If the trout leave....

[NightOwl]

I was wondering if Smallmouth b****could fill the niche if the water in our streams got too warm and silted for trout? My primary concern would be the available food source, though. If we lose the trout( someday), what could we introduce to have a fishery in the thousands of miles of trout water ? Walleye, perhaps? http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

Sonny, believe it er not...we used ta ketch rainbow trout in these here waters back n' ma day!

[NightOwl]

Apparently, this post was considered to be bordering on blasphemous to some. Forget it, then. I'm not full of apathy for the plight of the mountian streams, I just can't see how creeks and rivers are gong to continue to have the temp. levels and erosion problems that they will face and still support trout. Woder whatthe Hooch in Helen was like before Helen was built around it. Wonder how much waste goes into the water there from the treatment plant on it's banks. Wonder how the thousands of visitors entering and exiting the stream affect the erosion rate. Not to mention the pollution from litter and line. Wonder if it had brook trout in it when the first settlers arrived. Wonder if they thought it would always be the same. Wonder if I'm all alone in facing the facts of the world we live in. Lord knows, I didn't purpose that we pollute the river til it can't support trout, so we can then stock bas$. We didn't have trout years ago when the water was too warm and we may lose them again for some of the same reasons. I don't think Helen would close down the town because the "canary" died. If that were true, half of the major cities in GA would be ghost towns.

sorry. I ramble...... http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[NightOwl]

No one biting? Wow, youguys are really " trout" people, huh ? It's fun to catch a bass. Try it. You'll like it. Really, ya'll I love trout and will do all I can to protect them and the whoe dang resource, but just what if we wake up one day and the water's too warm? What then? Do we fold our hands and say " Oh, well, we used to have these 2000 miles to fish, but now we don't"? I was really just wondering if anyone wanted to brainstorm on how we would fill the empty water if( IF ) it ever happened. Bueller.......Bueller.....

[Quint]

Allright Owl. I'll give you my point of view. If the trouts range is diminished I guess warm water species will replace them but this is not the issue. Trout fishing is a pastime/lifestyle for many of us but it is different than most. The trout stream is a indicator of the health and balance of our planets ecosytem. It is a measurement of our environment. I think that we must not let our streams get to this point at any cost. Whether it means more taxes, lifestyle changes, whatever. I believe that it won't end with waterways. It will affect air quality, food, mutant viruses immune to modern medicine and the complete over population of the planets carrying capacity until the human race itself is extinct. What I'm saying is the planet is very resilient given a chance but it will kick any bad habits we have one way or another. So I think we must educate people on population issues and start putting the planets well being at the front. After all it is really our own that we are talking about here.

[NightOwl]

Uh,......sorry, I thought I started this thread....I thought in my first post ( re-read if necess.) that I said " What if the trout leave?....".
I agree with you on the pollution points, but I was asking what everyone thought we'd do IF the streams were barren. Thanks for the comment, ut I guess no one can see past the current state of affairs, to do a little " imaginative guessing". Everyone is SO serious.....you would think I had posted " Let's throw our garbage in the Tallullah River and our old cars in the Hooch !!!!


Good grief, Charlie Brown !

[The Ole Man]

Easy boy. Quiet now . Good dog. Good dog. Owl ,have you ever read the book that I believe was published just last year. The title is "Carp on the Fly". Then too, there's always Cherokee Reservation. Thirty miles of streams, 57,000 acres, they are'nt scraping the land bare, cutting all the trees, ripping out the stumps. No subdivisions, no office parks, no one's even moving there. You have to prove blood relationship to the Cherokee just to move in. Five dollars a day, keep ten fish (.50 cents a piece). Hatchery is pumping them out like chickens. What's the problem?

[NightOwl]

I'm going out to the field to chase the crows. Can anyone say.......imagination? http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif

[Loren]

Yo! Owl!

1. To answer your question (and there is nothing wrong with the question), Smallmouth streams are absolutely terrific! Fished the Buffalo in Ark till I was blue in the face (still blue) when I lived there. I prefer trout, but both are great fish and live in georeous waters.

2. To address the environmental aspects of the question and responses, we do what we can. I do environmental stuff for a living - have for 20+ years. Great improvements in our streams have been made - mostly due to industry and the forces they face. The biggest threat now is ambitious construction(and its resultant run-off) and I can do much less about that. Access to Settles Bridge will soon be cut in half as will access to Hwy 20 Bridge area due to new subdivisions. Guess I'll fish elsewhere or walk further. I do what I can and catch what lives in the water.

Loren

[NightOwl]

¡ Gracias !