Bear Creek Trout Hatchery (western MD)....Struck by lightning.

[Brendan]

reading through the MD DNR fishing report and came across an interesting and sad bit of info.... 

Everyone had to deal with super storm Sandy last year and she manifested herself in a variety of ways. Many of us had to put up with a lot of rain and wind; which fortunately came from the west for the most part. Our friends in the far western portions of the state had to deal with large amounts of heavy snow which pulled down power lines and trees that brought the region to a dramatic halt. The Bear Creek Trout Hatchery was not to be left out of Sandy's onslaught unfortunately. Nestled in a valley of towering hemlock trees near Deep Creek Lake; the heavy snows pulled down power lines and trees at the hatchery. Also, in one of the most bizarre feats of nature to be imagined; one of the raceways containing about 1,200 large trophy sized trout and another raceway next to it with approximately 6,000 regular sized trout, were hit by a bolt of lightning. All in all the hatchery staff counted up about 6,200 regular sized trout and 1,200 of those beautiful 4lb to 8lb trophy trout, that dazzle and excite every trout fisherman's wildest dreams, as lost. The raceways and water systems are all back on line now. The ever adaptable trout production staff at all of the trout hatcheries have shifted stocking and culture strategies to address the shortfalls of the regular stocking trout but the trophy trout cannot be replaced as quickly. There are trophy trout being held at other hatcheries so fishermen will still have the opportunity to catch a trophy sized trout if fisherman's luck smiles on them. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries/fishingreport/index.asp

pretty unfortunate.