FLY FISHING — A story in the Sunday S-R Travel Section might have caught your attention, with a headline that combined fly fishing with beer tasting.

But look closer in the print edition at the photo of the fish that's labeled a brown trout and you may conclude that it's a bull trout. If you do, I agree. Note the lack of black spots in the dorsal fin. 

Brown trout have black spots in the dorsal; bull trout do not.

The cream-colored leading edge of the pectoral fins also indicates a difference between bull trout and brown trout, too… but what other fish have those fin highlights?

Check out this poster from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for tips on distinguishing bull trout, brown trout, brook trout and lake trout.  

Good information to know, especially since bull trout (formerly called Dolly Varden) are a protected species in most waters.

FISHING — Not unexpected….

Canada lists bull trout in Alberta, Saskatchewan as species of concern

On Monday, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada listed 42 species as at risk, including the bull trout, which is Alberta's provincial fish. — Calgary Herald

FISHERIES — This fall’s bull trout spawning was 78 percent of the 10-year average in streams feeding Montana’s Kootenai River below Libby Dam, and 70 percent of the 10-year average in streams feeding Lake Koocanusa north of the dam.

A decline in redd counts in both drainages over the last few years prompted Montana biologists to recommend changes in fishing regulations that had allowed angler to keep two bull trout per year from Lake Koocanusa, one of the few places anglers are allowed to keep the threatened species.

Last year, that limit was lowered to one bull trout and a change to catch-and-release only regulations for 2012 was approved by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission on Nov. 10.