POWELL, Wyo. — Thanks to Trout Unlimited, thousands of fish were rescued from ebbing irrigation canals to be placed back where they belong: the Shoshone River.
On a recent Friday morning, a generous sun erased memories of a chilly night, while Heart Mountain eyed Trout Unlimited members and high school FFA students as they “fished” the Willwood Canal.
Sloshing forward, the anglers pushed an electronic device into the knee-deep water that herds the trout and makes net retrieval much easier.
It is a mission of mercy. Once water flow to the canals is cut, the trouts’ days are numbered.
“Another two weeks and all the fish in here would be dead,” said Trout Unlimited member Dave Crowther.
Bob Capron, East Yellowstone chapter president of Trout Unlimited, said food becomes meager but what kills trout is lack of oxygen in the shallow water.
The trout, whitefish and suckers range from fingerlings to whoppers.
The biggest caught up to then was a 29-inch brown from the Garland Canal, Capron said.
Micah Stockberger, 14, an FFA member from Cody, supervised the tank loading with Tanner Rosenbaum, 9, and Trout Unlimited member Lorna Anderson.
A bucket load of squirming trout were eased into the tank.
“Once your eyes adjust, you can see them,” Micah said.
Indeed, like fish in a barrel, the trout swam sluggishly about in the murky tank that filled the cargo bed of a pickup.
Anderson said the group had 149 fish by about 10 a.m.
A couple of days before, they captured 869 fish just up the canal from their present location, Capron said.
Last year, Capron said they caught 3,800 fish in the Cody, Garland and Lake View (South Fork) canals.
Capron said he appreciates community involvement and support, the youths who pitch in, the irrigation districts and the landowners who allow the little netting expedition convoy to cross their land.
It may be a charitable endeavor, but it also yields a fruitful influence on fishing.
Many of the trout are large — the type of fish anglers would love to set their hooks in. And those big fish are spawners — they will spark the next generation of trout. The spawners are native to waters of the Shoshone; they know how to find food and are acclimated to the water’s temperature, Capron said.
With an irksome ring like a relentless tuning fork, the electronic device precedes the anglers, armed with nets, as they slog through the muddy current. Like cattle, the fish are herded, then caught for eventual transport to the river.
It is hard work. The power pack for the electronic wand weighs 40 pounds, and the hunters walk 5 or 6 miles a day, Capron said.
For their efforts here and elsewhere, the East Yellowstone Trout Unlimited chapter received the Silver Trout Award, making it one of the top three chapters in the country.
