Rainbow trout set to return to Colorado

publication date: Dec 27, 2007

The Colorado River's rainbow trout population, decimated by whirling disease, is set to make a comeback.

A successful programme of breeding fish resistant to the parasitic spore that kills young trout is giving fisheries' experts reason to hope.

The disease took a hold in the river in the late 1980s as a result of infected fish from a nearby private Idaho hatchery being released.

Matters were made worse as wildlife officers continued to stock the river with infected trout for over four years in the mistaken belief that the wild population was resistant.

The plan is for the wildlife division to start re-stocking the river in 2008 with large numbers disease-resistant trout.

"There's a lot of potential for re-establishing wild populations of rainbow trout," state biologist George Schisler said.

All the authorities can do is to watch and hope that the fish start spawning next year when they are sexually mature.

The speckled-coloured rainbow trout, introduced to Colorado in the 1800s, were highly regarded for their longevity, willingness to rise to a dry fly bait and for their wriggling, splashy acrobatics once hooked.