Student inspires us to wish, and fish, big

The various departments at and enterprises of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff add much to the quality of life in many ways, but it was still an eye-opener to read the story about the young man, a graduate student in the fisheries arm of the college, talking about his work and holding a big trout.

The streams around these parts are whatever temperature the seasons dictate, but up at Heber Springs, the Little Red River is frigidly cold year-round, thanks to the water that comes out of Greers Ferry Lake and through a hydroelectric plant.

That has been a perfect environment for trout since a dam was placed across the river in the late ’50s and early ’60s. The Game and Fish Commission routinely stocks the river with rainbow trout, but the browns, which were introduced later, they do their own thing, spawning and keeping up their population without any help from humans.

But what is it about the browns that allow them to do that? Derek Owens, the grad student, has been looking into the answers to that question for close to four years. And he’s made a lot of progress under the direction of Steve Lochmann, professor of aquaculture and fisheries at the school.

“These spawning nests are referred to as ‘redds,’” Owens said. “For a female brown trout to create a redd, she must first find a suitable location. She will then turn on her side and begin to rapidly strike the substrate particles on the bottom of the river with her caudal or ‘tail’ fin. This rapid striking motion, paired with the water velocity, dislodges sediment and individual rocks on the bottom of the river and begins to form a pit in the river bottom.”

As one might expect, there is a lot of interest in this 30 miles of river that supports trout habitat. The state estimates that trout fishing generates some $180 million a year in spending with close to 60% of that coming from out-of-staters. So that’s people from Tennessee and other parts who buy property or rent motel rooms and eat in restaurants and buy gas. In short, trout fishing is very popular and that means big money.

Consequently, the Game and Fish folks are highly interested in Owens’ findings, with one official saying the researcher’s conclusions will likely be used to help manage the fishery.

And it’s worth noting that Owens has been assisted by many people in his orbit including a Game and Fish trout biologist who is also a UAPB graduate.

It’s easy to think of colleges as places where kids just go to school after high school. But of course the good colleges are arming their students with the tools to go out and add to the volume of knowledge that pushes society to be better and do better. Thank you, Mr. Owens, for your passion to see this work through to the end and for the university to provide a path for him to complete such an ambitious piece of research.

And not to give away any secrets, sir, but just what part of the river was it where you caught that monster?