Winter Newsletter

01/23/2010

Part Three- The Greybull and Wood Rivers

The Greybull and Wood River fisheries are probably our most intact and deserving rivers to try to preserve for their native species. The Yellowstone cutthroat is now, for all purposes, endangered in it's natural state. These two rivers have perhaps the purist strain of Yellowstone cutthroat left outside The Park. Both rivers had stocking programs at one time but in the past decade or more it has been a priority to try and keep what is left of the original population of cutthroats as pure as possible. With cutthroat habitat on the decline and considering that there is less than 7% of the wild Yellowstone cutthroats left in existence in the world, I just can't understand how anyone cannot agree that these two rivers need to be made catch and release only. Both rivers have some pretty restrictive regulations as far as keeping fish, but fishing pressure along with some harsh natural conditions in the past couple years are chipping away at what is left of this unique fishery. There are not many places left that you can catch a fish that has never been stocked. On top of that you have upper and lower Sunshine reservoirs right there where you can take home a nice fish or 2 to eat if you like.

The Wood River is a very small stream with public access in the national forest and then private land all the way to it's confluence with the Greybull. It is steep fast water with little holding area for the fish with the cut banks being their primary cover. It gets a pretty good scouring in the spring by run off and with the exception of just a couple weeks in June the water runs clear . The resident fish are small with the average being about 6" to 8". In the spring some larger fish migrate up stream to spawn from the lower river. In the past my wife and I had many fun days fishing the little stream, sometimes catching some surprisingly large fish. The last 3 or 4 years the fishing has been dismal.

There are 2 major man made problems I see. Again, the numbers of people fishing has increased 10 fold. The camp grounds in the forest are full for most of the summer. Keeping fish in this type of stream is just not a responsible option. There are few fish of spawning size to begin with and if you take them, there is no natural recruitment. Does this make sense on a free stone stream with no stocking program? Lately, I have seen very few fish of spawning size in the river. The second problem is a water issue. More and more water is being diverted to fill  reservoirs and to irrigate farmland in the valley. This past year the water has become dangerously low through out the private section especially in the winter. Fish were found frozen in pools because of low water. Not ideal management practices if we are truly trying to save the Yellowstone cutthroat.

The Greybull suffers from the same problems. The fish population has not suffered quite to the extent of the Wood mainly because it is a bigger stream with a little better holding water and in the summer there is an influx of water from a reservoir. The river is basically a tail water from just above the confluence of the Wood down. The river went through some major changes the last couple of years with very high fast run off. This high water actually straightened the river in many places, removing side channels, filling in crucial holes and taking away places the fish spawn and rest. Lots of places that used to hold fish are gone, at least up in the forest. One thing I've noticed over the years is the fish move quite a bit over the coarse of the year. The Pitchfork ranch, just below the forest, holds approximately 20 miles of prime river as a no fishing zone. Fish will move up stream in the spring to spawn and gradually make there way back down to the deepest holes they can find for the winter. In my opinion, this is what is saving this river. The ranch keeps the cows off the river and leaves enough water in the river during irrigation season to keep the fish healthy. Most of the nicer fish you get in the forest are migrating up from this area.

The upper river is much smaller and I think it acts almost like a nursery for the smaller fish. You won't find a bunch of 17" fish up in the forest. The fishing is pretty good  if you don't mind walking a good distance between holes. Average fish is about 10". The river below Meeteetse is capable of growing some huge fish. However, the cutthroat population changes over to both Yellowstone and Snake River cutthroats. The river has been straightened by high water and experiences extremely low water after irrigation season ends in the fall. The fish find the deepest holes and winter in them. This lack of year round water keeps the population down from what it could be, but still it is good if you are lucky enough to find a place to fish. Not a ton of fish, but some true whoppers for such a small stream.  The thing that separates these rivers from our other fisheries is the Yellowstone cutthroat. Do we have to get down to 1% of the original population before we are willing to change our ways? Unfortunately that is probably what will happen in the near future unless we take action now. Yellowstone Lake lost over 4 million cutthroats in about 4 years. Things can happen quickly, so lets take some preventive action now and see if it makes the difference.

Tight Lines!