German brown, cutthroat, brook and lake trout are less susceptible to the disease and are replacing the rainbow trout in many rivers. As a result, some sportsmen say the disease hasn't really hurt trout fishing so much as forced them to adapt their flies and their fishing times to catch different species. However, many fishermen prefer rainbow trout because they're more spectacular to catch. The rainbow is more active than other trout, and thus more fun to fight. It is also more colorful, with its speckled hues shimmering in the sun as it leaps.
Many fishermen say it tastes better than other trout.
Dick Greene, co-owner and guide at Bud Lilly's Trout Shop in West Yellowstone, Montana, said sport fishing on the Madison dropped off more than 10 percent four years ago when the disease first hit the stream, but bounced back when the rainbow trout inexplicably began to return. Biologists warn they have no cure and very little to offer in the way of hope. Only one drug, fumagillin, has shown any promise, and it's impossible to get enough of it into an infected river to do any good. The biologists say the best solution is to cleanse and modernize hatcheries. They say fishermen can prevent the spread of the parasite by cleaning all equipment with chlorine after fishing in diseased waters, washing debris from boats and not throwing fish remains into the water.