October 2013 SOTM Entry: CO Lake Trout

From the inbox:

Chum-

I was standing on a cliff face about 10 feet off the water, casting into about 40 ft of water.  Cast it straight our and let it sink to the bottom.  Two strips and this guy laid on it.  The hardest part was scrambling down the cliff face and finding some where to land this thing without going in the water or killing myself.  It took about 15 minutes to land it on a 7wt with 12lb flouro as tippet.  Put the camera on self timer again and snapper some photos before letting this fish go.  I didn't take any measurements.  But the thing nearly wrenched my wrist right off my arm when I let it go.  It's unbelievable the power these fish have.  I quit fishing after I released it.  I haven't seen or heard of too many people catching these fish on the fly.  Caught on Lake X in CO.  

Long Time Reader and Submitter,

Parker Smith

Yellowstone makes headway in war on lake trout

Fewer lake trout are being caught per net in Yellowstone Lake, marking a turning point in the effort to knock the invasive species out of the big lake.

LINK (via:The Great Falls Tribune)

The invasion of Yellowstone Lake by Lake Trout blamed for decline in Yellowstone’s elk

Say what?

LINK (via: Wildlife News)

Char Wars

MSU scientists wade into fight against invasive lake trout in Montana's national parks.

Six miles into Glacier National Park's backcountry, a skiff plies the water of Quartz Lake. A team of fishermen traces out nets in a careful pattern along the near-shore lake bottom. Working at night under peaks newly covered with snow, the fishermen set and pull their gear, some 2,000 feet worth of gillnetting, by hand.

This is no clandestine commercial fishing venture. The fishermen are, in fact, scientists, and their nightly exertions are a National Park Service fisheries management tool in motion--an ecological line in the sand.

LINK (via:Montana State University)

Fish fry, anyone?

More then 300,000 lake trout haluled out of Yellowstone Lake this year.

That haul brings to more than 1.1 million the number of lake trout removed from the lake since they were first discovered in 1994.

LINK (via: National Parks Traveler)

Underwater War: Killing lake trout to save cutthroat in Yellowstone Park

A detailed overview of fight against lake trout in Yellowstone Lake.

The lake trout program on Yellowstone Lake is one of the biggest suppression efforts in the country — perhaps only work on the Great Lakes to decrease lamprey is larger, Koel said.

It is believed if 50 percent of the lake trout population can be removed each year for six consecutive years, the population can be managed at a much lower cost, said Ken Barrett, native fish campaign manager with the Yellowstone Park Foundation.

LINK (via: Yellowstone Gate)