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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Cooking -> Trout
 TROUT: A COLORADO FISH STORY
By Niki Hayden
One of summer’s greatest pleasures is sitting around a campfire roasting a
freshly caught trout after a day of fishing. It might be a rainbow, brook, or
brown pulled from a high altitude icy lake or snagged in a rushing river.
Tourists who flock to Colorado will consider the experience essential to their
vacation package of majestic vistas, wildlife and alpine tundra. What they don’t
know is that they are not feasting on a Colorado fish. The deception has been going
on for a long time, but that doesn’t mean a rainbow isn’t central to a
genuine Colorado feast.
 "The trains brought trout West from the East in milk cans," says
hatchery manager David Smeltzer, of the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
"Since people out here had to eat and were dependent on what they could
catch and hunt, the trains stocked the rivers with fish. In fact, many of the
tracks were built right along rivers and they could throw the fish over the side
and directly in." The hatcheries still do that today, although in a more
studied and scientific manner.
 Only three trout are native to Colorado, all cutthroats. And two still exist
today, although in limited numbers. That doesn’t mean that Colorado doesn’t
have other fish to brag about. In the office of the Watson-Bellvue trout
hatchery along the Poudre River west of Fort Collins, several posters hang on
the walls. The Colorado squawfish, channel catfish, longnose sucker, black
bullhead, mountain whitefish, creek chub, Johnny darter, orange-spotted sunfish
and fathead minnow make an appearance, among others. Several are good to eat.
But the trout, especially the rainbow, has taken hold in the imaginations of
those who fish.
 Raising Trout for Tourism and Profit
When they gleam and twist in the water, it’s easy to see why. With a strong
Colorado sun catching their colorful stripes, the vivid hues are striking. But
under natural conditions, no trout would be found in any high altitude lake.
Only a small number would survive in a few rivers. And, you won’t find large
numbers farmed in our state. Nearly all the farmed trout we buy in the markets
arrives from Idaho rather than Colorado.
David will tell you that some rainbows could thrive in streams with plenty of
food in the summer and fast running water. But these days, the five-year drought
has put an end to most trout environments and all lakes must be stocked. Trout,
by their nature, do not gravitate to lakes. "High altitude lakes are icy
and sterile, inhospitable to most fish populations," David says, so the
notion that Colorado lakes once were playgrounds for the gilled exists only in
our imaginations. Still, that doesn’t halt backpackers from trudging up
mountains for that alpine fishing experience. Once there, most would never
imagine that the fish they are serving up were flown in, piloted in small planes
that drop fingerling-sized trout into their new home.
 The
Watson-Bellvue hatchery sits snugly in a valley of red rocks just
northwest of Fort Collins. It’s eerily quiet, not even the sound of a barking
dog to be heard. Row after row of holding tanks contain young fish in various
sizes. On the Bellvue site, a handsome building, dating to sometime in the
1920s, is painted brown, the same color as Division of Wildlife uniforms, with a
dark red trim. Inside, long troughs contain hatchlings, not yet big enough to
transfer outside, but large enough to jump out. Screens prevent mass leaping.
The tiny fish are brown speckled, none yet has the beautiful colors and markings
that announce adulthood.
 Visiting a Trout Nursery
The process of stocking Colorado’s rivers and lakes begins in a hatchery,
16 in all, dotted throughout the state, with three devoted to warm water fish
like the bass and sunfish family. Owned and operated by the Colorado Division of
Wildlife, hatcheries buy eggs of a variety of fish—rainbows, browns,
cutthroats, brooks, greenback cutthroats, splakes—raise them in concrete pools
until they measure about three to five inches and then deliver them to lakes and
rivers.
Along a river studded with campgrounds, the average fish is caught quickly.
"In the Poudre River, 95 percent of the fish are removed in a two-week
period," David says, so to satisfy the demands of fishing, hatcheries turn
out about three and half million trout each year. In Colorado the crush of
fishing enthusiasts is three times the entire population of Wyoming.
Despite the bounty produced by hatcheries and the lure of tourist money
destined for fishing licenses, the business of raising small fish is fraught
with difficulty and controversy. Whirling disease made headlines for years, as
scientists grappled with the best policy to contain the tiny parasite at the
center of the debate. David believes there may be long stretches of riverbed
where the destructive creature has taken such hold it that only with luck could
it be uprooted. Whirling disease never took such a toll on the trout in the West
or East Coasts, but in Colorado it has proven nearly impossible to eradicate. By
2003, the hatcheries are required to make sure that fish west of the Front Range
are free from infestation, but no such promise can be made for Front Range
streams.
The parasite that causes whirling disease attacks only young fish, when their
skeletal structure is entirely cartilage. By the time bone replaces cartilage,
the fish may carry the spores but they no longer wreak havoc. The spores cannot
be transferred to humans and are carried only in the bony parts and not the
flesh of the fish. But it’s not the only affliction for fish. There’s also a
cold water disease that the hatcheries contend with. And once the fish are in
streams, with a persistent drought, waters are shallow and warmer. Trout are
coldwater fish. They can’t survive rising temperatures. All of this makes a
hatchery manager like Bob Upton look at his fish with a worried eye and some
scrutiny.
Watching Over Fingerlings
 Outside, under a clear blue sky, a
Belted Kingfisher, with black iridescent
body, white and blue coloring and topknot, neatly plucks a young fish from a
trough. Bob waves away the loss. "We leave them alone. We don’t kill any
birds, anyway, not even the herons. But certainly not the Kingfisher." Nets
are strewn over the troughs to keep the herons at bay. A hungry flock could wipe
out the fish almost overnight.
Instead, he’s hovering over a select group of trout. "They all have
their dorsal fins. Often they will chew on each other’s dorsals. And these are
particularly skittish," he says. The populations of fingerlings that hatch
and grow come with unique characteristics.
 The fish quickly learn to feed themselves from self-serve upended buckets
with a drip spout. When they glimpse our shadows, they dart for cover, although
there’s none to be found. These fingerlings are ready for transfer, already
outgrowing their pool. They’re not ready for a river, but too big for the
nursery.
Meanwhile, scientists are determining where the fish should be placed this
season, charting the water flow, the stress conditions. This year promises to be
a tough call. But tourists will arrive, plunk down good money for a fishing
license and look forward to that special Colorado experience: catching a large
trout, putting it on ice, preparing a campfire. Even with only salt and pepper, it’s
a feast.
Asked his favorite way to cook a trout, David pauses. He doesn’t like
trout. "Too fishy for me. I prefer the walleye," he says. Trout is
from the salmon family and that may describe the "fishy" flavor that
diners either adore or abhor.
Bob considers the question with relish. "If the meat of the fish is
white inside, then that means it hasn’t been in the lake or stream for a very
long period of time. But if the meat is pinkish, that means the fish has been
feeding on the tiny crustaceans. It will have a stronger, and, I think, a much
better taste."
 How to Choose and Cook Trout
Only a few restaurants specialize in trout. Most are located on a river,
where the supply may be plentiful. And a few are open only in the summer. Chef
Danny Abbruzzese of the Trout River Grill in Pine, Colorado, arrived in May to
design a menu with trout as the major entrée.
He likes to panfry or grill: "I like to marinate the fish in olive
oil, rosemary or thyme, salt and pepper, and then panfry or grill it on high
heat. The skin is an integral part: I score it so it doesn’t shrink, always
cooking on the skin side."
If you catch your own trout, you’ll know it’s fresh. But if you’re
trolling in a market, Danny says to always choose a whole fish: check the eyes—they
should be clear. Check the gills—they should be intact and bright red. Check
the skin—it should be firm and not slimy. And finally, give it a smell check,
which should be only a clean water odor.
Trout is a thin fish that cooks quickly, but can also take strong flavors.
Don’t hesitate to combine trout with fresh herbs, even chives and garlic if
you like. Here are a few classic treatments:
Recipes
Nut Crusted Trout
- ¼ cup nuts, chopped finely, choose from hazelnuts, pecans, walnuts or
pistachios
- 1 teaspoon of flour
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil or butter
- 1 trout fillet with bones removed and skin intact
- Salt and pepper to taste
Pulverize the nuts and flour in a food processor. Score the skin side of the
trout. Dredge the fillet side in the flour and nut mixture. Heat oil or butter in a
heavy skillet. Cook the nut crusted side first on very low heat so the nuts will
toast but not burn. When the nuts have toasted, which may take only one or two
minutes, flip the fillet and finish cooking on the skin side. Salt and pepper to
taste. Serves one.
Grilled or Roasted Whole Trout
- 1 whole trout, cleaned but intact
- 1 lemon sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, sliced
- 1 fresh sprig each of dill, thyme, rosemary
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Rub the trout with the olive oil. Sprinkle
with salt and pepper. Place the lemon slices, fresh herbs in the fish cavity.
Roast for about 7 minutes, depending on the size of the trout. Check after four
minutes if you have a tiny trout. Serves two, or one generously.
Trout With Capers
- 2 trout, boned but with skin on, scored
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 ½ tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 tablespoon of drained capers
- fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 lemon, halved
Rinse trout and dry. Heat a heavy skillet to medium-high. Mix flour with salt
and pepper and dredge trout fillet sides in the flour mixture. Add olive oil to
skillet and sauté fish fillet side first, about two minutes. Let the fish brown
and then flip to continue cooking on the skin side. When the fish is cooked
through, remove it to a platter. Add the capers and squeeze the juice from a
lemon half in the skillet. Scrape the bottom of the skillet, add the parsley and
pour directly onto the fish fillet. Serves two.
Trout With Seasoned Breadcrumbs
- 2 trout, boned but with skin on, scored
- 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs
- ½ teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place trout skin side down in a buttered baking
dish. Mix all other ingredients and spread onto the fillet of trout. Bake fish
about 4 to 7 minutes, depending on size of trout. Serve with a wedge of lemon.
Several Colorado restaurants specialize in trout:
Trout River Grill, 29200 Crystal Lake Road, Pine, 303-838-7688
Trout Haven, 810 Moraine Avenue, Estes Park, 970-586-5525
J.J.’s Upstream Restaurant, 356 East Highway 160, Pagosa Springs (on the San Juan River),
970-264-9063
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