Document text
Release catches anglers by surprise By MARK FREEMAN TRAIL -- Hearty anglers venturing to Lost Creek Lake could be rewarded this week with some large rainbow trout that might look familiar to the schoolkids of Jackson County. More than 500 rainbow "show fish" that have lived the past three years on display for tourists at Cole Rivers Hatchery are now swimming, and biting, in Lost Creek Lake. Hatchery workers released about 400 of the big rainbows Dec. 30 at the Lost Creek Marina at Stewart State Park, and the remaining 109 were released at the Takelma boat ramp on the lake's southwest side near the face of Lost Creek dam. A few anglers trolling the lake this past week have stumbled upon those rainbows, most of which run 18-22 inches long. Once word gets out, though, more boaters likely will follow. "It's a good opportunity for people to go up and catch some really nice fish," hatchery Foreman Matt Frank says. Anglers not interested in trolling for trout could get a late New Year's present in the upper Rogue River, where another 104 recycled summer steelhead were trucked from hatchery ponds and released Dec. 30 into the Rogue along the Modoc Unit of the Denman Wildlife Area upstream from Tou Velle State Park. These "retread steelhead" are the last batch of excess summer steelhead to be recycled from the hatchery back into the Rogue this year, Frank says. The rainbow trout planted in Lost Creek Lake had been the oldest resident fish at the hatchery, where salmon, steelhead and trout are raised from eggs and released. The 509 trout were reared at that hatchery in the winter of 1996-97 as part of the rainbow trout program there. These fish, however, were gleaned from the regular supply of tiny rainbows and relegated to a small, shallow pond for viewing by visitors. These "show fish" were viewed by tourists and visiting schoolchildren alike until last month, when they were officially retired from their public-relations job. "Instead of trying to keep them another spawning cycle," Frank says, "we thought we'd just let them go." The trout are now angling ambassadors of the lake, which garners precious little interest from anglers during winter. Since their planting, the trout have spread from the marina all the way to the face of the dam, as well as upstream toward the Peyton Bridge area. They can be caught by trolling Roostertail spinners in the top 10 feet of water, or trolling worms behind flashers. "It was a real kick," says Sandra Lewis, who runs the marina with her husband, J.D. "People who discovered them were having a ball." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470 or e-mail him at [email protected] ) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA