Bull Trout
By Cameron Larsen, Thu Dec 8th

The Bull is indigenous to Western North America. Oncehailed as the greatest of all Salmonids, it began a quickdecline in the 1930's. Early naturalists had this to say aboutthe fish: Bull are by far the most active and handsome ofthe trout, they live in the coldest, cleanest and most secludedwaters. No higher praise can be given to a Salmonid than to say,it is a charr(sic). Indeed they are an aggressive and worthygame fish. And because of their desire for the coldest andcleanest water, they are a great indicator species. A wholewatershed's health can be measured by its indigenous populationof bull trout.

Once common in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, as well asAlberta and British Columbia, it has now declined so much as tobe put on the endangered species list. Of course humandegradation of the environment is much to be blame. But at leastas big a factor is introduced species. The Bull wasconsidered an enemy of the Rainbow Trout, because of theirpredatory nature, so as Rainbows were introduced, catching andkeeping of Bull has been encouraged.

The Bull can be highly mobile, often migrating back tolakes that form the headwaters of streams, or even intodifferent streams altogether. Coastal streams will havepopulations that migrate to the ocean and then back. Often timesin the same stream will be stationary and migratory Bull Trout.This migratory ability has undoubtedly aided the diversity andthereby the prosperity of the species.

Besides their beauty and fighting abilities. Bull are alsoknown for their size. River Bull can reach 4 pounds, whilelake dwellers have been caught up to 20 pounds. Perhaps thesaddest part of their recent history is that sportsmen's desiresfor other fish, and the official biologists agreeing with thisdesire has directly resulted in their perilous status today. Itseems we do a better job today of recognizing entire eco-systemsand appreciating them for what they are. But once we begin totrigger some species as desirable and others as not, we areplaying with a kind of fire that can burn us for generations.Native species exist where they exist for a reason, and wecannot wily nily go deciding we prefer other species to livethere instead.

Bull fry require extremely cold water to survive, becauseof this their satisfactory water for spawning beds are minimal.Which further complicates their recovery rate. Luckilybiologists throughout their entire range are attempting toprotect valued spawning beds, and awareness of them are beingraised. The wonderful thing about nature is she seems to beawfully forgiving about sins of the past.

With constant vigilance the Bull species will survive,thriving however remains questionable. Already gone inCalifornia, those of us fortunate enough to live near waters intheir natural range would do well to see what programs exist tofurther enhance their survival. And the extra fortunate mighteven live near a healthy population, where the can go drift aMuddler Minnow in front of a hungry specimen and see, touch andphotograph one close up.

About the author:Cameron Larsen is a retired commericial fly tier and fly fishingguide. He now operates The Big Y Fly Company.http://www.bigyflyco.com/flyfishinghome.html He can be reachedat info@bigyflyco.com. This article will appear in the Big Y FlyFishing E-Zine atHttp://www.bigyflyco.com/Bigyflyfishingezine.html