New Trout Going Into Henry's?

[sorefeet]

I think folks need to understand F&G has a mandate to try and preserve some vestige of cutts in the main stem of the Henry's fork watershed. I know that some among us regard cutts as poor sport and thus unworthy of life. But consider, if F&G didn't have a mandate to save the cutt and keep it at viable numbers for fishing, then it wouldn't have missions to preserve "worthy" big game species like sturgeon, salmon and steelhead. We don't get to pick and chose which species get consigned to the dustbin of history just because one makes us feel better about ourselves as anglers. That would be a pretty arbitrary system.... So there has to be a good sized population of Yellowstone Cutts in the lake because they no longer sustain themselves in the river. The lake hatchery's ability to run a controlled breeding program is one of the few places to maintain a strain for the future. About the only places Yellowstone cutts were doing well in the Henry's watershed was in the upper elevations of the Fall and Teton basins. Unfortunately, the Teton system is now really struggling to maintain genetic purity. Hybrids have begun to run up Bitch Creek to spawn with the cutts and so there goes one of the last, best pure Yellowstone cutt nursery streams. It was thought to be too cold and too late of a runoff for rainbows to spawn up there and that seems to be true. But some of the hybrids taking over the Teton Canyon section are tolerant of the conditions and have switched from their natal gravel and are running to Bitch Creek. Nearby, Badger creek is now 98-99% a rainbow factory. Until 15 years ago, it was a vital cutt spawning grounds. That's why hybrids have to be sterile.
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