Poudre River Rainbow Trout

Re-Stocking

Poudre River Rainbow Trout Re-Stocking

As you know, the 2021 flash flood in the upper Poudre Canyon's Black Hollow resulted in not only the loss of human lives and homes, but also the elimination of essentially all trout that lived in the river from that point to many miles downstream. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is planning to restock the Poudre with Gunnison rainbow trout - each about an inch long. Volunteers will be provided five gallon buckets (with lids) of fish from a hatchery truck, and will then transport them to a pre-determined stocking location. The hatchery truck will then move to another location where volunteer vehicles will meet up again to get another bucket of fish to stock elsewhere. The entire reach will be stocked using this leapfrog system. The goal is to spread these fish out, stocking them directly into fry/fingerling habitat providing them the best chance at success. The original idea was to stock the river using rafts, but late summer flows are unlikely to be sufficient for that.

This will be an all day effort, meeting at Stove Prairie Campground (CO-14, Bellvue, CO 80512) at 11:00 AM and wrapping up later that afternoon.

Access is expected to be relatively easy for most of the stocking areas, although a few locations have steep banks to access the river. Volunteers will be assigned stocking areas according to their interest and physical ability.

Please step up and do your part in getting the Poudre back on track as not only Colorado's only Wild and Scenic River, but also a great place to fish near Fort Collins!

Bring sunscreen, sturdy shoes, and a pair of work gloves.

If you have any questions send an e-mail to Mike Haas at michaelhaasckd13@gmail.com