There has been an unconfirmed sighting of a rare fur-bearing trout this weekend at Lake Avery. This reporter accepted the story with a certain amount of skepticism.
I consider all fish stories suspect unless accompanied by a catch or at least a photo of the catch. Tales of record-breaking fish that got away are in abundance. However, my source has been previously reliable and I would be remiss not to inform our readers.
My unnamed source (he is not authorized to release information) at Colorado Parks and Wildlife says there are no fur-bearing trout in Lake Avery and any rumors of a secret project to reintroduce it to Colorado are untrue. One does wonder, however, what is the “real” reason behind the scheduled draining of Lake Avery.
It has been a long time since a fur-bearing trout has been caught in Northwest Colorado. All those who have first-hand knowledge have left us, crossing the Jordan River with a fly rod.
The difficulty in catching one of these extremely rare fish is that no one knows what bait, lure or fly will entice this finicky eater. The other reason for it not being spotted more often is that it lives exclusively under the ice.
I should qualify that statement. This species of trout have adapted to extremely cold water by growing a coat of fur in winter. It then sheds the fur in springtime when the ice breaks up and appears to be a normal trout. Fishermen are none the wiser when they catch one.
Fur-bearing trout are more commonly found in the far north of Canada, Iceland, and for some odd reason, cold lakes in Arkansas.
The first recorded account of a fur-bearing trout dates back to the 17th century in Canada. A Scottish immigrant had written a letter to his relatives in Scotland detailing the abundance of fur-bearing animals and fish in the New World.
In 1900 Iceland a story was printed about their legendary Lodsilungur, which roughly translates as “fish with fur.” Its rarity inspired folk tales. The Lodilungur was declared forbidden to eat. Punishment for the evil of eating one was pregnancy, even in men! I think we can safely discount that part of the legend.
In 1929, J.H. Hicken wrote an article in Montana’s Wildlife magazine. Hicken claimed that when a furry trout is caught, caution should be used in bringing it out of the water. The change in temperature is so great that the fish may explode when removed from the super cold water.
The best example of a fur-bearing trout with its winter fur still on was presented to the Royal Museum of Scotland. The fish was expertly mounted by Ross C. Jobe, taxidermist. An image is available at thevintagenews.com
By ED PECK – Special to the Herald times
