Improving fishing in local streams was the focus as the local chapter of Trout Unlimited held an informal meeting and open house in Scottsbluff last week.
The group is looking for ideas to boost trout populations in the North Platte River watershed from Lake McConaughy to the Wyoming state line.
Spokesman Bob Smith tells Rural Radio News one idea the group would like to pursue is working with area schools to get kids involved in the science of the subject through hatchery boxes and chemistry sets. “Do some field work, going down to the creek, and take samples of the water for pH, nitrates, dissolved oxygen levels, temperatures, and keep track of that,” says Smith. “Also the aquatic life in the streams, and just have a baseline in how our streams change from season to season..”
Smith also says a couple of members are currently working on a pilot hatchery project to re-introduce the McConaughy migrating species of rainbow trout that used to populate local streams from the mid-40s to about 1980.
Any regulatory changes required to help improve the fisheries would require the assistance and approval of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, as well as other governmental entities.
