Gateway Trout Unlimited Implants Wild Brown Trout In Dry Creek
Fly fishing will connect a man or woman to the planet and all its natural splendors in a way that few other things can. To connect with the environment, to serve as its steward and to be grateful for its bounty is the way of the fisherman.
I found fly fishing just two years ago and since then my group of friends, my time spent outside and my appreciation for our landscapes, waterways and fisheries have grown ten fold.
When Craig Stephens, the General Manager of T. Hargrove Fly Shop in St. Louis, a great friend and one of my fishing mentors asked if I would be interested in volunteering for a project with the Gateway Chapter of Trout Unlimited, I jumped at the opportunity.
For more information on the project…go to https://www.gatewaytu.org/project-brown-trout and consider making a donation, it’s a great organization with great leaders making a difference.
“Founded in Michigan in 1959, Trout Unlimited today is a national non-profit organization with 300,000 members and supporters dedicated to conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.” - TU.org (Who We Are)
The project is a simple idea…Missouri Conservation has been having a hard time getting wild brown trout to survive in Missouri watersheds. The Gateway chapter and its volunteers used Whitlock Vibert Boxes, and wild brown trout eggs purchased and imported from Utah to kickoff a three year study.
The Glarner Family and Westover farms were incredibly gracious to provide an ideal environment to host the program. The entire team, inlcuding Tom and Lisa at Westover were very helpful the entire way.
Erik Sanders, a St. Louis based Aquatic Biologist helped Chapter President Ryan McCarty and the rest of the Gateway T.U. board in organizing the process.
Over 15 volunteers showed up from all over the state to assist in the project, including hauling buckets of gravel, sorting of eggs, assembly of boxes and site preparation.
I was incredibly proud to participate in the day and help document the event. It really showed how a dedicated group of volunteers, who stay after a project can make a huge impact. The level of joy, and hope in the air was easily detectable and I went home that night both exhausted and fulfilled.
When I asked my friend Jack, “are you going to get your sleeves soaking wet putting one of the boxes in the stream? He replied, ”Are you kidding me? This is history, 5 years from now when someone catches a huge brown down here…I’m going to have been a part of that…of course I’m going to get my sleeves wet!”
There are many more rounds of eggs to be planted over the next three years, and lots of data to be captured…but there is also a lot of hope that in the not too distant future, not only will we be catching wild brown trout in Missouri watersheds, but the method will be proven as viable for other fisheries.
Visit https://www.gatewaytu.org/project-brown-trout for more information on the project and please, if you can, make a donation to help fund this project and more like it in the future.
Thank you to Ryan, Ted, Louis, Craig, Erik, Sara and everyone else that made the experience such a special day and for the work that you are doing for the next generation.
