The latest on how fish behave, what they eat, & the environments the thrive in. So that you can "hack into how fish think"
Why Rainbow Trout Are Prioritized by Mountain West Fish & Game
There’s an enormous emphasis on rainbow-trout stocking programs across Mountain West states like Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. Why? The truth is a combination of factors, but it ultimately boils down to two things: money and cutthroats.
As we learned in my article “What Do ‘Shad’ Lures Imitate When There Aren’t Shad?”, there’s an enormous emphasis on rainbow-trout stocking programs across Mountain West states like Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, and parts of New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. Why? The truth is a combination of factors, but it ultimately boils down to two things: money and cutthroats.
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Why So Many People Love Rainbows?
Stocker rainbows are:
-cheap to raise
-easy to catch
-easy to market
-perfect for beginners
-forgiving on gear and technique
-politically popular
And their existence fuels license sales, tourism, tackle revenue, and community fishing programs. According to the Utah Strategic Fisheries Plan (2023–2033), beginners overwhelmingly prefer fast-action trout fisheries — and beginners make up roughly half of license holders.
So the trout you curse are funding bass habitat, tiger-muskie programs, walleye management, and warm-water projects. Irony’s funny like that.
If you want the biology behind why stocked rainbows are temporary by design, read the companion article “What Do ‘Shad’ Lures Imitate When There Aren’t Shad?”, It sets the stage for everything below.
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My Truth
I’m a bass guy. Give me a thick-shouldered brown trout or a mean 19-inch largemouth any day over a lethargic 24-inch rainbow that folds like wet cardboard and then dies in your hand.
That’s not hate. That’s honesty. I respect the role rainbows play — but I’m not chasing them.
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Angler Behavior vs. Species Choice
When I finally wrapped my head around why the Mountain West shoves truckloads of rainbows into our lakes every year, something else clicked: who’s actually fishing — and what they’re chasing.
If your social feeds look like mine, it feels like everyone’s after predators: bass nuts with hog bucket mouths, walleye guys timing moon phases, tiger-muskie psychos throwing small-children-sized baits, catfish hammers dragging cut bait at midnight.
But most anglers aren’t in that lane.
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The Mountain West Participation Pyramid
Bottom tier — ~40–45% (UDWR Angler Survey 2020)
-Fish a few times a year when the weather is nice or the kids want to go. They overwhelmingly target stocked rainbows because they’re easy, bite PowerBait, provide instant action, and taste fine fresh. This group drives license revenue.
Middle tier — ~30% (Rocky Mountain-region survey patterns)
-Weekend warriors who fish monthly-ish, own mid-tier gear, and start noticing water temps and lure colors. They split trips between trout, bass, walleye, and panfish. This crew supports bait shops and tournament entries.
Upper tier — ~20% (tournament records, social media & fish/game surveys)
-Fish weekly in open water. Boats/kayaks, side-scan, livescope, five rods rigged, a weird relationship with the Weather Channel. Specialize in bass, walleye, tiger muskie, big browns, and lakers. This level keeps tackle companies alive.
Top 3–5% — the die-hards (speculation, justified by patterns)
- Everything from “upper tier” plus, fish every chance they get, chase specific bites, pre-fish seasonal patterns, read stocking reports like stock charts, and will skip weddings for a hot window. About half of this group gravitates toward bass because bass reward pattern recognition, hold predictable structure, hit hard, and show up in a lot of warm water.
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Species Choice = Experience Level
Beginners tend to chase rainbows.
Intermediates branch to bass, walleye, and panfish.
Advanced anglers chase predators (tiger muskie, big browns, trophy walleye).
Lifers fish patterns, not species.
It’s not snobbery — it’s development.
Trout are training wheels. Predators are the motorcycle.
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Why the Rainbow Emphasis Still Matters
If the bottom two tiers don’t renew their licenses, hatcheries die, budgets shrink, habitat restoration dries up, warm-water programs starve, predator fisheries collapse, stocking stops, and tournaments evaporate.
Those little stocked bows are the boring gears inside the factory: invisible, but everything stops without them.
As weird as it sounds, stocker rainbows keep your bass lakes alive.
If that surprises you, the next article “Brown Trout: The Alley Cats of the Mountain West” explains why states don’t simply replace rainbows with browns — and why browns can actually undermine native trout goals.