Stranded Truckee River trout relocated
By Sage Sauerbrey, Moonshine Ink
“Fish on!”
A fisherman yells out as Mike Wier, outreach coordinator for California Trout, hooks into a behemoth rainbow trout in a pool just above the Fanny Bridge in Tahoe City.
This 31-inch monster is one of roughly 40 trout that have become stranded in a short section of the Truckee River since Lake Tahoe dropped below its natural rim in August 2014. Community concern grew through the winter as the dissolved oxygen in the 75-foot stretch of water started to drop and the pool neared unlivable levels for the trapped trout.
“The habitat here is just becoming unsuitable for fish to live in, so either they die or we move them,” Trout Unlimited California field director David Lass said.
A collaborative effort between Trout Unlimited, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and California Trout brought 20 volunteers to Fanny Bridge the morning of April 21. The mission was to relocate the stranded trout to the cleaner waters of Lake Tahoe, but it also offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to fish for the prized trout.