Weekly Register-Call/ Gilpin County News

Can history help me find good Greenback Trout fishing?

Where can one find the Colorado native Greenback Cutthroat Trout around here? Where can I catch some of those big strings of trout they caught back in the early days? They did catch huge numbers of trout, no doubt about that. Their creels were bursting at the seams! Back in Governor Gilpin’s day one could easily hook from thirty to fifty pounds of greenbacks in most any stream near here. In 1874 Fall River was dotted with fishing camps. Everyone caught many trout and no one went home without fish. They’d write to the Rocky Mountain News about it every day. Catches of forty to fifty fish a day per person were common, and the trout were even sold in Denver fish markets. When C.F. Orvis (who founded the famous fishing supply company) came here in 1875, he proclaimed our Front Range high streams and lakes the premier trout fishing spot in the nation. The other day I came across a tourist brochure promoting fishing around Rollinsville in the 1920s. Featured were strings of up to 100 trout all recently caught and ready for the pan. Those trout were a mixture of Brookies and the lovely Greenback Cutthroat, our Front Range native trout. Not only lovely to look at, Greenbacks were especially good to eat. They were said to have much more flavor than eastern brook trout. So can history help me find them today?

Two species are gone now

Originally there were four species of Colorado trout. Most common was the Colorado River Cutthroat. The Yellow Fin Trout (a particularity lovely one) was found only in the Twin Lakes area near Leadville, but mining run-off waste wiped it out. The Rio Grande Trout of the San Luis Valley, and our own Greenbacks were the others. Both the Yellowfin and the Rio Grande are extinct now, but some still have hopes for our native Front Range trout, the Greenback. We’ll never see two of those trout species again and that’s sad, but I’d love to see a native Front Range Greenback. Interestingly enough, the Front Range Greenback Cutthroat was common, though not plentiful, until fairly recently. There were some of them lurking and dancing in the quieter eddies of the whole upper South Platte River system including Boulder Creek well into the 1940s.

For many years, the Rocky Mountain News published a daily fish report. The Greenback Trout was tops in terms of exciting catches. By 1890 though, Greenback catches were rare enough to be mentioned. The Colorado fish commissioner was worried about trout populations in general by 1880, and urged hatchery programs to be given top priority. He argued that propagation and planting of young fish should begin at once. By 1886 his plan was in full force. The railroads took cans of the hatchery fish up into the high mountains and dumped them into streams. Sportsman’s groups prided themselves on dispersing the hatchery fish. Unfortunately they dumped the wrong kinds of trout.

The wrong kinds of trout

In the 1870s, 80s and 90s, fishermen in our part of the world still caught the widely prized Greenbacka now and again. But once the stocking programs began in the 1880s, the new varieties took over. Brook Trout and Rainbow Trout were common and driving out the natives. The Brook Trout is better adapted than the native trout. Greenbacks spawn later than Brook Trout, and that means the young Greenbacks are at a disadvantage and often are eaten. The Brookies get better stream positions also just by virtue of their bigger size. This did not matter to the state agencies and fisherman groups planting trout, however. They just wanted more trout in the streams. In 1905, The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad planted millions of trout, probably 6 million in fact, but no Greenbacks. Local improvement associations worked hard to drum up a large supply of fish. In 1907 they realized part of their dream over in Estes Park, where the first large scale trout hatchery was built. During its first year of operation it planted a million Rainbow, Brook, and even a few Colorado Cutthroat Trout. Eventually they would plant 6 million a year.

Apparently the stocking worked. The Rocky Mountain News fish reports often talked of 215 or 230 trout caught in a single day. Some of those huge catches happened right here in Rollinsville, or in the North Fork of the St. Vrain River. During years like 1912 and 1914, such huge trout catches were reported almost daily. The stocking programs grew more and more “scientific” too. The federal Bureau of Fisheries assisted the local hatcheries in many ways. These scientists assisted in the creation of rearing ponds called “sizing ponds.” In these ponds the trout were raised until they could compete with existing trout in size and vigor. Unfortunately this spelled even more doom for the native Front Range Greenbacks.

Science isn’t always scientific

Various websites about the greenback contain various dates for the realization that the greenbacks were almost gone. Certainly by the 1980s it was clear they were in trouble. Hatcheries started raising Greenbacks and they were declared “catch and release only” throughout the state. Still, scientists thought stable populations could be built if enough waters were closed and enough young Greenbacks were raised in hatcheries. Unfortunately the Greenbacks they were raising in the Estes Park and other hatcheries were not our native Front Range Greenbacks, but rather Colorado River Greenbacks. It’s an understandable mistake. Both have that gorgeous bright red coloring on the undersides of the male. Both look much the same. But, alas, our native Greenbacks now only survive in about 11 miles of really remote streams. Their location is kept secret for good reasons. It is much feared that they will go the way of the other two native trout species. That will leave only the Colorado River Greenbacks. Not that the Colorado River variety isn’t showy. You can see them in the shallow waters of Lily Lake over in Rocky Mountain Park right now. They are building their nests and flash close to the surface. A gaudy fish they are, but native Front Range Greenbacks they are not.

Unintended consequences

Several of the high mountain lakes in our area had never supported fish populations. So, during the 1930s and 1940s dedicated volunteers carried or put on burros cans of trout fry. Those trout took to their new habitat beautifully. The unintended consequences were amazing and bad. All sorts of amphibians disappeared as they were eaten by the trout. Several endangered frog species were wiped out in a few seasons. But, there were  now Brook trout in the high lakes. Maybe I should try to climb to Little Echo Lake and catch a few of those guys.

Will history help guide me to good trout fishing?

Colorado history can help me a little here. I won’t ever be able to catch a Greenback Cutthroat, or probably ever see one. But Brook Trout are good eating too. My best clue from history would be to follow the roadbed of the Denver, Rio Grande and Western as it was in about 1926. The railroad dumped a lot of Brook Trout all along the streams leading to Gunnison and then up to Crested Butte. Leadville got its’ share too. They did an amazing amount of stocking right here in Gilpin County too. The whole idea was to attract tourists along the route. Now I know where to go!

I’ve just picked up my fishing license and paid for the “all areas fee.” I’m trying to convince Gus that being a Black Lab means sitting by the bank of a stream and looking like a photo in Field & Stream magazine. All of those Black Labs look on adoringly as their “masters” scoop up trout into a little net. We’ve practiced a couple of times and he doesn’t get it so far, but we’ll see. Now I’m off to borrow a rod and reel from an obliging neighbor. Trout of Colorado beware, for history is my fishing guide!