained the largest population of Yellowstone cutthroat in the world until the early 1990's when lake trout were first discovered. I didn't address Lahotan cutthroat trout here because they aren't in Yellowstone. I can tell you that all cutthroat trout are native to the U.S. They have been introduced to places where they are not native, but not in Yellowstone. Humans sometimes incorrectly think they know what is best.

Judy Lehmberg so, some of the lakes in that area had no Yellowstone Cutthroat? Can yellowstone handle high alkaline levels? Thank you for such a quick reply!

Like I said Yellowstone cutthroat trout are native to Yellowstone. They've been there long before humans came to what is now Yellowstone. About 40% of the waters, lakes and streams, were fishless when white men came to Yellowstone over 100 years ago. The U.S. Commission, now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, brought everything from smallmouth bass to pike and introduced them into Yellowstone. Luckily Yellowstone was cold enough that many of those fish didn't survive. Yellowstone can handle high alkalinity. Up to a point the higher the alkalinity the more aquatic insects there are, therefore more trout.

They'd eat the cutthroat too dummy