Northwest Reel Life April 2024 Volume 3 Issue 6 - Flipbook - Page 31
If you catch a brookie in the
high lakes, hey, that's some
of the best wild food you
can get. And you are not
eating a native fish.
A steelhead is a rainbow
trout that migrated from
freshwater to the ocean
and returned. If a person
eats farmed steelhead, it
is probably not steelhead
at all, but rainbow trout
packaged as steelhead.
An angler that catches
and eats a fin-marked
steelhead has consumed a
hatchery steelhead. Surplus
steelhead that returned to
their hatcheries in places
like Nehalem or Three
Rivers are often trucked to
coastal lakes and set free
to give anglers another
chance at them. Because
they will probably not thrive
in the lake, the highest use
of these fish is to turn them
into a good meal.
Fisheries managers
sometimes struggle with
the divide between the
consumptive and the catchand-release ethic.
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R E E LT I M E F I S H I N G .C O M
Diamond Lake was devoid
of fish before it was
stocked by mule trains in
the early 1900s. The foodrich lake still grows fish to
trophy proportions and
not enough gets taken
home by sportsmen. It's
a resource we could be
making better use of, and
the same principle applies
all over the state from Lake
Selmac to Wallowa Lake to
Bikini Pond to Rock Creek
Reservoir to Lava Lake.
Those fish are there to eat.
And there are some really
good things like dill, parsley
and lemon that go great
with a pan full of eastern
brookies or hatchery 'bows.
That's why I say when life
gives you lemons, go catch
a trout.
Gary Lewis Bio
Gary Lewis is an award-winning author, TV host, speaker and photographer. Recent books
include Fishing Central Oregon, 6th Edition, Fishing Mount Hood Country and Bob Nosler Born
Ballistic. Gary has hunted and fished in eight countries on three continents and in the islands
of the South Pacific. Born and raised in the Northwest, he has been walking forest trails and
running rivers for as long as he can remember. Lewis is twice past president of the Northwest
FOR A SIGNED COPY OF FISHING
MOUNT HOOD COUNTRY, SEND
$29.99, INCLUDES SHIPPING TO:
Gary Lewis Outdoors
PO Box 1364, Bend, OR 97709
Contact Gary Lewis at
garylewisoutdoors.com
Outdoor Writers Association and a recipient of NOWA’s Enos Bradner Award.
APRIL 2024 | 31
