February 1997-- José has in intense interest in native Mexican trout. A 1997 trip coordinated by Dr. Dean Hendrickson at the University of Texas produced Mexican golden trout, Rio Mayo trout, Rio Yaqui trout, and the Guzman trout, as well as the Mexican stoneroller, carbonera pupfish, several minnows and one species of darter.
October 2000 -- Truchas Mexicanas, a binational group of scientists dedicated to the study and conservation of native Mexican trouts initiates collections in the mountains of Durango, Mexico. Forays into the rugged canyons of the Rio del Presidio produced Presidio trout. The Rio San Lorenzo trout was collected in northern Durango, as well as some unusual trout from Arroyo la Sidra. Illustrations of these specimens are featured in Trout and Salmon of North America.
October 2002 -- First of three collecting trips in the vast Rio Conchos watershed of Chihuahua in search of trout, sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Truchas Mexicanas. Widespread searches found clues but no native trout, only a few hatchery rainbows. Collection localities included a stream north of Nonoava where where the son of John James Audubon reported "trout" in 1849.
Descending into Arroyo Rancho Viejo in search of Conchos trout.
February 2004 -- Thorough collections of native trout made in the mountains of Durango, west of Ciudad Durango. Sites included canyons in the Presidio drainage, and streams south of the Rio del Presidio, providing first solid scientific evidence that trout are native to the rios Baluarte and Acaponeta, extending known southern range of native trout in the Sierra Madre. Great assistance was received from Walter Bishop & family of Ciudad Durango. Walter's father made the first "scientific collections" of Presidio trout in l907, shipping them to the Smithsonian Institute. Recent discovery of a new trout in the Rio Piaxtla watershed was augmented by collections from two new locations. Many collections of trout also made from streams of the Rio San Lorenzo watershed.
February 2005 -- New evidence from historical archives prompted Joe and Truchas Mexicanas to return to Chihuahua and the Rio Conchos watershed in search of native trout. This time the search was concentrated in western headwaters. After many hours of talking with native Rarámuri and shocking local streams, a native trout, previously unknown to science was collected in a mountain arroyo, the first Oncorhynchus of rainbow/redband affinity known to be native to an Atlantic drainage. Hatchery rainbows were discovered in another mountain stream, perhaps posing an imminent threat to purity of the native Conchos trout. Mexican golden trout were later collected in headwater streams of the Rio Oteros. Collections of trout were also made in the Tomochi watershed of the Yaqui drainage, including two new collection localities, and Rio Mayo trout were collected from Rio Candamena above Basaseachi falls.
fishing for native trout in Chihuahua, Mexico, mi puercocito!
March 2006 -- Our third trip to the Conchos headwaters was the most successful. Three groups of collectors blanketed the headwaters, finding evidence, mostly through discussions with the Rarámuri that trout were indeed native to the area but had all but disappeared in the last 10 years. We attribute the trout's demise to livestock, overfishing (principally with plant toxins), and to detergents in the headwaters. Searches from our first 5 days in the field turned up a few hatchery rainbows and one possible hybrid. Then a third collecting attempt in one particularly promising arroyo finally yielded native trout. This tiny stream has only 2 1/2 km of habitat though it appears to have a healthy population of trout. This is the only known viable population of Conchos trout. We also believe we have found a new species of sucker from the area. Three attempts to locate trout in the arroyo where they were found in 2005 were unsuccessful, leading us to believe that population is probably extirpated -- not surprising since we had found no young of the year in 2005, and had been able to locate trout in only one pool. The native fishes in these streams are principally Mexican stonerollers, Codoma, several sucker species (Catostomus spp.), and Gila sp.
© Joe Tomelleri