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Post by Trix on Nov 12, 2020 6:58:36 GMT -5
Bag to backpack to stream: Trout stocking in Red River Gorge by Natalie Parks Nov 11, 2020
My fish are not happy.
I don’t know that for certain, but I imagine that being dumped into a plastic bag with 17 of their brothers and sisters, thrown into darkness and then being carried on the fish equivalent of a roller coaster isn’t their preferred activity.
I can feel them sloshing and swimming against my back, so I feel that we have a connection, my fish and I. Enough that by the time we get to our destination – a stream in Red River Gorge – I will have given them most of them names (Natasha, Bernard, Gregorovich) and be very sad to unceremoniously dump them out of their current home, my backpack.
Justin Heflin, the fisheries biologist leading this expedition, says it is better to dump the fish from chest height than to take them out by hand and ease them into the water because the shock will get them moving faster.
Scientifically, I understand; setting my fish free is the goal of this endeavor, a trout stocking trip with the Kentucky Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. (But I still wanted to hold my fish and wish them good luck).
Read More with plenty of photos:
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