Species #34 — Cutthroat Trout

Species: Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) Location: Big Butte Creek, Butte Falls, OR Date: August 14, 2010 I debated how to record this species. The reason being that there are 10-to-14 living subspecies of Cutthroat Trout (depends whom you ask), and many anglers document and note each subspecies separately. Obviously I do. And while I’d like them to be…

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Species #7 — Brown Trout

Species: Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) Location: Confluence Hemlock Creek and Little Deschutes River, OR Date: August 28, 2004 Boats have nightmares about this place. Hundreds of sun-bleached lodgepole pines crisscross the small stream, connecting two grassy meadows split by the crystal-clear water that gives life to an otherwise desolate place. Native Bull and Redband Trout have long since been…

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Species #1 — Rainbow Trout

Species: Rainbow Trout (Oncorynchus mykiss) Location: Howard Prairie Reservoir, OR Date: Uncertain This is hazy. I’m not sure what day or even what year it was that I caught my first Rainbow Trout, but I have a picture, and I have a memory. My dad used to take me fishing with him, using an old canvas…

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Hook #6: Highs & Lows

Klamath River, OR Trip Date: October 3, 2012 Alfred Lord Tennyson once said: “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.” Well, Tennyson was obviously a fisherman, because anyone who has fished enough understands just how painful fishing can be. It doesn’t stop at painful. In fact, at times, it can be…

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