The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) works hard to provide fun and unique fishing opportunities for anglers. Arizona has two native trout species that many anglers have on their bucket list to catch, Gila and Apache trout. The department has stocked these two threatened species in selected waters in the state.
Anglers are always interested in new fishing opportunities, and sometimes that comes with added responsibilities. That is the case with some trout streams recently identified by AZGFD. The department has been working for several years to establish recovery streams for Gila and Apache trout populations. Many of these streams are in Rim Country and the White Mountains in areas where these fish were found historically. Some of these streams will soon be open to fishing with restrictions, offering anglers a chance to catch wild, native Arizona trout.
Backcrossing to the Future Ben Ikenson
January 19, 2021
In the summer of 2018, a pair of fish biologists and a pair of horse packers embarked on an arduous 13-hour trek through a remote section of the 3.3 million-acre Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico, not far from the Arizona border.
“We rode mules the first five or so miles,” recalls Jill Wick, who managed the native fish program for the New Mexican Department of Game and Fish, “but had to continue on foot for the last several miles, basically bushwhacking our way through because there was no trail.”
Listed as an endangered species in 1967, the Gila trout was one of the first fish to receive federal protections, even before the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973. Photo by Craig Springer/USFWS.