He said that the one thing that everyone in the room seemed to agree on was that the trout in the
The fish du jour were brown trout. Their population in the Batten Kill has crashed. However, brown are native to Europe, not
“If you can phenotype these fish and prove they are a subspecies, you’ll have all the funding in the world,” he said.
But clearly, he doubted that would happen.
At the end of the meeting, Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Wayne LaRoche explained, to the molecular biologist and any others who didn’t understand the anglers’ passion for this thing they call wild fish, that the brown trout in the Batten Kill have been reproducing by themselves for 30 years. That's what makes them wild.
The only trout native to the Batten Kill is the brook trout, he further explained.
Several anglers mentioned that the Batten Kill is one of only five wild trout streams in the State of
In the rest, hatchery fish are dumped in to the river, and are fished out by anglers. One fishing guide at the meeting mentioned that the plan is for 50 percent of the fish to be out of the river in two weeks. Others mentioned anglers following the stocking trucks.
To me this seems akin to fishing in a goldfish bowl. I know that the anglers who favor stocking think of those who don’t has hopeless snobs, with no grasp on life’s simple pleasures. I’ll have to plead guilty, because I don’t understand the appeal of such a contrived scenario as fishing for stocked fish.
From a biological point of view, “wild” trout are not worth much. They are a naturalized, introduced species like dandelions or starlings. But to avid anglers, wild trout streams are so rare that they are worth fighting for.
Read more about the meeting in the Rutland Herald.