I just read John Corrigan’s piece in the Concord Monitor about Tim Savard and his talk to the Basil Wood Jr. Chapter of Trout Unlimited last month. Passionate brook trout anglers will recognize Savard’s name–after all, he wrote the book on brook trout. Literally. The book is titled, “Brook Trout” (sadly, Corrigan reports, the book is out of print).
Corrigan attended Savard’s talk to the local TU chapter (seriously, folks, if you’re interested in trout or trout fishing, wherever you live, get your tail down to a TU meeting and just sit in–you won’t be sorry), and notes that Savard “talked about brook trout for nearly an hour and a half without using either notes or a PowerPoint presentation.” Oh, to have been in Concord on Jan. 28.
Many closet brookie anglers have taken the time to get to know their favorite quarry, so much of what Savard had to say wasn’t new information. But for casual anglers, especially those of us out West, brookies are nothing more than an introduced pest–a stunted, easy-to-fool fish that’s hardly worth chasing. They probably know very little of the natural history of brook trout, including that, prior to the European invasion of the New World, brook trout thrived happily on Manhattan Island, where they likely migrated to and from the Atlantic via the East and Hudson Rivers. The only brookies on the island today are in the Museum of Natural History.
If you’re lucky enough to find a copy of Savard’s book, snatch it up, especially if you’re interested in learning more about the brook trout and how it came to be the much-loved/hated fish. In many was, it is America’s trout (or char, should you be a taxonomy stickler).
Great job, Mr. Corrigan–good to know you’re lurking around TU chapter meetings. Your work is spreading the gospel. Keep it up.
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