On October 20, Lolo Community 
Council member William Geer joined several other Lolo volunteers and regional fishery biologist, Ladd Knotek, from Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks in netting hundreds of cutthroat, rainbow, brown and brook trout, mountain whitefish and other fish stranded in McClay Ditch in Lolo after the ditch headgate was closed for the winter. The netted fish were identified, measured, counted and returned to Lolo Creek to survive another year. Local anglers will be happy that the salvaged trout, some up to nearly 18 inches, will be waiting to rise their fly on Lolo Creek.
Many trout move into irrigation ditches during the summer and often need to be netted out after the headgates are closed for the winter and the ditch flows dwindle to nothing. Trout stranded in irrigation ditches usually die once the ditch flows are gated off. Special thanks to Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologists for organizing the fish salvage day, and to the several Lolo residents who took time out of their own busy schedules to save some fish.
