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Eating, Meeting, and Fishing The 2007 Wild Trout Symposium
Rita and I are just home from our 16-day, 2,347 mile trip in the Camry to attend the Ninth Wild Trout Symposium October 9-12, 2007 at the Holiday Inn, West Yellowstone, and to enjoy the park in its early winter setting. There were over 180 registrants and the facilities and service at the West Yellowstone Holiday Inn Convention Center for WT-IX were the best ever. Fishery conservationists and working biologists gathered from across the nation as well as Canada, Japan, Norway, and Scotland to present papers on the state and significance of wild trout management. Historian and author Paul Schullery did an excellent symposium wrap up.
It would be difficult to even list all the almost 80 presentations and poster papers but the Proceedings will be up on the web site hopefully around the end of the year (www.wildtroutsymposium.com). Planning for WT-X in 2010, our 36th year, is already underway. Some of the interesting presentations included:
Snake River headwaters and Upper Yellowstone Cutthroat; Hurricane River, MI Resident and Coaster Brook Trout; European Wild Atlantic Salmon Catch and Release; Catch and Release in PA limestone steams, Nova Scotia Sea Run Browns, and Loch Rannoch, Scotland ferox brown trout; restoration results in Big Spring Creek, Belmont Creek, the Bitterroot, and the Snake River; A weir project to improve Sakhalin taimen in No. Japan; dam removal projects; Henry’s Fork wild trout; Hydroelectric Project Effects; Oregon’s Upper Klamath River fisheries; The hybridization of California’s Golden Trout; Grayling tagging; stable isotope marker projects; Genetic diversity studies of cutthroat, bull trout, and redband trout; angler transport of aquatic nuisance species; impacts of Didymo algae; brook trout removal the reintroduction of Westslope cutthroat in Alberta; native dolly varden in Japan; cutthroat management in Alaska; Native Rio Grande cutthroat in NM; California Golden trout hybridization; Yellowstone Lake Trout Suppression; Wild Trout Survival in Central Asia; Deschutes River wild summer steelhead impacts from hatchery fish; native trout in face of climate change, invasive species and development; climate change strategies; critical native trout roadless areas; and many more.
I have been the FFF Representative to the Symposium since 1979 and Awards Committee Chairman since WT-VII-2,000. My PowerPoint show of past awardees included FFF’s Gardner Grant, Van Van Gytenbeek, Ernie Schwiebert and the others was well received. Aldo Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medals at WT-IX were conferred on Nathanial P. Reed, the former Assistant Secretary of the Interior that approved and first funded these symposia and to Nick Lyons in the nonprofessional category. The Committee outlined a new Stewardship Award to be made to clubs or groups for the implementation of significant wild trout plans or projects that it is hoped will be FFF and TU sponsored. I was additionally honored by the establishment of the Marty Seldon Wild Trout Symposium Travel Scholarship that will provide two $500 fishery student stipends to help them attend future symposia.
Rita and I left week early, on October 1st, for a casual 1,011 mile drive from Sunnyvale via Reno, Winnemucca, Idaho Falls, and finally West Yellowstone. We stopped for lunch at the Trouthunter in Island Park and took pictures of our old friend Andre Puyan’s memorial rock on the Henry’s Fork. Our first forage into the park down to Old Faithful got us many great shots of bald eagle, lots of elk, coyote, muleys, and fantastic vistas. We walked the paint pots and captured lots of bubbling mineral gunk. Rita had never been to YNP before and we serendipitously booked upper and lower loop van tours on the first two days it snowed downtown West Yellowstone, leaving the slushy driving to the enjoyable guides.
I was very pleased with my spanking new 7 Mp Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3. Its basic 28 mm starting point with image stabilization, expanded to 10-X optically, and then digitally went up to 48-X where you need a tripod. Many shots like a majestic bull elk in front of Old Faithful came in great at 12-X to 14X.
On October 8th, the day before the symposium started, Rita spent the day at the Grizzly and Wolf Center enjoying the programs as well as the gray wolf pack and the antics of their eight grizzlies. Bob Jacklin and I enjoyed a day on the Madison and reminiscing about old times with the FFF. We had to keep kicking the accumulated snow off our felts but it was great to be out in the crisp air. After losing the first two fish to the #5 tippet, I calmed down and had a ball on 1-3 pound whitefish for most of the day. Although there was very little if any surface activity Bob stayed with his bushy dry fly and no doubt because of his superb casting and angling took whitefish after whitefish. After he pointed out the slot, my #12 tungsten bead-head soft-hackle pt-nymph brought a wonderfully fat 20 inch, four pound rainbow to the net that made the trip.
Do you eat to fish, fish to eat, or both? On the way up we had Basque dinner at the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca the first night and still savor the great stewed beef tongue side dish. Next day we had the Basque lunch at the Star Hotel in Elko with cabbage soup, slidced pork roast and tons of fresh garlic on the salad and fries. On the 3rd had lunch at Trouthunter in Island Park and I was finally able to get a simple tuna salad sandwich. We split the $34 Elk Medallions at Bullwinkles in West Yellowstone and they were great. Although West has never been a gourmet center except for the tourist prices and some very high end ranches, we enjoyed the pizza at Pete’s except that Pete was out of elk sausage with pasta that we wanted. Wild West reportedly has the best pizza in town. The locals still have breakfast at Running Bear, and Ernie’s Deli still supplies all lunches for the guides. We also were able to eat at the excellent restaurant operated by two women at the WY airport terminal, TJ’s Bettola. On the way home we had a good lunch at another favorite, the Griddle in Winnemucca, NV (just opened another in Meridan, ID). They gave us a great cranberry-orange chutney to put on the turkey sandwich and we bought a jar of their homemade orange marmalade.
That night we did the reasonably ok Seafood Buffet at Cactus Pete’s Casino in Jackpot, NV. They own the Horseshu Motel across the street and you can get a room for $71 Vs $98 in the tower, but ask for the Antelope building unless you want to lug your gear up a lot of steps to get in. Our Last stop before home was two nights at the 1,800-room Silver Legacy in Reno where the room was only $60/n. We were beat after another 405 mile day and just had a reasonable bowl of Wor Won Ton Soup and a shrimp rice bowl at their Cafe Sedona.
The next day we drove the 35 miles NE to make pilgrimage to one of my favorite places on the Nevada high desert, the Paiute Reservation’s Pyramid Lake. The weather was still warm and most better lahanton cutthroat trout have not yet come up from the depths. I was able to meet with one of the new biologists and visit the new tribal museum at Nixon. Saving the best for last, I started to eat at Louis’ Basque Corner on 4th Street in Reno in the 70’s when we first started fishing the Pyramid Lake lahanton trout. The bar was the same but it was now $22.99 for the 7-course feast with good salad, wine, coffee, and a great hard cheese and ice cream for desert. Rita had the sweetbreads and I had the sliced roast lamb entree. The oxtail side dish and beans were superb.
We finally made it back home and it was a great trip. My stomach hasn’t quite caught up, as we go back on oatmeal today, but well worth the journey. Join us at WT-X in 2010.
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