"I about messed my pants"

A fisherman in Arkansas caught a piranha in a local lake last Friday.

LINK (via:The Daily Mail)

Authorities would also prefer you stop releasing your aquarium fish in the local lake.

Finding Chadwick

Chadwick, a chagoi koi carp that escaped from a Hampshire aquatic centre during the winter flooding in February, was found two months later by a woman who spotted the fish seven miles away in the River Test.

LINK (via:The Daily Echo)

California drought threatens coho salmon with extinction

The lack of rain this winter could eventually be disastrous for thirsty California, but the drought may have already ravaged some of the most storied salmon runs on the West Coast.

LINK (via:SF Gate)

California may have hit its driest point in 500 years.

Out-Dated Dam Killing Thousands Of Fish Near Tacoma

Right now there are tens of thousands of salmon - including endangered species - dying at the base of an out-dated dam on the White River east of Tacoma. The Buckley Diversion Dam is blocking their homeward journey to spawn in the Mt. Rainier watershed. Local tribes say the federal government is failing in its responsibility to transport the fish around the dams on this river.

(via: Northwest Public Radio)

The Army Corp does not agree that it operates the dam.

Study: Climate change to halve trout habitat by 2080

Trout habitat likely will be slashed in half due to climate change by the year 2080, according to a study published Monday, with native cutthroat trout expected to see the most severe decline.

Researcher Seth Wenger, the paper’s lead author, said cutthroat could see a 58 percent decline in suitable habitat due to warming rivers, altered streamflows and competition from nonnative species.

The study, published in the science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also predicts a decline in introduced brook trout populations by as much as 77 percent, while rainbow and brown trout populations could also decline by an estimated 35 percent and 48 percent, respectively.

LINK (via: The Billings Gazette)

This on top of a 2008 study by the NRDC and Montana Trout Unlimited that determined trout habitat in the Rocky Mountain region could be reduced by 50 percent or more due to the effects of global warming. 

LINK

Meanwhile in North Idaho.

Warmer water temperatures being recorded in North Idaho streams and rivers are creating unhealthy conditions for trout, especially the region's westslope cutthroats, Idaho environmental officials said.

The DEQ is proposing a plan to reverse the warmng trend, unfortunatley some view it as an example of government waste or a “liberal” reaction to climate change.

LINK (via: The Spokesman Review)

The World’s Top 100 Game Fish

Sport Fishing presents a ranking of the world's saltwater game fish along with some decent photos, tidbits and species distribution maps.