My friend Ben Wright works for Mount Rainier National Park, assessing fish populations in the rivers, streams, and lakes. I’m not the only one with an enviable fishing job; Ben has a good gig as well. His work involves “hook and line sampling,” electrofishing, and snorkeling for the park’s cutthroat, rainbow, and bull trout. Ben, his boss Heather Moran, and Tracy, a Student Conservation Association intern, capture fish to make population estimates as well as collect samples for a genetics study.

Ben spends much of the field season with a fly rod in hand, trying to catch as many fish as possible.

The bull trout are of particular interest since they are listed as “Threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. Ben and Tracy took me to Fryingpan Creek, a glacier fed stream known to host bull trout. We tossed olive and black streamers into the milky flow.

The habitat quality in this stream is marginal. The water runs fast and off color thanks to its glacial origins. But surprisingly, Fryingpan holds fish and every now and then a bull trout would attack our offerings. We fought the fish quickly and gently, collected the fin samples we needed for the genetics study, and let these rare trout go unharmed. If you haven’t seen a bull trout, CLICK HERE to see my photos.

That night, we returned to the water to night snorkel for coastal cutthroat in a small creek. Ben and Heather did the snorkeling while Tracy and I assisted with our heads above water. Snorkeling is an effective research tool… and it is a lot of fun!

Ben and Heather donned dry suits, masks, and snorkels. They crawled along the stream bottom, scanning likely pools with a high-powered flashlight. Much like deer, trout are stunned by a bright light in the middle of the night, making them relatively easy to net. It was interesting to observe how comfortable trout are in the dark. These fish were sitting in the middle of pools and they seemed to have little fear of predation.

The following day, we hiked into another small coastal cutthroat stream for a second session of hook and line sampling. The challenge was keeping the little buggers on the hook! When you are collecting samples for scientific purposes, it is important to get the fish in the net. Ben and I were able to land half a dozen, but we lost many fold more. I finally resorted to holding my net in my line hand while casting. When I hooked a 3-6 inch trout I would immediately hoist it out of the water and into my waiting net. It was sort of like playing some odd form of trout basketball.

In addition to these populations of small fish, Rainier is home to lakes that hold 18” rainbows. However, the Mud Mountain Dam has obstructed most of the big fish from entering the park. Historically, anadromous (ocean-running) bull trout, steelhead, and Chinook salmon were found in these waters.

Of course, the obstruction of fish passage is a major problem caused by dams all over the country, but in the Northwest in particular. Stay "TUned" to the blog as I’ll be writing about the creative and ambitious projects TUers have undertaken to help fish travel around these structures.

In the meantime, enjoy THESE PHOTOS from Rainier National Park.