Taking the Brook Trout's Temperature

Wed, 25 Sep 2013 09:25:53 -0400

Taking the Brook Trout’s Temperature: Notre Dame biologists study how native fish could be restored to the Namekagon River watershed.

By Greg Seitz – Tuesday, Sep. 24, 2013

The skies above Cable, Wisconsin were unsettled last Friday, with rain showers interrupted by sunshine. Good fishing weather. But Patrick Shirey and his companions weren’t using typical methods.

Shirey, a researcher from Notre Dame University, was accompanied by two PhD candidates and a writer who was kind of wishing he had brought a fly rod.

The group ventured into the remote upper reaches of a small creek in the eastern extremity of the St. Croix River watershed. They were looking for brook trout – the beautiful, fragile and native fish which once thrived throughout the Namekagon and its tributaries....