But no matter how you target them, make sure your hook can handle it. Glacial lakes are often isolated from nonnative species, making them the perfect haven for native species like cutthroat trout. Christine PetersonWe know some of the solutions, even ones that don’t require airlifting beavers into wilderness areas.
It finally clicked for me when I took my family to Blue Mesa Reservoir. Fed by the Gunnison River, a mighty tributary of the Colorado River, Blue Mesa is the largest body of water in Colorado with a staggering total capacity of 940,700 acre-feet of water and an active capacity of 748,400 acre-feet. The river didn’t care about me or my problems or what happened in the news. All it demanded was that I throw the right bugs at the right fish the right way. Out of cell range in some shaded canyon, I thought I could leave politics behind.
When you finally set that hook, though, you’re in for a long ride that features airborne gar, brutal thrashing, and lots of tail walking. If I could, I’d get down to the Trinity River in Texas every year to battle these dinosaurs. I’ve had giant fallfish smack mouse flies in the dark and pummel streamers midday. At first you think it’s a giant brown, but rather than be disappointed I can’t help but marvel at the power and tenacity of these giant minnows.
Treadwell isn’t a fan of eating freshwater fish, and couldn’t find any place in the area that wanted them, so he and McCarthy threw back all of the fish they caught. “You start to lose the picture of your jig, because you’re staring at something that’s 6 inches long,” Treadwell said. That can produce good results, but Treadwell has turned the fishing method known as jigging into a head-turning endeavor. “It’s a great lake, but we did piss off one person because they kept trolling around us and not catching anything and we caught like 40 in front of him, so he was a little grumpy,” Treadwell said of one disgruntled Facebook poster. Both species of snakeheads have existed in this country for over 20 years now. When they first arrived on the scene, anglers and biologists feared they would wipe out every species of fish cohabitating with them.
Fishing for salmon and all game fish has closed in most coastal rivers and tributaries until further notice. I cannot be the only one who feels the urgent need to resolve the dilemma of freshwater scarcity. Skiers, snowboarders, boaters, paddlers, tubers — Coloradans across the outdoor spectrum must see the same writing on the same wall. Certainly, those affected by drought-fueled disasters like wildfires and mudslides understand the issue.
The Glen Canyon Dam at the tail of the reservoir generates power for nearly six million households across seven states, including Colorado. Wind whipped across the surface of the water, funneled into a gale by the towering walls ringing the bed of the reservoir. Once covered by melted snow from the peaks above Gunnison and Crested Butte, these walls now stood naked, striated by ever-lower water lines like the sides of an old bathtub after someone pulls the plug. Cows roamed across cracked soil that once played host to aquatic life. My sons were too interested in looking at the fossils, old fences, and various pieces of detritus that once lay hidden at the bottom of this colossal body of water to even pick up a rod.
An Ohio DOW employee slips an acoustic transmitter—the black tube in his right hand—into a walleye’s belly during surgery. Courtesy of Ohio Division of WildlifeThe jaw-tagging program carried on into the early 2000s, and while it produced useful data, it also had limitations and drawbacks. It took an incredible amount of time and manpower to tag enough fish to cover population subgroups within the lake, some of which migrate west to east and others of which travel north to Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay.
Constance Brownlow is a 38-year-old animal expert and entertainer. She has always been fascinated by animals, and she has spent her entire life learning about them. She knows more than most people about the behavior and habits of various creatures, and she loves educating others about them.
Constance is also an entertainer. She enjoys making people laugh and feel happy, and she uses her knowledge of animals to do this. She has performed all over the world, and she always leaves her audiences entertained and educated.