Sandy River Trout
Sandy River Trout are protected by catch and release angling regulations
|Rainbow and cutthroat trout are native to the Sandy River Basin. No one knows what the historic populations were. For many years the state planted many catchable size trout in the easily accessible waters. Bag limits were kept high with no protection for wild fish. Management policies changed in 1997. Wild trout were deemed valuable and endangered. Trout are no longer planted in any streams within the watershed. Wild trout are protected year round. The upper basin above Marmot Dam is closed to|
all fishing from November 1 to the last Friday in May. This part of the basin is open from last Saturday in May to October 31 as a catch and release fishery with flies and artificial lures. Eastern Brook Trout which are regarded as an invasive specie, may be harvested with no bag limits. Very few Eastern Brook Trout remain in any streams within the basin.
The upper Sandy River basin is managed as a wild fish sanctuary. This is an important step in rebuilding our wild resident and anadromous trout populations.
Both rainbow and cutthroat trout are native to this river system in both their resident and anadromous forms. All of these wild stocks are present within the basin but in populations much lower than basin capacity.
It has been expected that with the current angling management, wild trout populations would rebound rather quickly. This hasn't been the case. Wild trout populations within the basin are recovering, but slowly.
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Cutthroat photo by: Mark Bachmann - all rights reserved.