TU Spokesman Kills Brook Trout on the Outdoor Channel

[NIB-98TJ]

Trout Unlimited has shut down Tellico because they say the offroaders are responsible for the demise of the Brook Trout in the Tellico River. That is obviously bullshit because the only place left on the Tellico River with any significant Brook Trout populations are the places the offroaders have been for years. Originally Brook Trout existed in the Tellico River from the headwaters down to at least the 1,600’ elevation and probably much lower elevations. In reality, the native Brook Trout have only disappeared from the lower part of the Tellico River were the government hatcheries stock non-native Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout. Big Rainbow Trout and especially big Brown Trout kill and eat the smaller native Brook Trout. If offroaders were the ones killing the Brook Trout it would be the other way around; no Brook Trout where we ride and plenty of them where we don’t ride.

Offroaders have not hurt the native Appalachian Brook Trout population on the Tellico River one damn bit. The introduction of the non-native Rainbow (which never existed east of the Mississippi River) and the Brown Trout (which never existed any where in North America) is the ONLY REASON the Brook Trout population in the lower portions of the Tellico River has declined.

Well, take a look at the following two short TU videos from the Outdoor Channel. The first one shows Trout Unlimited bragging about being responsible for introducing the non-native Brown Trout into the Henrys Fork of the Snake Rive in eastern Idaho. Frank is the TU spokes person who appears in all the TU shows. In the second video you will see how Frank likes to ride around in his V8 Yota dragin’ that big Airstream around while he whines about how the petroleum industry is exploring for energy reserves in that area. I guess he thinks that Yota will run on bullshit and beer farts. You will also see him running around on backcountry dirt roads in the national forest were he is fishin’. Aren’t these the same assholes who shut down our backcountry roads in Nantahala NF? I guess back country roads are OK if they run to a TU trout steam.

Both of these fish caught are non-native exotic species for any western river, but watch how the TU spokesperson treats these fish. The Brown Trout is carefully put back into the river to produce more non-native Brown Trout and to kill and eat the native Cutthroat Trout. The Brown Trout are the same species which are being stocked into the Tellico River to kill and eat the native trout there, which is the Appalachian Brook Trout. In the second video you will see what Frank does with the small Brook Trout he catches. Both the Brown Trout and Brook Trout are non-native fish to all rivers in the western U.S., but Frank releases the big Brown Trout and kills the small Brook Trout. He kills it because he claims it’s a non-native species and is hard on the native Cutthroat Trout. I say BULL SHIT. These two videos demonstrate how the Brown Trout is considered to be a more desirable fish and that kind of thinking is why the Government hatcheries are dumping 1,000s of non-native Brown Trout into the Tellico each year to kill and eat the native and less desirable Appalachian Brook Trout. AND WE GET BLAMED FOR THIS SHIT.

Trout Unlimited >> Non-Native Brown Trout on Vimeo

Trout Unlimited >> Non-Native Brook Trout on Vimeo