For an apex predator that can grow up to 20 pounds or more, range over hundreds of miles and has been called the river wolf, the bull trout has had a tough time of it.
First, there's the name. The trout-looking fish with bright orange spots and a brown torpedo-like body is really no trout at all – it's actually part of the char family.
Once widespread across the Rockies and Northwest, the bull trout has been reduced to a fraction of its historic population and range, surviving in a few strongholds, like the Metolius River where the combination of clear, cold spring-fed flows and minimal human impacts allow the fish to thrive. But these types of refuges have become few and father between as human development and related impacts encroach on the few remaining corners of the West, a challenge for bull trout who are particularly sensitive to water quality and temperatures. The bull trout's need for pristine habitat has earned it the reputation of an indicator species, the proverbial canary in the coal mine, as Sierra Club conservation director and fishing guide Jeff Hickman puts it.
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