Pssst...Hey buddy, wanna buy a trout?

With the street value of powdered and rock trout reaching astronomical levels, it is no surprise that trout farms are being targeted by enterprising thieves. According to the October 2nd Asheville Citizen Times, “A brazen thief or thieves broke into Sunburst Trout Farm in Canton and stole 600 pounds of fish. Farm owner Sally Eason said she and her husband saw some fish entrails near one of the trout ponds Wednesday. The guts were out of place, but neither of them investigated.On Thursday, they went to harvest the pond.
“There should have been around 600 pounds in the (pond), and there was virtually none,” Eason said. She thinks the theft probably occurred Tuesday.

The abduction was well-planned. Eason figures a truck was used to commandeer the large quantity of fish, but that required getting into the facility, which is fenced. The gate showed no sign of forced entry and the lock was not damaged.

“How they got them out is beyond us,” Eason said.

With increasing regularity, on my visits to local streams I have found the same situation. A beautiful stretch of water...a clear fall day, and stretches of water that in the past have been quite productive. What else could explain my having gone fishless? They too, must have been abducted.

Try as I might, there is no other explanation. I have good if not great tackle, a fine assortment of flies and over fifty years of experience. Yet no fish to show for my efforts. I’m left to believe that the miscreants responsible for the theft at Sunburst have depleted our local waters and have lowered their standards and begun to target farm raised trout to meet the burgeoning demand.

It couldn't be anything else.